Chapter 17

In chapter 17, the town is all listening carefully to the trial. Mr. Ewell said that when reached the house, he looked in the window and saw Tom Robinson raping his daughter. Tom Robinson fled, and Mr. Ewell went into the house, saw that his daughter was all right, and ran for the sheriff. Atticus cross-exterminated and asked Mr. Ewell why no doctor was called, but his response was "  it was too expensive and there was no need". Atticus clung himself into that incoherent response because if one is hurt, one is immediately taken to the hospital to make sure there are no major injuries. Another evidence of why Atticus believe Mr. Ewell beats his daughter is because he is left handed and a left-handed man would be more likely to leave bruises on the right side of a girl’s face. But. Mr. Eweill insists that Tom Robinson was the one who beat her.

In this chapter, we can see the abilities of Atticus as a lawyer and the manipulation that Mr. Ewell is doing to his daughter. We can see from the trial that Mr. Bob Ewell who is a drunk man, most had beaten his daughter but she does not denounce him because she is scare of him. These cases are very similar to what is happening know with violence against women. Violence against women are so common and women are scare of denouncing them, and rather have an innocent man get punished for what they had not done. 

Chapter 16

In chapter 16 everyone in the town is going to watch the most expected event; the trial of Tom Robinson. Even Miss Stephanie Crawford and  Mr. Dolphus Raymond went to the courtroom. The only person who did not go was Miss Maudie. She did not go because the courtroom was like watchng a roman carnival. I agree with her because she knows that no matter how much evidence Atticus shows, Tom Robinson wil never win. Since he wil never win it be like a death sentence because he will never be able to get out of jail.  When the crowd went to eat lunch, it was the opportunity when Jem, Scout and Dill enter the courtoom form the back side. Reverend Sykes saved them seats in the balcony where the colored people were allowed to watch the trial from. Judge Taylor was the one who had the power in his hands to decide the destiny of of Tom Robinson. 

Chapter 15

• One week after Dill's arrival, Mr. Heck Tate comes to Atticus house one evening and informs him that Tom Robinson has been moved to Maycomb jail and that there might be a lynch of mob. Jem tells Scout that he overheard  a conversation between aunt Alexandra and Atticus, aunt Alexandra was about to accuse Atticus of disgracing the family for taking responsibility in Tom's case. The following evening, Atticus takes his car and goes to town, an unusual propensity that spur Scout, Dill and Jem to follow. Atticus was in Maycomb jail reading a newspaper and when Scout, Dill and Jem were about to go home, four cars approach and demanded Atticus to move away from the jailhouse door but he refused. Scout runs towards Atticus and the mob threatens Atticus to get rid of the children as soon as possible. Scout looks around the mob and sees Mr. Cunningham, the father of her classmate Walter Cunningham, and she tells him about his friendship with his son, and this makes Mr. Cunningham and the mob go away. Mr. Underwood who was near the window started talking with Atticus and then Atticus took the children home. 

Chapter 14

The trial was imminent and Jem and Scout were whispered around the whole town. Scout asks Atticus what "rape" meant and she tell him that she heard it in Calpurnia's church. This is when aunt Alexandra, tells her not to go there anymore and to get rid of Calpurnia. Atticus does not agree and tells her that Calpurnia has help him raise Jem and Scout, therefore, she is a very important person in their family. Scout gets livid for what aunt Alexandra says but Jem wants her to understand aunt Alexandra's perspective and it was atrocious to make her look like the villain of her life. Scout gets livid again when Jem does not take her side, and they start to fight. Atticus arrives and breaks up the fight. They were order to go to bed.  Scout goes running to Jem's bedroom because she feels like there is something underneath her bed. Underneath her bed was Dill. Jem tells Atticus that Dill is in their house and they give him food to eat. Dill had escaped from his house because his mother and his new father did not give him any attention. Dill goes to Jem's bed first and then starts talking to Scout on her bed.

Dill's parents is an example of parents who do not take care of their children but they have a third person ( Mrs. Rachel) the aunt who takes her of them. I believe that Dill is a kid who suffers been alone and likes been with Jem, and Scout because he feels warmth of a family.

