The Finch children again find themselves welcomed and even honored among blacks when Reverend Sykes invites them to the balcony, and chairs are vacated in the front row on their behalf.
Chapter 17 Summary
The trial begins with the testimony of the sheriff, Heck Tate. The prosecution's attorney, Mr. Gilmer, asks him about the events surrounding Tom Robinson and Mr. Ewell's daughter, whose name is Mayella. Mr. Tate says that on November 21st, Mr. Ewell came to get him because "some nigger'd raped his girl." He says that he found Mayella on the floor, very beaten up, and that she said that Tom Robinson had taken advantage of her and beaten her. Atticus questions him next, asking whether anyone called a doctor. Mr. Tate says no. He asked where Mayella had been beaten, and Mr. Tate says, with some hesitation, that her right eye and entire right side of her face were bruised, and she had scratches all around her neck.
Mr. Ewell is the next witness. Scout recollects mentally the way that the Ewells live, in a tiny hut made of planks and corrugated iron and flattened tin cans, surrounded by junk salvaged from the nearby dump. In the corner of the yard there are some geraniums planted in slop jars by Mayella. Scout concludes that the only thing separating Mr. Ewell from the black people around him, in terms of social standing, is that his skin is white.
Mr. Ewell is surly and crass in the witness's chair, but the judge manages to keep everything orderly. Mr. Gilmer asks Mr. Ewell for his version of the events. Mr. Ewell claims that he heard Mayella screaming when he was coming in from the woods with kindling, and he ran to the house to find Tom Robinson having sexual intercourse with her. He uses the highly offensive term "ruttin," which sets the court in a fervor. Mr. Ewell says that he ran to get the sheriff. He implores the judge to "clean up" the "nigger-nest" that are his neighbors, claiming that his neighborhood is getting dangerous.
Atticus questions Mr. Ewell, asking whether a doctor was called, and Mr. Ewell again says that no doctor was called, saying that he has never called a doctor in his life and never thought of doing so. Atticus asks if Mr. Ewell remembers Mayella's injuries as being the same as described by the sheriff. Mr. Ewell says that he does. Atticus asks if Mr. Ewell can write, and he says he can, so Atticus asks him to write his name on an envelope. In so doing, it is revealed that Mr. Ewell is left-handed. He also claims to be able to use both of his hands equally well.
Analysis
The Ewells belong to the bottom set of Maycomb's whites. He shows himself to be arrogant and crude. Maycomb reluctantly has bent the laws for the Ewells, and Mr. Ewell's manner is of one who is beyond the law. He is described as a "bantam cock" who struts around arrogantly yet ridiculously, and he tries to invoke the good humor of the audience, whines to the judge about being asked to prove his ability to write, and offends everyone with his language, putting the court into five minutes of uproar. The chapter depicts him as brutish, insensitive, and confident of his ability to get away with his perjury.
Chapter 18 Summary
It's now Mayella's turn to be a witness. She is very distraught and cries in the witness stand, saying that she is afraid of Atticus. She finally tells Mr. Gilmer that her father asked her to chop up an old chiffarobe (chest of drawers) for kindling, but she didn't feel strong enough. When Tom Robinson came along, she asked him to do it in return for a nickel. As she went inside for the money, he followed her, got her to the floor, and took advantage of her while she screamed and tried to fight back. Then her father arrived and Tom ran away.
Atticus has his turn to question Mayella, but first he asks her some background questions to show the jury what kind of family she comes from. She is nineteen and her family receives relief checks, but there isn't enough food to go around; her father seems to be a drunkard; Mayella went to school for a few years but none of her eight siblings go; their mother is dead; Mayella doesn't seem to have any friends. Atticus asks if Mr. Ewell is a loving father, and with hesitation, Mayella says that he is "tolerable" except when he is drinking. However, she insists that he never lays a hand on her or beats her. Atticus asks if this was the first time Tom Robinson has been invited into her house, and she jumps a little before she says that it was the first time. He asks Mayella if she remembers being beaten in the face, and Mayella first says no, but then yes. Atticus asks her to identify the man who raped her, and Mayella points to Tom, who is asked to stand up by Atticus. Everyone notices that Tom's left arm is twelve inches shorter than his right, due to an accident in a cotton gin. Atticus asks for more details about the struggle, then he asks many questions which Mayella doesn't answer: Why didn't the other children hear her screaming? Where were they? Why didn't they come running? Did she start screaming when she saw her father in the window? Did she get beaten up by her father, not Tom Robinson?
