To Kill a Mockingbird

a. Jem turns twelve and receives a large sum of cash for his birthday. He purchases a baton for Scout, and a toy train for himself.
b. Jem, pushed to the breaking of point caused by Mrs. Dubose insulting Atticus for defending Tom Robinson, snaps. He breaks Scout's baton and ruins Mrs Dubose's garden.
c. Jem, to make up for what he has done, has to read to Mrs Dubose for a month.
d. Mrs Dubose dies. She gives Jem a box with a camellia in it. Angry, he throws it to the ground.

a. The day after Jem's twelfth birthday his money was burning up in his pockets, so we headed for town in the early afternoon. Jem thought he had enough to buy a miniature steam-engine for himslef and a twirling baton for me. (p. 106)

b. He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves. He bent my baton against his knee, snapped it in two and threw it down. (p. 109)

c. "Yes sir. She wants me to come every afternoon after school and Saturdays and read to her aloud for two hours. Atticus, do I have to?"
"Certainly."
"But she wants me to do it for a month."
"Than you'll do it for a month." (p. 111)

a. Jem and Scout go with Calpurnia to her Church.
b. One of the Negros, Lula, doesn't like Cal bringing white children to Black Church.
c. Scout and Jem notice how different this Church is compared to theirs.

a. Suddenly she smiled. "How'd you and Mister Jem. like to come to church with me tomorrow?"
"Really?"
"How 'bout it?" grinned Calpurnia.

b. "What you want, Lula?" she asked, in tones I had never heard her use. She spoke quietly, contemptuously.
"I wants to know why you bringin' white chillun to nigger church."
"They's my comp'ny," said Calpurnia. Again I thought her voice strange: she was talking like the rest of them.
"Yeah, an' I reckon you's comp'ny at the Finch house durin' the week."

c.Along its walls unlighted kerosene lamps hung on brass brackets; pine benches served as pews. Behind the rough oak pulpit a faded pink silk banner proclaimed God Is Love, the church's only decoration except a rotogravure print of Hunt's The Light of the World. There was no sign of piano, organ, hymn-books, church programs the familiar ecclesiastical impedimenta we saw every Sunday. It was dim inside, with a damp coolness slowly dispelled by the gathering congregation.

a. Aunt Alexandra arrives at Maycomb to stay with Scout, Jem, and Atticus for a while.

a. "Have you come for a visit, Aunty?" I asked. Aunt Alexandra's visits from the Landing were rare, and she traveled in state. She owned a bright green square Buick and a black chauffeur, both kept in an unhealthy state of tidiness, but today they were nowhere to be seen.
"Didn't your father tell you?" she asked.
Jem and I shook our heads.
"Probably he forgot. He's not in yet, is he?"
"Nome, he doesn't usually get back till late afternoon," said Jem.
"Well, your father and I decided it was time I came to stay with you for a while."

a. Scout asks Atticus what does rape mean as Calpurnia wouldn't explain it.
b. Scout asks Atticus if she could go to Cal's place. Aunt Alexandra says no. Scout talks back to her and locks herself in the bathroom.
c. Scout starts a fight with Jem because he is telling her what to do.
d. Scout finds Dill under her bed who had run away from his cruel parents.

a. "What's rape?" I asked him that night.
Atticus looked around from behind his paper. He was in his chair by the window. As we grew older, Jem and I thought it generous to allow Atticus thirty minutes to himself after supper.
He sighed, and said rape was carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent.
"Well if that's all it is why did Calpurnia dry me up when I asked her what it was?"

b. I remembered something. "Yessum, and she promised me I could come out to her house some afternoon. Atticus, I'll go next Sunday if it's all right, can I? Cal said she'd come get me if you were off in the car."
"You may not."
Aunt Alexandra said it. I wheeled around, startled, then turned back to Atticus in time to catch his swift glance at her, but it was too late. I said, "I didn't ask you!"
For a big man, Atticus could get up and down from a chair faster than anyone I ever knew. He was on his feet. "Apologize to your aunt," he said. "I didn't ask her, I asked you-"
Atticus turned his head and pinned me to the wall with his good eye. His voice was deadly: "First, apologize to your aunt."

c. With that, I was gone. "You damn morphodite, I'll kill you!" He was sitting on the bed, and it was easy to grab his front hair and land one on his mouth. He slapped me and I tried another left, but a punch in the stomach sent me sprawling on the floor. It nearly knocked the breath out of me, but it didn't matter because I knew he was fighting, he was fighting me back. We were still equals.

d. Suddenly a filthy brown package shot from under the bed. Jem, raised the broom and missed Dill's head by an inch when it appeared.
"God Almighty." Jem's voice was reverent.
We watched Dill emerge by degrees. He was a tight fit. He stood up and eased his shoulders, turned his feet in their ankle sockets, rubbed the back of his neck. His circulation restored, he said, "Hey."