Chapter 13

Aunt Alexandra role starts to be more prominent in the next chapters. She stays in Atticus's house because she believes that the children need a feminine influence, or a feminine model. She is more worry about Scout, since she has not been able to do or wear a feminine outfit, she believes that she could be of great help to change her attitude. Aunt Alexandra gets used to Maycomb. She becomes friends with the Maycomb ladies, were she attends meetings where they drink coffee and eat cake. She is very proud to be a Finch, and doesn't want Jem and Scout to lack pride to be a potential excellent Finch. Since so many families have lived in the town, they see generation by generation with the special characteristics that represents them. Atticus try to explain this to Scout, but all he does is offends her and make her cry. She feels like Atticus does not like how she is, but the truth is that Atticus does like her like she is but aunt Alexandra wants to have a perfect image of the family and make the children feel bad for who they are. 

Chapter 12

In chapter 12 we start to see that Jem has just turned 12 and is acting more mature; what he liked to do are not the same, and isolates from his sister. He feels like everything Scout does it to pester him, and before he thought that she acting less like a girl was good, but now he wants her to act more like a girl. Scout feels lonely because Jem is in bad mood. Atticus had to travel every day for two weeks because the state legislature to he was a member called him for session. Scout was solitary and decided to join Calpurina on Sunday to go to a colored church. The church was called the First Purchase because it was bought with the first earning of the freed slaves. When Scout and Calpurnia got there, they met with Lula who demands them to be out of their church because Scout was a white person, and she also said that they had their own church to go to. Calpurnia was about to leave the church when Reverend Sykes welcome them in an hospitality manner.Reverend Sykes knew about Scout's father helping Tom Robinson, a member of their church. The church was penniless for now because they were not able to buy hymnal, and also because most of the people did not know how to read. Therefore they sung  by echoing the words that Zeebo, Calpurnia’s eldest son and the town garbage collector, read from their only hymnal. Reverend Sykes collects money for Tom Robinson's wife, Helen, who was unemployed and had hard times trying to find work now that her husband was accused of raping a white woman. This is when Scout really understands what Tom Robinson is accused by Bob Ewell.  Scout was ecstatic because she met Calpurnia outside of work, and her daily routine which was different to hers. When Calpurnia and Scout got home, aunt Alexandra was waiting at the house. 

We can analyse that Calpurnia lives two worlds differently, when she is with her community of colored people and when she is at work. Calpurnia knows how to read, talks in a different accent when is at the church and talks proper English when she is at work. In the church scene we can see that the colored people are also racist, or scared to have a white person with them because they are so hypnotized that all white people are the same. I believe that this was the first chapter that let us see the life or the colored people, we can see that they work together to help others and are very united. 

Chapter 11

In chapter 11, Jem and Scout learns a lesson. Their neighbor Mrs. Dubose is an old woman who is addicted to morphine. She is disrespectful to Jem and Scout. One day Jem and Scout were passing  by Mrs. Dubose house and she insulted Jem saying that "Atticus was not any better than the “niggers and trash he works for,” Jem got frenzy and took Scout baton he had bought her and destroyed Mrs. Dubose camellia bushes. Mrs. Dubose felt contemptuous, and punished Jem by making him come to his house every day for a month to read to her. Scout, accompany her brother on every session he had. Every session was longer than the other, and after a month the punish was over. Weeks after the punishment was done, Mrs. Dubose died and Jem received a box from Mrs. Dubose's maid with a single white camellia inside. Atticus explains to him that Mrs. Dubose enjoy the reading sessions because it was part of her effort to combat the morphine addiction. 



Chapter 9, 10, 11 Analysis

After chapter 8 we will see the transition from Jem and Scout's interest. Their curiosity towards Boo is curtailed  because now they have to deal with the real world, the real image of Maycomb. Adult problems are been presented to them through Tom Robinson's case were the town's residents image is exposed, their racism and their evilness. The residents of Maycomb not only go against Atticus for his decision on helping Tom Robinson but also on Jem and Scout. The family membersof the Finch such as aunt Alexrandra and Francis also go against Atticus. 