Mayella just says that she was taken advantage of, and if the upper class gentlemen won't prosecute Tom, they are cowards. Atticus seems to find something involving his interview with her distasteful. The court rests for ten minutes but no one leaves the courthouse
Analysis
Mayella's life is one of miserable poverty and deprivation, and she shows that she is accustomed to being treated without respect when she thinks Atticus is deliberately mocking her by calling her "Miss." She seems hopelessly immature for nineteen years old and her whiney or tearful attitude suggests a subtle sly manipulation of her audience, as if on some level she wants to capitalize off of whatever pity she can invoke for her social state and extend it toward her fictionalized state as a supposed rape victim. There is good in Mayella (her flowers are the only beautiful thing at the Ewell residence, and Scout thinks that Mayella seems to make an effort to keep herself clean) but her actions seem motivated by cowardice: her initial reluctance to say Tom's name when asked to tell the court who her rapist was points toward her hesitancy to accuse him when he is innocent. However, she does surrender to fear and accuse him, thus putting her fear over the value of his life.
Chapter 19 Summary
Tom goes to the witness stand to present his testimony. As he tries futilely to put his hand upon the Bible, it becomes evident that his left arm is entirely non-functional, and slips off lifelessly. Atticus questions him, first asking whether Tom had ever been convicted of a crime before. Tom explains that he was once convicted for fighting because he could not pay the fine that would have released him. Tom gives his account of the incident with the Ewells. He says that he passes by the Ewells' house every day in order to get to work at Mr. Link Deas's farm, where Tom picks cotton and does other farm work. One day last spring, Mayella did ask him to chop up an old chiffarobe with a hatchet, but that was long before the November day in question. After that, Mayella often asked him to help her with odd jobs around the house as he passed by. She offered him a nickel for doing it the first time, but he refused, knowing that the family had no money. He said he helped her out because she didn't seem to have anyone else to help her, and he never went onto the Ewell property without being invited. Scout thinks about how lonely Mayella is - she's so poor that white people won't befriend her, but black people will avoid her because she's white.
Atticus asks about the events on November 21st. Tom says that he passed the Ewells' house as usual, and everything seemed very quiet. Mayella asked him to come inside and fix a broken door, but he came inside and said that the door didn't look broken. Then Mayella shut the door behind him and said that she has sent the children away to get ice cream, having saved enough for each child to have a nickel. Tom starts to leave, but she asks him to take a box down for her on top of another chiffarobe. As he reached, she grabbed him around his legs. Tom was so startled he overturned a chair. Next she hugged him round the waist and kissed his cheek, saying that "she never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her pap do to her don't count." Mayella asks him to kiss her back, and Tom asks her to let him out of the house. However, her back is to the door, and he doesn't want to force her to move - as a black man, if he lays a hand on her he could later be killed. Then Mr. Ewell arrives, calling his daughter a "goddamn whore," and telling her he will kill him. Tom runs away in fear.
It's now Mr. Gilmer's turn to question Tom, which he does somewhat aggressively, using the term "boy" to address him. He tries to get at Tom's motivations for helping Mayella, insinuating that he must have had ulterior motives for helping her. Tom finally says he just tried to help because he felt sorry for her, which stirs up the audience considerably. Mr. Gilmer asks whether Tom thinks Mayella was lying about asking him to chop up the chiffarobe in November - Tom avoids a potential trap by saying he thinks Mayella must be "mistaken in her mind" about this and everything else. Mr. Gilmer asks why he ran if he had a clear conscience, and Tom said he was afraid of being tried in court, not for what he did, but for what he didn't do.
At this point, Dill starts to cry, and Scout takes him outside the courthouse. He says he can't bear to watch Mr. Gilmer behaving so disrespectfully toward Tom. Scout says that all lawyers do that and Mr. Gilmer didn't even seem to be trying as usual today. Dill points out that Atticus isn't like that. A sympathetic voice behind them agrees that it makes him sick too - they turn to see Mr. Dolphus Raymond.
Analysis
Tom's crippled state is more than just a plot device, but also serves as an emblem for his disadvantage in life as a black man. His arm was injured in a cotton gin, a machine used primarily by slaves, and later, poor black workers in the cotton fields. The legacy of slavery cripples Tom today in court and in his everyday life, just as his actual injury is a constant burden for him.
Mayella's sad situation comes out more fully in Tom's testimony. Her short comment about "what her pap do to her don't count" shows that she is probably abused in some way by her father, and the sexual connotation may connote sexual abuse or even incest. She is as lonely as the "mixed" children, belonging to neither black nor white circles.
