Quotes
Find an interesting quote with the page number to support each topic
listed below.
1. Plot
“It was summertime, and two children scampered down the sidewalk
toward a man approaching in the distance… Summertime, and his
children played in the front yard with their friend, enacting a strange little
drama of their own invention… It was fall, and his children fought on the
sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dubose’s… Winter, and a man walked into the
street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog. Summer, he watched his
children’s heat break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him.”
(279)
“There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads- they
couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word
against a black man’s word, the white always wins. They’re ugly, but these
are the facts of life” (220)
2. Setting
a. Time period: 1930’s, the Great Depression
1. “… I tell you if my Sophy’d kept it up another day I’d have let her go.
It’s never entered that wool of hers that the only reason I keep her is
because this depression’s on and she needs her dollar and a quarter
every week she can get it.” (233)
2. “Maycomb was itself again. Precisely the same as last year and the
year before that, with only two minor changes. Firstly, people had
removed from their store windows and automobiles with sticker that
said NRA- WE DO OUT PART. I asked Atticus why, and he said it was
because the National Recovery Act was dead. I asked who killed it: he
said nine old men.” (251)
b. Place: Maycomb County, Alabama
1. “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first
knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop, grass grew on
the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was
hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules
hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live
oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning.
Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by
nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet
talcum.” (5)
2. “ People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square,
shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about
everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seems longer. There
was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no
money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of
Maycomb County.” (5)
c. Mood of the story: The racism and other ugly inequality, there are
several dark moods involved. However, many other smaller episodes,
especially the ones that involve children, are written in fun and light
way, showing Scout’s humor and innocence. The novel ends in
optimistic light, showing hopes of alleviation on racial prejudices.
d. Tone: Childlike, innocent, humorous, (as the story progresses) dark,
critical, (at the end) optimistic
3. Character Development- A quote and page number is required.
a. Protagonist: Atticus Finch
“ ‘The main one [reason for defending Tom Robinson] is, if I didn’t I
couldn’t hold up my head in town. I couldn’t represent this county in
the legislature. I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something
again… You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one
thing for me: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down.
No matter what anybody says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat…”
(76)
b. Antagonist: Maycomb (the community in whole)
1. “ 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. Funny thing, Atticus
Finch might’ve got him off scot free, but wait-? Hell, no. You know how
they are. Easy come, easy go.” (240)
2. “This was news, news that put a different light on things: Atticus
had to [defend Tom Robinson], whether he wanted to or not… He had
to, that’s why he was doing it, equaled fewer fights and less fussing.
But did that explain the town’s attitude? The court appointed Atticus
to defend him. Atticus aimed to defend him. That’s what they didn’t
like about it. It was confusing.” (163)
c. Static character: Atticus Finch
“ ‘Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I’ve tried to live
so I can look squarely back at him… if I connived at something like this
[Jem thought to have killed Bob Ewell] frankly I couldn’t meet his eye,
and the day I can’t do that I’ll know I ‘ve lost him. I don’t want to lose
him and Scout, because they’re all I’ve got.’ ” (273)
“Handful of people in this town who say that fair play is not marked White Only;
the handful of people who say a fair trial is for everybody, not just us; the handful
of people with enough humility to think, when they look at a Negro, there but for
the Lord's kindness am I” (236)
“ ‘Most people are [nice], Scout, when you finally see them.’ ” (281)
d. Dynamic character: Jem Finch
1. “ Jem was twelve. He was difficult to live with, inconsistent, moody…
Jem had acquired alien set of values and was trying to impose them on
me: several times he went so far as to tell me what to do.” (115)
“If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If
they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I
think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to
understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time...it's
because he wants to stay inside." (227)
2. “ ‘I never wanta hear about that courthouse again, ever, ever, ever,
you hear me? Don’t you ever say one word to me about it again, you
hear?’ … Atticus said that Jem was trying hard to forget something, but
what he was really doing was storing away for a while, until enough
time passed. Then he would be able to think about it and sort things
out. When he was able to think about it, Jem would be himself again.”