Atticus knows that since the trial is about to occur, his children will also be targeted to all sorts of comments, therefore, he installed moral values on them. For example, justice, restrain and honesty. The are not to fight with anyone no matter what verbal abuse they get. Instead they will have to ignored it because that is courage. The reason why Atticus never told his children that he was skill in shooting was because for Atticus bravery has nothing to do with weapons. The mad dog is a symbol of the evil the town has in their hearts and that soon it will be destroyed, since Atticus is seen as a hero after he looses the trial. When Mrs. Dubose punished Jem, Atticus sees this as a perfect opportunity to show them what real courage is. She represents a balanced between bravery and determination. Her disease gives her courage to survive and be strong to be able to combat her morphine addiction. When Mrs. Dubose gives a box to Jem with a single camellia, this shows that she has a pure soul. Jem rejects the gift because he does not see good in her. The gift was Mrs. Dubose gesture to thank Jem but Jem is not mature enough to understand that evil and good can exist in the same person. 

Chapter 10

Scout notices that her father is old, and does not do the propensities of other fathers of the town. She felt embarrassed because he was not like the regular parents who play football with their kids, or join their physical activity games. Atticus was a man who wore glasses, and love to read. He does not hunt, or fish. Later in chapter 10, a mad dog is presented in Scout's neighborhood, and the Sheriff asks Atticus to shoot the mad dog. Atticus had no difficulties in shooting the mad dog who was at a long distance. Scout and Jem get surprise about the skill Atticus had for shooting. Miss Maudie then explains to them that when Atticus was young he was known as the best shot of the county, and often called the "one shot finch" . Scout finally sees something to tell everyone about because she felt proud of her father's image but Jem tells her not to tell anyone because if Atticus never told them of the skill he had, it must had been for a reason.  

Chapter 9

Summary: Chapter 9

In chapter 9, Cecil Jacobs, Scout's classmate insults Scout by saying that her father, Atticus was a nigger defender. Scout was about to start  a fight but she did not, since she had to understand that there will always be people who disagree. Atticus defends Tom Robinson because as a lawyer he does not like to be part of an injustice community. 

It was Christmas time, and uncle Jack, Atticus brother, came to visit the Finch. After staying for days, Jack, Scout, Jim, and Atticus went to the Finch landing. In the Finch landing lived Aunt Alexandra and her husband. Here Scout was not free from all the insults, there was Francis, Alexandra;s grandson. Scout beats Francis for calling Dill a runt and Atticus a " nigger lover". Francis tells Alexandra and Uncle Jack that Scout hit him, and Uncle Jack spanks her without hearing her side of the story. When they returned to Maycomb, uncle Jack hears her side of the story. She makes uncle Jack promise to not tell Atticus about the fight or else he will be disappointed. Uncle Jack realizes that he is not a good uncle, and what her niece was saying was true, he felts sorry for smacking her and not hearing her side of the story before. Scout overhears Atticus and Jack talking downstairs talking about Tom Robinson's innocence but that wont be enough because he knows that the jury will  not acquit him because they believe to a white person's testimony over a black person's. 

chapter 8

Scout and Jem see snow for the first time. School is canceled because it has been the coldest winter they ever had in history. Scout and Jem both are excited and go after Miss Maudies’s snow to build a snowman. Since there wasn’t enough snow they had to build the snowman out of dirt and apply snow on top of it. The snowman resembled Mr. Avery, so Atticus thought they were making fun of the man and interdicts them to disguise it. Atticus takes Scout and Jem go out of the house because Miss Maudies’s house was burn down. Scout was to wait alone near Atticus and her brother and she suddenly finds out that she had a blanket on her. Jem says that Boo placed the blanket on her and decides to tell Atticus of all the presents they found and about the incident that happened with his pants. Scout got to see Boo and was about to throw up. The next day Miss Maudie tells Scout and Jem that she was not satisfied with her house, and it did not afflicted her to have lost her house, instead she was ready to build a smaller house with a large garden.  