The idea that a black person could feel sorry for a white person refutes all of Maycomb's social assumptions, making Tom's comment extremely provocative in the courthouse. Black life is thought to be, by nature, inferior to white life, and the idea of a black man seeing something more wanting in a white person's life than his own subverts everything that the town's social fabric is based upon. As Jem explains in chapter 23, every class looks down upon the class below it - so black people should not feel pity for anyone.
Dill's feeling of illness during Mr. Gilmer's cross-examination shows his extreme sensitivity, as a young child, to the ugliness of society's prejudices and evil. Scout tries to see Mr. Gilmer's actions as part of the method of the job he is trying to do, following Atticus's advice to try to "get into a person's mind" in order to understand them better. For Dill, escape is the best solution to most negative experiences in the real world; his exit from the courthouse mirrors his running away from home and his general tendency toward escapism.
Chapter 20 Summary
Mr. Dolphus Raymond offers Dill his drink, and they discover that he is only drinking Coca-Cola. Mr. Raymond explains that he feels he has to give the population some reason for his odd behavior (being friendly toward black people). He says that it's easier for people to handle strangeness when they have a reason to explain it - thus he pretends to be a drunkard. He says he thinks that children like Dill haven't lost the instinct that tells them that it's wrong for white people to "give hell" to black people without consideration for their basic humanity.
Scout and Dill return to the courtroom, where Atticus is beginning his speech to the jury. Atticus explains that the case is very simple, because there is no medical evidence and very questionable testimony to prove Tom's guilt. Atticus explains that Mayella has "broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society" by attempting to seduce a black man. He acknowledges her poverty and ignorance, but says "I cannot pity her: she is white." He explains that Mayella followed her desires even though she was aware of the social taboos against her actions. Having broken one of society's strictest codes, she chose to "put the evidence of her offense" - Tom Robinson - away from her by testifying against him. Atticus accuses Mayella of trying to rid herself of the source of her own guilt.
Atticus suggests that Mr. Ewell beat his own daughter, as shown by Mayella's bruising on her right side: Mr. Ewell leads predominately with his left, while Tom can't punch with his left hand at all. Atticus points out that the case comes down to the word of a black man against the word of the white people, and that the Ewells' case depends upon the jury's assumption that "all black men lie." Atticus reminds everyone that there are honest and dishonest black people just as there are honest and dishonest white people. He tells the jury that in a court of law, "all men are created equal." A court is, however, no better than the members of its jury, and he urges the jury to do their duty. His speech is over, and suddenly Calpurnia is seen moving toward the front of the court.
Analysis
Atticus appeals to the jury's sense of dignity, and in putting together the facts of the case, he stresses the simplicity of the evidence and shows that the facts point toward Tom's innocence. As later becomes apparent, Atticus doesn't really believe that the jury will set Tom free, even though he does hope that they will, as evidenced by the way he says "In the name of God, believe him," under his breath at the end of his speech. All he can hope for is to leave an impression upon the town by exposing the truth for all to see.
Atticus's treatment of Mayella reveals that though a victim of many cruelties, she has chosen to in turn bring cruelty upon Tom, and she must not be excused for this. As he points out, Mayella wants to protect herself by placing her guilt onto Tom, knowing that her actions will bring about his death because the jury will believe her and not him. Thus she manipulates the unfairness of her society toward her own ends.
Mr. Raymond, as Scout notes elsewhere, is a person of high enough social standing that he can act is very unorthodox ways and have his behavior condoned not only because, as he says, he gives the people a "reason" with which to interpret his behavior, but also with the usual expression, "it's just his way." The ability to be pardoned for certain eccentricities isn't allowed to people of all levels of society - for instance if one of the Ewells displayed similar behavior, they couldn't be excused as just having "a way." Mr. Raymond's social prominence is a cushion which allows him to behave oddly and mingle with black people in utter defiance of social codes.
Chapter 21 Summary
Calpurnia arrives with a note for Atticus from Aunt Alexandra, who is concerned that the children have been gone all day. Atticus allows the children to return to hear the jury's verdict after dinner. They return home, where Aunt Alexandra is saddened to hear that the three of them, particularly Scout, were at the courthouse, and they eat, then go back to the court, where the jury is still discussing. The courtroom is packed but everyone is silent and still, and Scout feels the sensation of chilliness in the room. Finally the jury returns and Judge Taylor polls the jury. Every jury member declares Tom guilty. Atticus whispers something to Tom, then exits the courtroom. All the black people in the balcony rise to their feet to honor him.
