Alternativer Bildtext:

father because he once got in trouble with the law. His father is dead now and it is rumored that Boo stabbed his father with a scissors. His brother came to live with him but he still stays inside the house. The three kids go to the Radley house and Dill dares Jem to touch the house. Nothing happens but Scout believes that she saw a movement at a window. Chapter 2 Dill goes back to Meridian after the summer holidays and Scout goes to the school for the first time. She finds out that her teacher does not treat the children in her class properly. Her teacher Miss Caroline gets mad because Scout can already read, so she feels guilty for having been educated by her father. Scout complains to Jem in recess about Miss Caroline but he says that she just tries a new way of teaching. In the afternoon Miss Caroline noticed that a boy named Walter Cunningham did not bring lunch to school. She wants to lend him money but he refuses to take it. His family is poor, so he would not be able to pay her the money back. Scout tries to explain his circumstances without humiliating him but Miss Caroline does not understand and she slps her with a ruler and she also has to stand in the corner. Chapter 3 Scout gets aggressive with Walter for getting her in trouble but Jem still invites him for dinner at their house. Atticus and Walter talk about farm business at dinner. Scout gets upset when Walter pours Molasses on his food, Calpurnia slaps her because she criticized a guest. At school a boy named Burris Ewell causes Miss Fisher to cry. A big is crawling out of his hair and he leaves the classroom while saying bad words. The Ewell family is also known for being poor and for only going to school he first day of school year because they do not want to get in trouble with the law. At home, Scout tells her father that she does not fell very well and she does not want to go to school anymore. He declines her idea of him teaching her at home because the law demands her to go to school. In the end they find a compromise: They will continue reading every night if Scout goes to school every day. Chapter 4 The school year is quite boring for Scout because she feels like she already knows everything they teach her at school. One day after school when she passes the Radley house, she sees some silver foil glittering in a knothole in's tree in the Radley yard. She takes it and discovers that it is chewing gum. She chews it and when Jem finds out where the gum is from, he forces her to spit it out because according to him everything from the Radley Place is poisonous. After the last day of school, Scout discovers two pennies in that same knothole. She keeps them. Dill returns to Maycomb for the summer holidays and they start playing games again. One game is rolling each other around in an old tire and one time, Scout ends up in front of the steps of the Radley house. She panics but nothing dramatic happens. The three of them are inspired by this incident to another game: playing Boo Radley. During that game, they act as if they were the Radley family. Atticus catches them and notices that the game has something to do with the Radleys. Jem denies it and they wonder if they should continue playing that game. Chapter 5 Scout feels left out because Jem and Dill spend a lot of time without her. She starts spending time with Muss Maudie, an elderly neighbor. Miss Maudie likes baking cakes and gardening. She used to be a friend of Scout's uncle Jack. Scout talks with her about Boo Radley and finds out that his real name is Arthur. Miss Maudie also says that he is still alive and she thinks that he is a victim of his violent father who is dead now. According to Miss Maudie, Boo was a really polite and friendly child and she says that people spread ridiculous rumors about him. She thinks that he must be crazy right now because of the circumstances he is living under. Jem and Dill want to get Boo out of his house by inviting him to get ice cream with them. Scout is forced to help because she wanted to know what they were doing. The three of them tried to put a note on the window with a fishing pole but Atticus catches and stops them. Chapter 6 On the last day of Dill in Maycomb, Scout Dill and Jem sneak into the backyard of Boo Radley and they look into the windows of his house. A man with a hat appears and all of a sudden they hear a gunshot. The three of them escape through the fence and Jem looses his pants during the escape. When they return, they see a crowd in front of the Radley Place and hear that Nathan Radley shot a "Negro" who tried to steal something from his yard. He threatens to shoot again at the next sound that will come from the yard. Atticus notices that Hem's pants are gone and he asks him where they are. Dill intervenes and says that he lost them because of a game of strip poker. Jem sneaks out of the house in the night to get his pants back from the Radley place. Chapter 7 A few days after the incident with Jem's pants, Jem tells Scout that he found the pants folded and hung over the fence. On their way home from school they find a ball of gray twine in the knothole but they decided to leave it there for a few days. When no one else takes it they will take it for their own. Scout is still unhappy in school. The second school year started and it is not different from the first year but Jem promises that school will get better every year. In the fall, there is something new in the knothole: two figures carved in a bar of soap who look like Jem and Scout. The bar of soap is followed by some chewing gum, a spelling bee medal and an old watch. On day they find the