To Kill A Mocking Bird - selected essays related to Chapter 12

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Jordan Burgess 10P2 To Kill a Mockingbird 22/10/2007

First Purchase Church

Chapter 12

By Jordan Burgess

What Evidence is there of the Black’s Poverty?

The evidence of the black’s poverty is shown in the keeping of the church and it surrounding area and in what they cannot afford i.e. piano, hymn books etc. This chapter contains many descriptions of the church and its surroundings.
The scruffiness of the church shows that it cannot afford to redecorate, “It was an ancient paint-peeled frame building”, shows they cannot afford paint. The fact that “Whites gambled in it on weekdays” while “Negroes worshipped in it on Sundays” shows that they are so desperate for money they have to get some extra income by passing it off as a casino. It also shows that the whites have very little respect for it being a church.

To be able to afford the land in the first place the blacks had to settle for poor land - “brick hard clay”- and a place outside the southern town limits because it waould be a lot cheaper thare. Due to the land being made of hard clay if someone died during a dry spell the church had to put ice over the body until rain softened the ground. The chapter shows that the black people can’t afford gravestones so they outline them “in coke cans and glass” this shows how the cope with the poorness and not being able to afford stuff.

The Church is “Unceiled and unpainted within” and this shows that they cannot afford the things the white churches can. And because it has “no piano, organ, hymn books, church programmes” Scout and Jem find the church very strange. The church just had the bare essentials which are “pine benches” for pews, one banner and a “rough oak” pulpit since it finds it very hard to raise funds.

A way that the back church copes with being poor is called linin’, where Zeebo - who can read - reads out the line of the hymn and the rest of ...

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A way that the back church copes with being poor is called linin’, where Zeebo - who can read - reads out the line of the hymn and the rest of the church goers sing together. By doing this they save on a piano and hymn books, even though thee don’t have any need for hymn books because only a handful of the blacks could read, linin’ shows the black people’s resourcefulness.
The main reason that the black people are poor is because they are still not equal citizens and are regarded as “lower than the Ewell’s”. No one wants to hire them and for this reason Zeebo has to work as a garbage collector even though he is well educated and can read.

How does Harper Lee Make Us Approve of the Black Community and Admire Them?

Even though Harper Lee wrote the book in the late 1950s when the Civil Rights Movement was taking place, it was set in the 1930s before all of that had happened, Lee still shows the black people to be intelligent and caring human beings.

She shows the black community welcoming Scout and Jem and being friendly towards them, this makes the reader immediately like them. Lee only shows only one black character, Lula May, with any ‘negative’ characteristics and the rest of the church members condemn her actions, this makes the members seem unprejudiced and fair. This makes us approve of the black community because it shows that they are very forthright and tolerant.

She points out the way that the black people use linin’ to cope with most of them being illiterate and not being able to afford the hymn books. This shows that the black communities ingenuity and resourcefulness.

In the chapter, the church minister collects money from the church goers, but instead of the money going back into the church like the white churches, it goes to Tom Robinson’s Wife. The reverend made sure that they collected ten dollars before allowing the people to leave. This shows the black community stick together and makes them appear very friendly.

The fact the Zeebo learnt to read shows that he is well bought up and is eager to be educated. Calpurnia taught him to read the bible at an early age, which makes us admire them because it shows that they are intelligent and organised.

At the church when the ground is too hard they put the corpses in ice until the ground is soft enough for them to be buried. This shows that they are clever and can think around problems, the reader will admire them for that.

”Brightly coloured glass and broken Coca-Cola bottles” line the graves at the church and this shows that they do not mind being poor and that they make do with what they got. Seeing that the black people do not have much money makes the reader sympathise with them.

Harper Lee wrote this book to break prejudices and in this chapter she shows the black peoples ways and how they care for the community.

What Do We Learn about Calpurnia’s Background and How Does This Affect Our View of Her?

This chapter reveals a lot about Calpurnia, it tells the reader that she lives a sort of ‘double life’. That she speaks like whites when in the Finch household but speaks ‘nigger talk’ when at the church and when with black people.
Jem and Scout are shocked when they find out that Calpurnia speaks differently when she is with fellow blacks. They find it hard to understand why she talks differently when “she knows better”. This gives the reader a new view on her because it shows she is also a member of the black community.
Cal also reveals in this chapter that she was from the Landing and that all her life she’d worked the Finches or the Bufords. She also reveals that she taught Zeebo out of Blackstone’s Commentaries. Jem is quite stunned by this because he knows that the book is very complex and about law.

Another thing that is shown in this chapter is Calpurnia’s age. Jem and Scout realise that Cal is a lot older than they thought; this is from Cal telling them that she used to work at the landing and that her son, Zeebo, had “half-grown children”. This changes the reader’s opinion of how old she is.
This chapter makes known quite a few new things about Calpurnia, it is from her that the children learn that you cannot change people against their will.