Analysis
Jem was sure that the trial would go in Tom's favor after the evidence came out about his left arm. The pronouncement of guilt therefore comes as a complete surprise to his naïve mind, and he feels each jury-member's "guilty" verdict like a physical feeling of pain. He is in fact psychologically wounded by the results of the trial, feeling that his previously good opinion of the people of Maycomb (and people in general) has been seriously marred. His trust in the rationality of the people has been beset by the knowledge that people can act in irrationally evil ways. He will find himself struggling to conceive of how otherwise good people can behave in such ugly ways for the rest of the book and beyond.
Despite the unfavorable verdict, the tribute which the black community pays to Atticus shows that he has achieved, through the way he handled the trial, a worthwhile lesson for the townspeople by exposing the unfairness of their collective opinions. Just as he fathers Jem and Scout in good moral virtues, he seems to be trying to teach the town a lesson and infuse them with more virtuous ideas.
Chapter 22 Summary
Jem is crying and angry - he thought that the case was clearly in Tom's favor. Atticus is exhausted and when Jem asks him how the jury could have done it he responds, "I don't know, but they did it. They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it - seems like only children weep." The next morning, however, he explains that there's a good possibility for the case to be appealed in a higher court. Calpurnia reveals that the black community has left Atticus all sorts of appreciative gifts -chickens and bread and produce. Atticus's eyes fill with tears; he says he's very grateful but tells Calpurnia that they shouldn't do more when times are so hard. Dill comes by for breakfast and tells them that Miss Rachel thinks that "if a man like Atticus Finch wants to butt his head against a stone wall it's his head." The children go outside and Miss Maudie saves them from Miss Stephanie's nosy gossip by inviting them over for cake. Miss Maudie says that Atticus is someone who does other people's unpleasant jobs for them. Jem is discouraged and disappointed with the people of Maycomb, who he formerly thought were "the best people in the world." He thinks that no one but Atticus worked on Tom's behalf, but Miss Maudie points out that many people helped, including Mr. Tate the sheriff, the black community, and especially Mr. Taylor the judge, who offered Atticus the case in the first place. Miss Maudie says that even though she knew Atticus couldn't win, he did manage to keep the jury out in discussion for longer than anyone else could. She says "we're making a step - it's just a baby step, but it's a step."
As they leave, Dill says he wants to be a clown when he grows up, because "there's ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off." They see Mr. Avery, Miss Stephanie, and Miss Rachel discussing something with animation in the street: Mr. Ewell saw Atticus by the post office, spat in his face, and told him that "he'd get him if it took the rest of his life."
Analysis
Atticus reaches a point of frustration immediately after the trial, but his usual optimism returns the next day when he begins talking about the chance for an appeal.
Though he acknowledges that "they'll do it again," and understands the reality that evil will always persist in some form, he seems to need to believe that there is hope for the future in order to keep himself going. Exhausted and pessimistic the night after the trial, he seems restored the next morning, as if his ability to exist and his hope are closely intertwined.
Miss Maudie makes Jem aware of an entire network of people who were quietly working in Tom's favor. Her use of the word "we" to represent them not only creates the sense that there is a cohesive group with a communal vision, but also makes the children feel like they are now included as a part of it. The trial has affected their lives in many ways, and now they are aware that they are by default going to part of the ongoing aim of taking "steps" toward fairness and equality.
Dill's comment about being a clown follows his tendency for escapism. He finds reality so incomprehensible that it becomes necessary for him to define himself in another, separate reality where he can be safe from the trauma that Jem feels and the confusion that Scout feels as a result of existing so closely to events. Dill also seems to typify a certain idea of the work of the artist in his efforts to create a separate reality for himself that serves as a vantage point from which to see the events going on in the world. He can perceive them but will not become caught up in them, and will treat them all as a performance that is ultimately meaningful only in that it is a reaction against the real.
Chapter 23 Summary
Atticus is unconcerned about Mr. Ewell's threat, and tells his worried children that Mr. Ewell, who has been publicly discredited by the trial, just needs to feel like he is retaliating against someone, and better to have it be Atticus than the Ewell children.
Tom is being held on a prison farm, and cannot be visited by his wife and children. Atticus thinks there's a good chance he'll be spared execution by having his sentence commuted by the governor. Atticus comments that too many people are sent to death based upon purely circumstantial evidence. Jem thinks that juries should be done away with, because they can't make reasonable decisions. Atticus responds that men don't behave rationally in some situations, and will always take a white man's word over a black man's. Atticus tells Jem that any white man who cheats a black man is trash.
Jem and Atticus talk about what keeps people off of juries. Women can't serve on juries in Alabama, and many people don't want to get involved in court cases because their livelihood depends in some way upon maintaining good favor with both parties involved in a case. Jem thinks that the jury decided quickly, but Atticus reminds him that it took a few hours, which is much longer than usual - typically a case like Tom's would be settled in a matter of minutes. Atticus sees this as a sign of the beginnings of change for the better. Also, the one jury member who wanted to defend Tom's innocence was a Cunningham. Atticus thinks that all Cunninghams will stand solidly behind anyone who wins their respect, without fail - and the incident at the jailhouse won the Finches great respect.