knothole concreted and because of that Jem asks Mr. Radley why there is cement in the knothole and he says that he did it because the tree is dying. Chapter 8 For the first time in years, Maycomb gets freezing cold on the winter and it snows. Because of that the school remains closed. Jem and Scout move snow from Miss Maudie's yard to their own and they build a snowman. The snowman looks like Miss Avery, he is a man living down the street. Atticus recognizes Mr. Avery in the snowman and said to his children that they have to modify it. Now the snowman wears Miss Maudie's sun hat and some of her hedge clippers. In the same night, Miss Maudie's house burns down and the neighbors help her save the furniture. Scout and Jem watch the event besides the Radley place and someone puts a blanket over Scout, but she does not know who it was when Atticus asked them about the blanket. Jem comes to the conclusion that Boo Radley put the blanket over Scout and he tells Atticus the truth about the gifts in the knothole and the mended pants. Atticus says to them that they should keep it a secret. Miss Maudie is not very sad about her house because she did not like her old house and she will build a much smaller house with a large garden. She also tells Scout that she wishes she could have been there for her when Boo had it the blanket over her. Chapter 9 Scout argues with a classmate called Cecil Jacobs. He claims that her father would defend black people. Atticus is about to defend Tom Robinson as a lawyer and he does not think that he will win the case. Nevertheless he has to try at least because this is what his sense of justice and self-respect demands. Tom Robinson is a black man who has been accused of around a white woman. At Christmas, uncle Jack comes to the Finch's house. Scout curses in front of him and he warns her not to swear when he is around. On Christmas Day all of them visit Aunt Alexandra. Scout does not feel very comfortable at her aunt's because she thinks that her cousin is boring she Ford not like the fact that her aunt insists on her dressing like a lady. Her cousin Francis offends Dill and says that Atticus is Simeon who loves African Americans. Scout gets very angry about that and beats him up. As a consequence, Scout is being sparked by uncle Jack without ever listening to Scout's explanation. Back at home, she tells Jack everything and he gets furious but promises not to tell Atticus, because Scout is as been asked not to fight with someone of he or she says something about Atticus. Scout listens to a conversation between her father and Jack, Atticus explains that although Tom Robinson is innocent, he has no chance because of the prejudices that the all-white jury has. Chapter 10 Scout and Jem are often embarrassed by the age of their father because in comparison he is older than other fathers in Maycomb. He also does not act like the other fathers because he reads and wears glasses instead of going hunting or fishing. When Atticus gives his children an air rifle he tells them that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. One day a mad dog appears in the streets of the Finches' house and Heck Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb asks Atticus to shoot de fog with a riffle. He does that and his children are amazed by their father acting like that. Miss Maudie tells Scout and Jem that he can do some amazing things and he used to be one of the best shooters in town. Chapter 11 Misses Dubose, an old lady, lives close to the business district for Maycomb. She is grumpy and Jem is supposed to be nice to her because she is old and sick. One day she tells Jem and Scout that their father is not better than the African Americans and the trash he works for. Jem gets very angry and smashes Misses Duboses camellia bushes with a bat. He is being punished by having to read to her ever day for a month. Scout goes with Jem to her and the trading sessions are not very interesting. Misses Dubose makes Jem read longer than the day before by setting the alarm clock for longer than agreed. She died shortly after the reading sessions ended and Atticus explains to his children that she has been a morphine-addict and that when Jem started to read to her she stopped taking the drug. Misses Dubose left a present for Jem: a white box with a single white camellia. Chapter 12 At the age of twelve, Jem does not want to spend that much time anymore with Scout and demands her to start acting like a girl. She is upset about that and hopes that the arrival of Dill in the summer will change Jem's attitude. Scout finds out that Dill is not able to come to Maycomb that year because he has a new father and he will stay with his family. Atticus has to travel to the state capital every day for two weeks because the state legislature is called into session. The two children visit a colored church on a Sunday with Calpurnia. One member, called Lula disagrees with Calpurnia bringing white children to church. However in general, the church welcomes them and Reverend Sites explains that everyone does know Atticus. They get to know that the black community is poor because a lot of them cannot read. During service, Reverend Skyes collects money for the wife of Tom Robinson because she cannot find work due to her husband has been accused of rape. No one is allowed to leave the church before the amount of money they wanted to gather has been collected. Scout learns that it has been Bob Ewell who accused Tom Robinson and she is shocked that someone would believe something that a Ewell said. When they return home, Aunt Alexandra us waiting for them. Chapter 13 Aunt Alexandra