a. Atticus talks with Tate about keeping Tom Robinson in the town jail. He doesn't want him in the jail the night before trials start.
b. One night Atticus goes into town with an extension lead and light bulb. Curious, Dill, Scout, and Jem follow.
c. Out the front of the jail, Atticus is confronted by men who wish to harm Tom Robinson.

a. ". . . movin' him to the county jail tomorrow," Mr. Tate was saying, "I don't look for any trouble, but I can't guarantee there won't be any. . . ."
"Don't be foolish, Heck," Atticus said. "This is Maycomb."
I. . . said I was just uneasy."
"Heck, we've gotten one postponement of this case just to make sure there's nothing to be uneasy about. This is Saturday," Atticus said.
"Trial'll probably be Monday. You can keep him one night, can't you? I don't think anybody in Maycomb'll begrudge me a client, with times this hard."

b i. Atticus did something that interested us: he came into the livingroom carrying a long electrical extension cord. There was a light bulb on the end.
"I'm going out for a while," he said. "You folks'll be in bed when I come back, so I'll say good night now."
With that, he put his hat on and went out the back door.
b ii. "Why ain't you going to bed?"
"I'm goin' downtown for a while." He was changing his pants.
"Why? It's almost ten o'clock, Jem.
He knew it, but he was going anyway.
"Then I'm goin' with you. If you say no you're not, I'm goin' anyway, hear?"
Jem. saw that he would have to fight me to keep me home, and I suppose he thought a fight would antagonize Aunty, so he gave in with little grace.
I dressed quickly. We waited until Aunty's light went out, and we walked quietly down the back steps. There was no moon tonight.
"Dill'll wanta come," I whispered.

c. "You know what we want," another man said. "Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch."

a. People from across the county begin arriving in Maycomb forthe trial of Tom Robinson.
b. Scout, Dill, and Jem sit with Reverand Skyes in the "coloured" section above the courtroom to watch the trial.

a. It was like Saturday. People from the south end of the county passed our house in a leisurely but steady stream.

b. "There's not a seat downstairs. Do you all reckon it'll be all right if you all came to the balcony with me?"
"Gosh yes," said Jem. Happily, we sped ahead of Reverend Sykes to the courtroom floor. There, we went up a covered staircase and waited at the door. Reverend Sykes came puffing behind us, and steered us gently through the black people in the balcony. Four Negroes rose and gave us their front-row seats.

a. Heck Tate gives his witness account to the court.
b. Bob Ewell give his witness account to the court. When questioned by Atticus can he write, he replies he can. He writes down his name with his left hand which causes the crowd to become unsettled.

a. Mr. Tate said, "It was the night of November twenty first. I was just leaving my office to go home when Mr. Ewell came in, very excited he was, and said get out to his house quick, some nigger'd raped his girl."
"Did you go?"
"Certainly. Got in the car and went out as fast as I could."
"And what did you find?"
"Found her lying on the floor in the middle of the front room, one on the right as you go in. She was pretty well beat up, but I heaved her to her feet and she washed her face in a bucket in the corner and said she was all right.

b i. ". . . Robert E. Lee Ewell!"
In answer to the clerk's booming voice, a little bantam cock of a man rose and strutted to the stand, the back of his neck reddening at the sound of his name. When he turned around to take the oath, we saw that his face was as red as his neck.
b ii. "Mr. Ewell, can you read and write?"
Mr. Gilmer interrupted. "Objection," he said. "Can't see what witness's literacy has to do with the ease, irrelevant'n'immaterial."
Judge Taylor was about to speak but Atticus said, "Judge, if you'll allow the question plus another one you'll soon see."
"All right, let's see," said Judge Taylor, "but make sure we see, Atticus. Overruled."
Mr. Gilmer seemed as curious as the rest of us as to what bearing the state of Mr. Ewell's education had on the case.
"I'll repeat the question," said Atticus. "Can you read and write?"
"I most positively can."
b iii. "What's so interestin'?" he asked.
"You're left-handed, Mr. Ewell," said Judge Taylor.
Mr. Ewell turned angrily to the judge and said he didn't see what his being left-handed had to do with it, that he was a Christ-fearing man and Atticus Finch was taking advantage of him. Tricking lawyers like Atticus Finch took advantage of him all the time with their tricking ways.

a. Mayella Ewell is called to the witness stand. Atticus asks her questions which makes her uncomfortable.

a. "Won't answer a word you say long as you keep on mockin' me," she said. "Ma'am?" asked Atticus, startled.
"Long's you keep on makin' fun o'me."
Judge Taylor said, "Mr. Finch is not making fun of you. What's the matter with you?"
Mayella looked from under lowered eyelids at Atticus, but she said to the judge: "Long's he keeps on callin' me ma'am an sayin' Miss Mayella. I don't hafta take his sass, I ain't called upon to take it."