Scout wants to invite Walter Cunningham over for lunch more often, but Aunt Alexandra puts her foot down, saying that the Cunninghams aren't the right sort of people for Scout to spend time with. Scout can be gracious to Walter and polite, but can't invite him over because "he is trash." Scout is upset about this and Jem tries to comfort her by explaining that Aunt Alexandra is just trying to make her into "a lady." He says that there are four different kinds of people in Maycomb county: "ordinary" people like themselves, people like the Cunninghams in the woods, people like the Ewells by the dump, and black people. Each class looks down upon and despises the class below it. The two try to resolve exactly what separates and distinguishes the categories of white people. Background doesn't seem to matter, because all the families are equally old. Jem thinks it has to do with how long the family has been literate. Scout thinks "there's just one kind of folks. Folks." Jem says he used to think so as well, but he doesn't understand why they despise one another if that's the case. He adds that maybe Boo Radley stays inside because he wants to.
Analysis
Again Atticus is overly hopeful: his opinion of Mr. Ewell shows a lack of understanding for the ultimate possibility for evil inherent in some people.
Jem is unsure whether people can be trusted to serve on juries, based on the jury that served in Tom's case, and Atticus points out some of the factors that make juries less than ideal. Some people are not willing to do right by serving on a jury because they fear public opinion - for instance a shopowner would not want to lose business by sitting on a jury in a dispute between two customers. Fear seems to be the main motivating factor that makes individuals shirk the task of upholding what they know to be right. Also, as Atticus points out, the state itself is unfair by not allowing women (or for that matter blacks) to serve on juries.
Even after all the events of the trial, Scout continues to believe that all people are the same, all people are "folks," they are neither all good nor all bad, and sometimes they act out of weakness. She can't determine what makes her family "better" than the Cunninghams. Jem seems to still want a reason to explain why some people act the way they do; he feels that he has outgrown Scout's viewpoint and needs a new one that is calibrated to his more mature mind. His comment about Boo shows that he is on the whole feeling mistrustful toward humanity.
Chapter 24 Summary
Aunt Alexandra has ladies over for a meeting of the Missionary Society of Maycomb. Scout is in attendance in order for her to learn to be a lady. The women discuss the plight of the Mruna people, a non-Christian group who are said to live in squalor and are being converted thanks to the efforts of a missionary named J. Grimes Everett. Scout doesn't enjoy being around women but does her best to take part. The discussion moves toward the topic of Tom's wife, Helen - apparently the black cooks and field hands in town were discontented during the week after the trial. One of the ladies comments on how much she dislikes a "sulky darky," and says that when her black female servant complains about something, she reminds her that Jesus never complained. Another lady says that no amount of education will ever make "Christians" out of black people, and says that "there's no lady safe in her bed these nights." Miss Maudie tersely shows her differing opinion on this topic. Aunt Alexandra magically smoothes everything over in the discussion. Another lady says that Northerners are hypocrites who claim to give blacks equal standing but actually don't mix socially with them, whereas in the South people are very up-front about their lack of desire to share the same lifestyle.
Scout remembers that Calpurnia told Atticus that the day Tom went to prison he lost hope. Atticus couldn't promise Tom an acquittal so he didn't try to reassure Tom by giving him potentially false hope. Suddenly Atticus comes inside and requests Aunt Alexandra's presence in the kitchen: he gives her the news that Tom tried to escape from the prison and was shot to death by the prison guards. They tried to tell him to stop and fired warning shots, but he would not listen and kept running. Atticus needs Calpurnia to go with him to Tom's wife to give the news. The two of them go, leaving Aunt Alexandra to tell Miss Maudie in the kitchen that she's concerned about Atticus. The trial has taken a lot out of him and it seems to be unending. Miss Maudie thinks that the town has paid Atticus a high tribute by trusting him to do right and uphold justice. These people are the small handful who know that blacks should be given justice, and who have "background." The two women then join the other women effortlessly, and for the first time Scout feels inclined to be ladylike, thinking that "if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I."