chapter 7

Near the Radleys house there is a tree with a knothole. It was the same knothole where Scout found the gums. This time Scout and Jem found a ball of gray twine and since no one took it they took it home. We also know that Scout is apathetic about the school’s curriculum because it was as dreary as in first grade. There is also more presents found in the knothole such as two figures carved in soap that resembled Scout and Jem. Scout and Jem found out that the knothole was not filled with cement. Jem soon asks Nathan Radley, Boo’s brother why the tree was with cement. Mr. Radley said that he did it because the tree was dying. 

chapter 6

In chapter 6 we get to experience another adventure propensities from Jem, Dill and Scout. They all decided to sneak into the Radley place by peeking in the windows. All the sudden they see a shadow of a man with a hat and they escape under the fence of the schoolyard as soon as they heard a shotgun. When Jem, Scout and Dill escape, they find themselves with all the neighbors gather; Atticus, Miss Maudie, and Miss Stephanie Crawford. Miss Maudie tell the people that   Mr. Nathan Radley shot at a Negro in his yard. When Atticus ses Jem, he asks him were his pants were and Dill to cover him says that they were playing strip poker. Jem's pants was actually caught by the Radley fence when they were escaping.  In the night, Jem sneaks out to the Radley Place, and gets his pants.


Analysis: Chapters 4–6

Hitherto, we can see that Boo's character has been slowly changing. His abominable recognition is changing, now he is transforming from a monster into a human being. All the stricture are being sagged by the sympathetic people such as Aittucs, and  Miss Maudie. Their attiude is different towards Boo, they believe he is benevolent, and all the libels have turned him into a monster. Miss Maudie says that he is not a demon, and he is a victim that has suffered at the hands of a tyrannically religious family. Boo has lived a childhood with a mad father obsessed with sin and retribution. Boo is venerable by the people who know his real events of life that leaded him to be taciturn and sullen.

chapter 5

 Jem and Dill plan to give a note to Boo inviting him out to get ice cream with them. They try to stick the note in a window of the Radley Place with a fishing pole, but Atticus catches them and orders them to “stop tormenting that man” with either notes or the “Boo Radley” game.y talent for gardening, and cake baking. She also is friend with Atticus brother, jack and they met each other since they were kids. Miss Maudie Atkinson tell Scout that Boo is alive and was a victim of a harsh father who is no dead. Boo's father belonged to the “foot-washing” Baptist who believed that most people were going to hell. She says that Boo was a friendly and polite person, and all the rumors they talk about him are grim because they are false. Jem and Dill plan cannily to give a note to Boo saying if he wanted to eat ice cream with them, but Atticus caught them and told them to stop irking Mr. Boo.

chapter 4

During Scout's school is was dull, and pestering by all the interdicts of Miss Caroline to not go ahead of her curriculum. When Scout was walking by the Radley place she found a tinfoil out of a knothole in a oak tree, where she found two pieces of chewing gum. Scout tell Jem and he immediately tells her to spit out the gum.  The next time Scout and Jem passes by the Radley place, they both find a Indian-head” pennies hidden in the same knothole where the gums were found. School year ends and summer begins, Dill is back and they all start playing their games. The first game they played was to get inside the tire and roll. When it was Scout's turn she rolles into the Radley place and both Jem and Dill panic and immediately Scout gets out of the Radley place.  After this incident Jem invents a game dealing with Boo Radley, the game was acting out as if they were the Radley family. Atticus catches them cutting the newspaper with the scissors and suspects they were playing out the incident of the Radleys, and tell them to stop playing. The children decide to stop playing the game since it might not be safe to keep playing it.

Chapter 3

In chapter 3, Scout was beating William Cunningham and Jem stopped her when he saw her in the schoolyard. Jem decides to invite William to eat lunch. When Atticus, Jem, Scout and William sat at the table ready to eat, William pours to his food molasses and Scout gives a criticized misdemeanour. Calpurnia calls Scout, and tells her to not be impolite to her guests.  

At Scouts class there is a boy named Burris Ewell who has lice and the teacher, Miss Caroline tells him to go home to wash his hair before going to school.  Burris Ewell was an Ewell which goes to school only once a day in the whole year just to satisfy the truant officer. Before the boy leaves he treats Miss Caroline in a mean way and leaves when Miss Caroline starts crying. Scout goes home and Calpurnia was waiting her with her favourite snack; crackling bread. Atticus asks her how her school day was but her attitude showS that she did not have a good day. Scout tells Atticus that she does not want to go back to school just like the Ewell does but Atticus tells her that they could get in trouble with the government if they did so. Atticus makes a promise with Scout and tell her that she'll keep going to school—but she shouldn't tell Miss Caroline about it.