a. Tom Robinson gives his witness account to the court.

a. Tom took the oath and stepped into the witness chair. Atticus very quickly induced him to tell us: Tom was twenty-five years of age; he was married with three children; he had been in trouble with the law before: he once received thirty days for disorderly conduct.

a. Atticus gives his closing remarks to the jury.
b. Calpurnia arrives in court.

a. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty."

b. We followed his finger with sinking hearts. Calpurnia was making her way up the middle aisle, walking straight toward Atticus.

a. Calpurnia gives Atticus informing him the kids have gone missing.
b. Atticus finds them in the balcony and says to them they can come back when they've finished dinner.
c. They come back to the court to hear the verdict: guilty. Atticus leaves and the Negros stand in a sign of respect.

a. Judge Taylor nodded and Atticus took the envelope from Calpurnia. He opened it, read its contents and said, "Judge, I-this note is from my sister. She says my children are missing, haven't turned up since noon . . . I . . . could you---?”
b. "Tell you what, you all can come back when you've eaten your supper-eat slowly, now, you won't miss anything important-and if the jury's still out, you can wait with us. But I expect it'll be over before you get back."
c. I shut my eyes. Judge Taylor was polling the jury: "Guilty . . . guilty . . . guilty . . . guilty . . ." I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each "guilty" was a separate stab between them.
Judge Taylor was saying something. His gavel was in his fist, but he wasn't using it. Dimly, I saw Atticus pushing papers from the table into his briefcase. He snapped it shut, went to the court reporter and said something, nodded to Mr. Gilmer, and then went to Tom Robinson and whispered something to him. Atticus put his hand on Tom's shoulder as he whispered. Atticus took his coat off the back of his chair and pulled it over his shoulder. Then he left the courtroom, but not by his usual exit. He must have wanted to go home the short way, because he walked quickly down the middle aisle toward the south exit. I followed the top of his head as he made his way to the door. He did not look up.
Someone was punching me, but I was reluctant to take my eyes from the people below us, and from the image of Atticus's lonely walk down the aisle.
"Miss Jean Louise?"
I looked around. They were standing. All around us and in the balcony on the opposite wall, the Negroes were getting to their feet. Reverend Sykes's voice was as distant as Judge Taylor's:
"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."

a. Atticus is feeling down about the case. Tom Robinson received a death sentence. He tells Jem and Scout there is still the appeal process.
b. Atticus receives food baskets from Negros who thank him for all his done.
c. The kids are warned to stay off the street. Mr Ewell is on the loose looking for vengeance against Atticus for diminishing whatever reputation he had.

a. "Is he all right?" Aunty asked, indicating Jem.
"He'll be so presently," said Atticus. "It was a little too strong for him." Our father sighed. "I'm going to bed," he said. "If I don't wake up in the morning, don't call me."

b. Atticus looked up at her, puzzled, and she said, "You better step out here and see what's in the kitchen, Mr. Finch."
We followed him. The kitchen table was loaded with enough food to bury the family: hunks of salt pork, tomatoes, beans, even scuppernongs.
Atticus grinned when he found a jar of pickled pigs' knuckles. "Reckon Aunty'll let me eat these in the diningroom?"
Calpurnia said, "This was all 'round the back steps when I got here this morning. They-they 'preciate what you did, Mr. Finch. They - they aren't oversteppin' themselves, are they?"

c. 'You get on in the back yard and stay there," she said. 'There's danger a'comin'.
“’s matter?" I asked.
"Ain't you heard yet? It's all over town!”
At that moment Aunt Alexandra came to the door and called us, but she was too late. It was Miss Stephanie's pleasure to tell us: this morning Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he'd get him if it took the rest of his life.

a. Atticus jokes about Bob Ewell's attack
b. Scout decides to make friends with Walter Cunningham but is told not to by Aunt Alexandra
c. Jem thinks that there are four types of people in the world.

a. "I wish Bob Ewell wouldn't chew tobacco," was all Atticus said about it.

b. "Don't be silly, Jean Louise," said Aunt Alexandra. "The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he'll never be like Jem. Besides, there's a drinking streak in that family a mile wide. Finch women aren't interested in that sort of people."

c. "You know something, Scout? I've got it all figured out, now. I've thought about it a lot lately and I've got it figured out. There's four kinds of folks in the world. There's the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there's the kind like the Cunninghams out in the woods, the kind like the Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes."

a. Scout joins Aunt Alexander in her tea party with other women from town. Some of the women talk about their views on "coloured" people.
b. Atticus come home not looking good. He'd been informed Tom Robinson is dead.