Analysis
Just as Chapter 12 gives insight into black society in Maycomb, this chapter gives insight into women's society. Scout's experience with the Missionary Society women is somewhat mixed. She observes the hypocrisy with which the women try to do good for a remote culture like the Mrunas, but neglect the needs and sufferings of the black community. Particularly disconcerting is the way the women discriminate freely against the blacks, complaining about "sulkie darkies" and making ridiculous insinuations that black men, spurred on by the trial, will start coming into their beds. The women's provincialism comes out when they speak of the Mruna people - it is evident that they have no understanding of how another way of worship could be just as spiritually meaningful as the religion they have always known. They also refuse to believe that the blacks of Maycomb are Christians, although as shown in Chapter 12, they are clearly worshipping the same God. Miss Maudie is the only woman who seems to show any appreciation for conscience, but when she speaks up, Aunt Alexandra is required by civil code to move the conversation into pleasant topics again - thus the ladies never seem to discuss anything meaningful.
Throughout the book, women are often described in relation to sweet things: for instance in Chapter 1 they are described as "soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum," Miss Caroline is described as looking like a peppermint drop, and the ladies gathered at the Finch household are said to smell heavenly and make many remarks about Aunt Alexandra's dainty tarts. Even Miss Maudie is best-known, outside of her gardening, for her pound cake, and Aunt Alexandra is famous for her Christmas dinner. Women seem, in these descriptions, somewhat superficial and transient. The delicate desserts they seem to epitomize are hardly fortifying or necessary - they mainly look pretty and behave pleasantly - but lack real substance.
When meaningful news does come in, the women are spared from hearing it when Atticus takes Aunt Alexandra into the kitchen. The news of Tom's attempt at escape, and his loss of hope after his sentence, occurs in the middle of the women's meeting about doing good in the world, which both points to their hypocrisy and their wasted "moral" zeal, and gives context to Tom's feelings of hopelessness. However, Scout does note that there is an element of challenge involved in being a lady; this appeals to her when she watches Aunt Alexandra and Miss Maudie put themselves together and rejoin the group. The ability to maintain an appearance of tact and civility above all other events strikes her as an appealing skill, and for the first time she seems to see it as a necessary way of conducting interactions.
Chapter 25 Summary
Jem and Dill were out swimming on the day that Atticus and Calpurnia went to see Tom's wife, and they got a ride with them. Dill said that when Tom's wife saw the two of them, she seemed to faint, falling to the ground in a heap. Scout is remembering this weeks later, after Dill has gone home to Meridian. Tom's death was only news in Maycomb for two days - it was regarded as "typical" in the sense that black men are thought to typically run away without having any plan, as if it reflects badly upon his character.
Scout reflects that "in the secret courts of men's hearts" nothing Atticus could have said could have freed Tom. Upon hearing the news, Mr. Ewell is rumored to have said "one down and about two more to go," but Jem tells Scout that Mr. Ewell won't really take action on his threats.
Analysis
Maycomb's reaction to the news of Tom's death demonstrates how willingly they will interpret the actions of one black person negatively in order for it to feed into their existing negative feelings for all black people. Scout realizes that the decision to see the world fairly can only occur within each individual's heart, and that there is no way to reach a person who has not become personally convinced in the virtue of following a moral course of action.
For the black community, however, the news of Tom's death is devastating, as exemplified by Helen's collapse. Atticus could not promise Tom that all would go well for him, because he did not want to promise anything that he couldn't be sure of. Tom lost the courage and determination to keep living long enough to be potentially released: possibly, like Jem, his hopes that people would listen to the voice of reason were dashed completely, and given all the injustices he has experienced in his life, he did not think it possible that his case would be appealed.
Chapter 26 Summary
School is in session again, and Scout has lost her fear of the Radley place - every now and then she thinks about what it would be like to see Boo one day sitting on the porch, and greet him as if they spoke to each other every day. School is hard for the Finch children: their peers are generally somewhat cold toward them, as if their parents had instructed them to be civil but not outwardly friendly. One day Scout's class gets into a discussion about Hitler and the persecution of the Jews. Her teacher, Miss Gates, speaks at length about how the German dictatorship allows for the Jews to be persecuted by a prejudiced leader, but she claims that in America, "we don't believe in persecuting anybody." Scout tells Jem that she is confused because on the day of the trial, she heard Miss Gates say that she thought it was "time somebody taught them a lesson, they thought they was getting' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us." Jem is furious and doesn't want to discuss the events surrounding Tom's trial at all. Atticus assures Scout that Jem just needs some time to think about things, and then he'll be himself again.
Analysis
The coldness of the schoolchildren shows that when children grow up in racist households, they act with racist attitudes, just as Jem and Scout grew up in a household which valued fairness and learned this vale instead. Again this shows how people are influenced by their societies: their identity becomes shaped by the society and family life they grow up in.