is moving in to the house for a while because she and Atticus thought that they need a woman in their house. She is invited to other ladies in town and they are having coffee and cake. Aunt Alexandra is very proud of her own family heritage, that is why she often gossips about it and she judges the other families in Maycomb. In her opinion Scout and Jem are not proud enough of their family. Because of that, Atticus says that they are supposed to act more like a Finch. Chapter 14 Jem and Scout are also victims of the prejudices of the townspeople because Atticus decided to defend Tom Robinson. While Scout asks Atticus what “rape” means, it becomes clear that they went to the black church with Calpurnia. Aunt Alexandra forbids them to go to that church the next time and she wants Calpurnia to get fired. But Atticus says that he will not fire her because she is a part of the family and they need her. In the night, Jem says to Scout that she should not provoke their Aunt. Scout gets upset and she attacks her brother but Atticus stops them and he sends both of them to bed. Scout discovers that Dill is hiding under her bed. He ran away from home because his new father and his mother did not care about him anymore. Jem tells Atticus about Dill and after that Atticus goes to their neighbor Miss Rachel to tell her that he has run away. Dill goes to sleep in Jem's bed but then comes to Scout's bed and talks with her. Chapter 15 A group of men appear at the Finch's house in the evening. Tom Robinson is supposed to move to the Maycomb hail and the men are worried about the possibility of a lynch mob. Jem tells Scout about an argument between Aunt Alexandra and Atticus he listened to. Their aunt makes Atticus responsible for bringing disgrace over the family because he decided to defend Tom Robinson. The next evening, Atticus goes to turn and Jem, Dill and Scout go after him. They find him sitting in front of the jail. Four cars appear and park close to the jail. A few men come out of the cars and they want Atticus to move away. He refuses to do so and Scout jumps out of her hiding spot. Atticus wants them to go back home but Jem refuses. One of the men threatens them and says that they have fifteen seconds to leave. Scout recognizes the father of her classmate Walter Cunningham and starts talking to him. She says that he should say "hey" to Walter from her. The men are shocked and Mister Cunningham says that he will say "hey" to him because he feels ashamed. The men leave and Mister Underwood appears at a nearby window. He points to his shotgun and tells Atticus that he had him covered all the time. They talk for a gut but then they all go back home. Chapter 16 The court case begins and Scout and Jem are there as well. There are a lot of people in the courtroom. Miss Maudie refuses to go to the court case because she compares it with a Roman carnival. The white people access the building before the black people. Jem, Scout and Dill sneak into the courthouse after everyone already entered. They have to sit in Reverend Skyes' balcony, a place where all black peoples have to sit if they want to watch the trail. Judge Taylor deals with the case, he is known for running his court rather informally. Chapter 17 Sheriff Heck state is questioned by the prosecutor Mr. Filmed and he recounts that on November 21st, Bob Ewell came to the police station and asked the sheriff to get to their house because his daughter has been raped. She was found with a lot of bruises and obviously she was beaten up. May Ella said that Tom Robin is the person who did that. Atticus asks the witness about whether a doctor has been consulted but Heck Tate denies and says that the right side of her face was bruised. He ends his Statement and Bob Ewell is called. His family is known for living ruins the town garbage dump in a cabin with a thin-roof and their yard is filled with trash. He also has a lot of children but he does not know how many exactly. Ewell explains that on the night his daughter was raped, he was out in the woods looking for logs and was just about to return home when he heard the screams of his daughter. Her ran back home and looked through the window. In there he saw that his fighter was being raped by Tom Robinson. Robinson fled according to Ewell. He checked her daughter whether she was okay and after that he got the sheriff. He said that they did not need a doctor for her because there was no need and they also do not have the money for a doctor. Atticus asks Bob to write down his name and the jury sees that he is left-handed. Someone left-handed us more likely to bruise the right side of Mayella's face than someone right-handed. Chapter 18 Mayella is the next to testify. She is nineteen years old and seems to be terrified. The night when she was raped, she asked Tom Robinson to repair a dresser for her and when he was inside the house, he grabbed and raped her. Atticus finds out the poor life of Mayella with seven siblings, her drunken father and no friends. He then asks her several questions. Why did she not defend herself, why did her siblings did not notice what was happening and how Tom was able to bruise the right side of her face when his left hand was crippled when he was a young boy. He finally wants her to confess that Tom did not rape her and that it was her father who beat her up. Mayella gets upset and shouts that the jury would be cowards if they did not convict Tom Robinson. She starts to cry and refuses to answer any more questions. Mister Underwood notices that Jem and Scout are sitting in the balcony but Jem does not believe that he will tell their father. Chapter 19