(247)
e. Foil character: Mrs. Merriweather & Mrs. Farrow and Miss Gates
(blinded by the prejudice)
Mrs. Merriweather & Mrs. Farrow:
1. “Oh child, those poor Mrunas… I made a pledge in my heart, when I
go home I’m going to give a course on the Mrunas...” (232)
2. “ ‘… S-s-s it doesn’t matter to ‘em [African Americans] one bit. We
can educate ‘em until we’re blue in the face, we can try till we drop to
make Christians out of ‘em, but there’s no lady safe in her bed these
nights.’ ” (232)
Miss Gates:
1. “ ‘ That’s the difference between America and Germany. We are a
democracy and Germany is a dictatorship. Over here we don’t believe
in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are
prejudiced. Prejudice.’ ” (245)
f. Round character: Dill Harris
“The Radley place fascinated Dill. In spite of our warnings and
explanations it drew him as he moon… The more we told Dill about
the Radleys, the more he wanted to know, the longer he would stand
hugging the light pole on the corner, the more he would wonder.” (12)
g. Flat character: Nathan Radley
“Jem said Mr. Nathan Radley “bought cotton,” too. Mr. Nathan would
speak to us when we said good morning, and sometimes we saw him
coming from the town with a magazine in his hand.” (12)
h. Stereotypes: stereotypes against Boo Radley
“ Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-ahalf feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and
any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained…
There were long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he
had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of
the time.” (13)
i.
Stock character: Miss Stephanie Crawford (a chatty, gossipy neighbor)
“So Jem received most of his information [gossips about Boo Radley]
from Miss Stephanie Crawford, a neighborhood scold, who said she
knew the whole thing. According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in
the livingroom cutting some items from The Maycomb Tribune to paste
in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. As Mr. Radley passed
by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped
them on his pants, and returned to his activities.”(11)
4. An example of figurative language. A quote and page number is required.
a. Allusion:
1. “Dill had seen Dracula, a revelation that moved Jem to eye him with
a beginning of respect.” (7)
2. “ ‘The Gray Ghost, by Seckatary Hawkins. Chapter one…” (280)
b. Irony
1. “ ‘I wants to know why you are bringin’ white chillun to nigger church…
You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillum here- they got their
church, we got our’n.’ ” (119)
2. “ ‘Well, coming out of the courthouse that night Miss Gates was- she
was goin’ down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her- she was
talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford. I heard her say it’s time somebody
taught ‘em a lesson, they were getting’ way above themselves, an’ the next
thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so
bad an’ then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home-’ ” (247)
3. “ ‘Oh child, those poor Mrunas… The poverty, the darkness, the
immorality…’ ‘… S-s-s it doesn’t matter to ‘em [African Americans] one bit.
We can educate ‘em until we’re blue in the face, we can try till we drop to
make Christians out of ‘em, but there’s no lady safe in her bed these
nights.’ ”(231- 232)
c. Foreshadow
1. “ After that it didn’t matter whether they [Atticus, Aunt Alexandra,
Calpurnia] went [to the pageant] or not. Jem said he would take me. Thus
began our longest journey together.” (254)
2. “ 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.” (241)
d. Symbolism
1. “ ‘Your father’s right,’ she said. ‘Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but
make music for us to enjoy…. They don’t do one thing but sing their heart
out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’” (90)
2. “Tim Johnson was not much more than a speck in the distance, but he
was closer to us. He walked erratically, as if his right legs were shorter
than his left legs. He reminded me of a car stuck in a sandbed.” (93)
e. Imagery
“Her [Mrs. Dubose] face was the color of a dirty pillowcase, and the
corners of her mouth glistened with wet, which inched like a glacier down
the deep grooves enclosing her chin. Old-age liver spots dotted her
cheeks, and her pale eyes had black pinpoint pupils. Her hands were
knobby, and the cuticles were grown up over her fingernails." (106)
f. Motif- reoccurring subject or theme
-Racism:
1. “… Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom
Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case.
Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and
screamed.” (241)
2. “Jem said it looked like they could save the collection money for a year
and get some hymn-books. Calpurnia laughed: ‘Wouldn’t do any good,’
she said. ‘They can’t read.’ … ‘Where’d you go to school, Cal?’ ‘Nowhere.’”
(124)
3. “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.” (164)
4. “What was one Negro, more or less, among two hundred of them of
‘em? He wasn’t Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner.” (235)
-Gender Inequality:
1. “… For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve in the jury because she’s a
woman.” (221)
2. “ ‘I swear Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl it’s mortifyin’.’”
(38)
-Classism:
“ ‘Because-he [Walter Cunningham]-is-a-trash, that’s why you can’t play
with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning
Lord-knows-what.’ ” (225)
-Prejudice against people who are different:
1. “People said he [Boo Radley] went out at night when the moon was
down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold
snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes
committed in Maycomb were his work.” (9)
2. “The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a
predilection unforgivable in Maycomb. They did not go to church,
Maycomb’s principal recreation, but worshipped at home… The shutters
and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sundays, another thing
alien to Maycomb ways; closed doors meant illness and cold weather
only.” (9)
3. “ ‘This says I am Miss Caroline Fisher. I am from North Alabama, from
Winston County.’ The class murmured apprehensively, should she prove
to harbor her share of the peculiarities indigenous to that region.” (16)