Boo has gone from being a monster to a sad recluse to a potential friend - the events of the trial have made the children consider that maybe Boo needs a good home to run to (Dill's theory) or maybe he prefers to stay out of contact with people (Jem's theory). Scout's dream of finally getting to talk to Boo shows her disposition to make him feel at home, and to show him that people might not be so bad.
Miss Gates's statement that the persecuted Jews have contributed to every society they've been a part of implies that blacks are not contributing in any way to American society. She hypocritically believes that the Jews deserve sympathy because they are white, whereas the persecuted group of the blacks still deserves second-class citizenship. She also insinuates that because the United States is a democracy, fairness is available for all, when blacks are suffering from the same kinds of discrimination and segregation that Jews experience in Hitler's dictatorial regime. The "democracy" she speaks of is not an all-inclusive one that offers the same rights to all.
Jem is still distraught by the trial, and needs time to allow his still adolescent mind to understand events in a more adult way.
Chapter 27 Summary
Scout relates a few events. Mr. Ewell holds down a job for a few days - he is fired from the WPA (Work Projects Administration) for laziness. One night Judge Taylor finds the strange shadow of a prowler in his house. Helen Robinson has been working on the property of Mr. Link Deas, but walks nearly a mile out of her way in order to avoid walking past the Ewell's house, because they "chunk" at her when she passes by. When Mr. Link Deas finds out, he approaches the Ewell house and yells to them, warning them not to bother Helen, or else he'll have them put in jail. The next day, Mr. Ewell follows Helen to work, "crooning foul words" the entire way, but Mr. Link Deas again threatens him with jail and he stops this behavior. Aunt Alexandra thinks that these events bode poorly.
It's nearly Halloween, and Mrs. Grace Merriweather writes a pageant for Maycomb people to perform in a pageant about the history of the county. She wants children to play the parts of Maycomb's agricultural products. Scout is going to play the part of the pork. She will wear a large costume made of chicken wire and wrapped around with brown cloth, which she puts over her head so it comes to just above her knees. She can't put it on or take it off without someone else's help, as it pins her arms down, and she can't see well through the eyeholes. Jem takes her to the play because everyone else is tying to avoid having to go to it.
Analysis
Mr. Link Deas is revealed to be another member of the forces working for fairness in Maycomb by his defense of Helen against the menace of Mr. Ewell. Mr. Ewell is shown again to be cowardly and evil, threatening those who can defend themselves least. Otherwise this chapter provides the background for a tale of building suspense, in which a completely ordinary and harmless event, the Halloween pageant, becomes one fraught with horror.
Chapter 28 Summary
Jem and Scout walk past the Radley house on the way to the school, where the pageant will be held, along with a country fair. It's very dark, and they can barely see anything. They are scared by the sudden appearance of the boy Cecil Jacobs, who runs out to scare them. Cecil and Scout entertain themselves at the fair until the pageant begins. Scout misses her cue during the pageant because she falls asleep listening to Mrs. Merriweather's dull history. However, she comes on for the last song. She is very embarrassed, and wants to keep her costume on for the walk home.
The walk back will be very dark, and near the school, Scout remember that she forgot her shoes inside. She is thinking of returning to get them, when Jem thinks that he hears something which seems to make a noise when they walk and stop when they stop. Scout hears it too, but thinks maybe it's just Cecil again. They call out taunts to Cecil in order to get a response, but there is only silence. Jem thinks maybe Scout should take off her costume, but she doesn't have any clothes underneath, and can't get her dress on in the dark. They are almost home, near the dark shadow of the tree by the Radleys' house, and are trying to walk faster. It sounds like the person behind them is wearing thick cotton pants. The next time they stop walking, the footsteps behind them suddenly quicken into a run. Jem yells to Scout to run, but her costume throws her off balance. Something is crushed against her and she hears metal ripping. Jem's hand tries to pull her, but she is tangled up in her costume. There is a crunching sound and Jem screams. The man whom they are struggling with grabs Scout and begins to strangle her, when suddenly he is jerked backwards and thrown to the ground. Scout thinks Jem must have saved her, but she still can't see anything. She hears the sound of someone breathing heavily and, walking toward the tree to lean on, reaches out with her toes to find a person on the ground with stubble and the smell of stale whiskey. She makes her way in the direction of the road, and in the street light she sees a man carrying Jem, whose arm is hanging down oddly.
Scout arrives home and the doctor and sheriff are summoned. Jem is unconscious and has a broken arm. Scout checks on him, noting the man who carried him sitting quietly in the corner. She assumes he is a countryman she doesn't recognize who happened to hear the fight and come running. The sheriff investigates outside and comes back to report that Mr. Ewell is lying outside dead with a kitchen knife in his ribs.