Chapter 2

In chapter two, we get to know that summer vacation has ended and Dill is ready to leave Maycomb and go back to his town, Meridian. Scout is also ready to go to school for the first time. Scout meets her teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, who has a classic method of teaching to her students. Scout is a very smart girl, who already knows how to read and write and the fact that she is only in grade one makes Miss Caroline Fisher frustrated because Scout knows more than what she is expected to know. Miss Caroline Fisher concludes that Scouts father, Atticus is the one who has been teaching Scout how to read. Scout knows that Atticus has only read to her, and has never taught her how to read, so she denies what the teacher says. I believe that the teacher is mad because she expected everyone to be at the same level and since that is not the case, her curriculum has to be changed or kept the same as long as Scout does not participate. I believe the teacher should be a grateful for having as student as smart as Scout because that means that she could learn more things at a young age.

A student in Scout´s class called Walter Cunningham doesn’t have lunch, so Miss Caroline gives him a quarter to buy lunch but he does not receive it because he knows that he is not able to pay it back. Walter Cunningham has a large and poor family, and he knows that he can’t pay his teacher so he rather not receive it. Since the teacher insists the boy to take the money, Scout decides to explain the situation but she did not understood and gets frustrated. Scouts ends up been slap with a ruler by the teacher. In the novel we start to see that there is discrimination and bullying done from the teacher to the student.  In addition, The information about the money ( quarter) to buy a lunch and that the teacher slaps Scout´s hand gives us hints that the story does not take  placed in the modern times. 

To kill a mockingbird summary: chapter 1

                The novel to kill a mockingbird is written by Harper lee. In chapter one we get meet the protagonist, Jean Louis Finch or more often called throughout the novel as Scout. At the beginning of the chapter she starts explaining how her older brother, Jem, broke his arm. As background information, she tells about her family history. Scout's first ancestor was a fur-trader and apothecary named Simon Finch. Simon Finch fled from England and migrated to America to escape religious persecution. He established a successful farm on the banks of the Alabama River; Finch’s Landing was called. The members of the family used the farm to make living but the first members of the family who broke this tradition was  Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, who became a lawyer in the nearby town of Maycomb, and his brother, Jack Finch, who went to medical school in Boston. The only one who stayed in the farm was their sister, Alexandra Finch.

                After that short introduction of the family history we get to learn more about Scout's life.  Scout's mother died when she was two and when his brother was four. Scout does not remember his mother, but his brother Jem has memories of her. The role of a mother is taken by Calpurnia. Calpurnia is a black women who cooks for the Finch family and helps raise the children and the house. We are also introduced to Charles Baker Harris or more often called Dill. Dill, Scout and Jem meet in the summer of 1993 when Jem is 10 years old and Scout is 6 years old. Dill comes every summer vacation to stay with his aunt Miss Rachel Haverford, who owns the house next to the Finches. Dill is a talkative, energetic and intelligent boy who becomes very close friends with Scout and Jem. In the summer day act out various stories that they have read as entertainment. When they got too tired of playing games of acting out, Dill suggests to lure Boo Radley to get out of his house.  Boo Radley is mysterious neighbor that lives in the Radley Place. This man has not gone outside in many years because when he was a kid he got into trouble with the law and his father imprisoned him in the house as punishment. He was not heard from until fifteen years later, when he stabbed his father with a pair of scissors. People from the town knew that Boo was crazy but Mr. Radley refused to have his son committed to an asylum. When Mr.  Radley died, Boo's brother, Nathan, came to live with Boo. Dill wants to know more about Boo and sees him as a phantom that never comes outside. At the end of the chapter they starts to a play a game where Jem is dared to touch the house, Jem runs very fast and gets to be with Scout and Dill safely. Scout in the other hand, sees someone move, as if someone was peeking out of the window.