a. "Sin and squalor-what was that, Gertrude?" Mrs. Merriweather turned on her chimes for the lady sitting beside her. "Oh that. Well, I always say forgive and forget, forgive and forget. Thing that church ought to do is help her lead a Christian life for those children from here on out. Some of the men ought to go out there and tell that preacher to encourage her."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Merriweather," I interrupted, "are you all talking about Mayella Ewell?"
"May-? No, child. That darky's wife. Tom's wife, Tom-"
"Robinson, ma'am."

b. "They shot him," said Atticus. "He was running. It was during their exercise period. They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over. Right in front of them—“
"Didn't they try to stop him? Didn't they give him any warning?" Aunt Alexandra's voice shook.
"Oh yes, the guards called to him to stop. They fired a few shots in the air, then to kill. They got him just as he went over the fence. They said if he'd had two good arms he'd have made it, he was moving that fast. Seventeen bullet holes in him. They didn't have to shoot him that much. Cal, I want you to come out with me and help me tell Helen."

a. Dill has left to go back to school in Meridian. Scout dwells over the story he told her about shouting at the Ewell's place
b. Tom Robinson's death is the hot topic in Maycomb for a few days
c. Miss Stephanie tells Aunt Alexandra and Jem what she heard Bob Ewell say when he heard about Tom's death

a. When they drove back by the dump, some of the Ewells hollered at them, but Dill didn't catch what they said.

b. Maycomb was interested by the news of Tom's death for perhaps two days; two days was enough for the information to spread through the county. "Did you hear about? . . . No? Well, they say he was runnin' fit to beat lightnin' . . ." To Maycomb, Tom's death was typical. Typical of' a nigger to cut and run. Typical of a nigger's mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw.

c. Miss Stephanie told Aunt Alexandra in Jem's presence ("Oh foot, he's old enough to listen,") that Mr. Ewell said it made one down and about two more to go.

a. School starts for Scout, third grade, and Jem, seventh grade

a. School started, and so did our daily trips past the Radley
Place. Jem was in the seventh grade and went to high school, beyond the grammar-schooI building; I was now in the third grade, and our routines were so different I only walked to school with Jem. in the mornings and saw him at mealtimes.

a. Mr Ewell gets a job but gets fired. He blames Atticus for his unemployment
b. Mr Deas offers Helen, Tom's wife, a job at his farm.
c. She is harassed by the Ewell every day she passes their house.

a. The first thing was that Mr. Bob Ewell acquired and lost a job in a matter of days and probably made himself unique in the annals of the nineteen-thirties: he was the only man I ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness.

b. Mr. Link Deas made a job for Helen. He didn’t really need her, but he said he felt right bad about the way things turned out.

c. Calpurnia said it was hard on Helen, because she had to walk nearly a mile out of her way to avoid the Ewells, who, according to Helen, “chunked at her” the first time she tried to use the public road.

a. On the way home from a school play, Jem and Scout are attacked by an unknown man
b. They are saved by another man who carries Jem home while Scout follows
c. Heck Tate arrives to announce Bob Ewell's death

a. Something crushed the chicken wire around me. Metal ripped on metal and I fell to the
ground and rolled as far as I could, floundering to escape my wire prison. From
somewhere near by came scuffling, kicking sounds, sounds of shoes and flesh scraping
dirt and roots.

b. The man was walking with the staccato steps
of someone carrying a load too heavy for him. He was going around the corner. He was carrying Jem. Jem’s arm was dangling crazily in front of him.
By the time I reached the corner the man was crossing our front yard. Light from our front door framed Atticus for an instant; he ran down the steps, and together, he and the
man took Jem inside.

c. Mr. Tate found his neck and rubbed it. “Bob Ewell’s lyin‘ on the ground under that tree
down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He’s dead, Mr. Finch.”

a. Scout explains to Tate and Atticus what had happened.
b. She finds out their savior was Boo Radley

a. “Well, after Jem yelled we walked on. Mr. Tate, I was shut up in my costume but I could hear it myself, then. Footsteps, I mean. They walked when we walked and stopped when we stopped. Jem said he could see me because Mrs. Crenshaw put some kind of shiny paint on my costume. I was a ham.”

b. His lips parted into a timid smile, and our neighbor’s image
blurred with my sudden tears.
“Hey, Boo,” I said.

a. Scout plays hostess to Boo
b. Atticus and Tate discuss what to say to the town about what happened.

a. I led him through the hall and past the livingroom.
“Won’t you have a seat, Mr. Arthur? This rocking-chair’s nice and comfortable.”

b. “Mr. Finch,” Mr. Tate said stolidly, “Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He killed himself.”

a. Scout takes Boo home arm-in-arm
b. The next day, Scout sees everything about the town differently

a. “Will you take me home?”
He almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark.
I put my foot on the top step and stopped. I would lead him through our house, but I
would never lead him home.
“Mr. Arthur, bend your arm down here, like that. That’s right, sir.”
I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm.

b. Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.