Analysis
The attack occurs all around Scout and the sense of her helplessness makes the account of the violence more intense. Though the book began with a fear for the monstrous, phantom-like figure of Boo Radley, this chapter solidifies a reversal: Boo becomes the children's savior against the real evil, a human man. One reason that Dill dwells in fantasy rather real life is that nothing can be as frightening in fantasy as it can be in reality. Now that the children have grown older, they come to know vividly that the real source of evil to be concerned about comes from their fellowman, not from imaginary ghosts.
Chapter 29 Summary
Scout tells the story of what happened outside to Atticus, the sheriff, and everyone else assembled. Mr. Tate notes the mark that Mr. Ewell's knife made in Scout's costume, and points out that Mr. Ewell meant to seriously harm or kill the children. When Scout points out the man who carried Jem, she finally takes a good look at him. He is very, very pale, with thin cheeks and feathery hair, and seems somewhat tense and nervous. She suddenly recognizes him as Boo Radley and says hello to him.
Analysis
With the description of his hair as "feathery," Boo is immediately identified with the "mockingbird" idea, especially with his slight appearance and fluttery hand movements. He has finally become a real person, completing the progression from monster to human; meanwhile, Mr. Ewell's evilness has turned him into a human monster, whose bristling facial stubble felt by Scout suggests an animal-like appearance.
Chapter 30 Summary
The doctor returns and everyone moves to the back porch, where Scout finds herself assisting Boo into a rocking chair, feeling her odd fantasy about finding him sitting on the porch one day to be coming true. The others are discussing who killed Mr. Ewell. Atticus thinks that Jem must have done it, and he doesn't want it to be hushed up. However, the sheriff insists continually that Mr. Ewell fell onto his knife and killed himself, which irritates Atticus, who wants Jem to be treated as fairly as anyone else and not have exceptions made. After much arguing, finally the sheriff yells out that he's not trying to protect Jem (he is trying to protect Boo). The sheriff urges Atticus, this once, to accept the situation even if it's not perfectly just according to law: Mr. Ewell was responsible for Tom's death, and the sheriff urges Atticus to "let the dead bury the dead." He says that it would be a sin to drag shy Boo Radley out into the limelight, and declares officially that Mr. Ewell fell on his own knife. Atticus asks Scout if she understands, and she says that she does, and that having it another way would be like shooting a mockingbird. Atticus thanks Boo for the lives of the children.
Analysis
Atticus is trying to uphold the law by demanding that Jem be brought to trial for the crime of murdering Mr. Ewell, not realizing that the sheriff is really trying to protect Boo. As seen before in the case of the Ewell's, who are allowed to hunt in season, the law must be bent in order to protect Boo. When Atticus sees what the sheriff is trying to do, he relents, realizing that it is in everyone's best interests to allow Boo to unofficially punish the Ewell's for the crime of trying to send Tom to his death. By this point, the "mockingbird" theme has already been made clear, but this chapter rehashes the idea that the innocent should not suffer in the hands of the powerful.
Chapter 31 Summary
Scout asks Boo if he'd like to say good night to Jem. Boo doesn't say a word, just nods when she asks if he'd like to do so. Scout shows Boo how to gently stroke Jem's hair. Then she perceives that he wants to leave, and she leads him to the porch, where he asks her in a near-whisper, "Will you take me home?" She leads him home and he goes inside his house and shuts the door. The narrator, speaking as an older Scout, says she never saw him again.
Scout imagines the years that went by and how Boo watched over "his" children.
Back home, Scout sits with Atticus, who begins to read her one of the scary children's stories he has picked up to read. Scout says she wasn't scared by the events tonight, saying that "nothing's really scary Œcept in books." She is talking about a book character who was chased and caught and then found to be innocent and "real nice." Atticus says that "most people are, when you finally see them."
Analysis
Scout finally acts the part of the hospitable Southern lady in assisting Boo around the house and seeing him home; she interacts with him in a serious and grown-up fashion. Though she runs to tell Jem when she first discovers Boo is in their house, she reacts against this childish reflex and gives Boo his privacy very tactfully. She has learned how to be a guide for others, as shown by her symbolic act of leading Boo to safety. She can visualize things from his perspective now, as Atticus once advised her to do, and she observes the years go by from his perspective, seeing herself and Jem and Dill through new eyes; also neatly summarizing the events of the book.
Scout shows that even though she has discovered that people can be evil in unfathomable ways, she still upholds her faith in humankind and can face anything with courage. Unlike Dill, she finds that the real world does follow patterns, and once one knows them, the world of fantasy and books is the only place where real fear can exist.
