Kelso High School
English Department
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
Chapters Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen,
Twenty, Twenty One– Learning Intentions
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Plot Summary / Key Incidents
Structure
Characterisation – Jem Finch
Characterisation – Atticus Finch
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
Characterisation – Mayella Ewell
Characterisation – Tom Robinson
Theme - Prejudice and Intolerance
Theme – Growing Up
Theme – Innocence
Symbolism
Plot Summary / Key Incidents
• Chapters 16-21 Summer 1935
• The trial starts and the children sit in the black
people’s gallery.
• Heck Tate and Bob Ewell testify.
• Mayella Ewell testifies.
• Tom Robinson gives evidence.
• Scout and Dill learn the truth about Dolphus
Raymond.
• The jury finds Tom Robinson guilty.
Structure
• Novel divided into two sections , but could
easily have been three sections.
• Natural break after Chapter 21 when trial
ends.
• Chapter ends with all the black people in
the gallery rising to their feet in a powerful
gesture of silent respect because as
Reverend Sykes tells Scout, “Your father’s
passin’.”
Characterisation – Jem
• He is clearly upset by the verdict
“his hands were white from gripping the
balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if
each ‘guilty’ was a separate stab between
them”.
Characterisation - Atticus
• We find out that he did not choose to defend
Tom Robinson, he was appointed to.
• Atticus is respectful to everyone. He calls
Mayella “Ma’am” and she assumes that he must
be mocking her because she isn’t used to
politeness.
• He is respected by the black community because
he did his best to defend Tom even though the
verdict was known before the trial started, “Miss
Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’”.
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
• Portrayed negatively.
• He does not care for his family and lets them live
“ like
animals”.
• It is hinted that he is abusive towards his daughter.
• It seems likely that the whole idea of the accusation against
Tom came from him after he saw what Mayella was up to. HE
IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR TOM’S DEATH.
• He is cocky and unpleasant in the witness box, lying
confidently and using coarse and racist language.
Quotation Homework (Chapter 17)
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
• Bob Ewell is looked down upon by the townspeople
“Maycomb
Ewells lived behind the town
garbage dump in what was once a Negro
cabin”.
• He is arrogant, lazy and an abusive fool, but the
fact that even he has the power to destroy an
innocent man is a sad reflection on the racist
world of Maycomb.
Characterisation – Mayella Ewell
• Pitiable. Reader does feel some sympathy.
• She is portrayed as a victim – her father beats her and possibly
molests her while she has to deal with unhelpful siblings.
• She is not used to being treated politely and thinks Atticus is
mocking her when he calls her “Ma’am”.
• “It came to me that Mayella must have been the loneliest
person in the world”.
• “Mayella looked as if she tried to keep clean and I was
reminded of the row of red geraniums in the Ewell yard”.
Characterisation – Mayella Ewell
• However, as she continues to testify we feel less
sympathy.
• She is rude to Atticus and finally refuses to speak to him
at all.
• She always refers to Tom Robinson as “nigger” and
clearly thinks that she had the right to order him to do
odd jobs for her.
• Tom tells the court that Mayella said that she had never
kissed a grown man before and “might as well kiss a
nigger”.
Characterisation – Mayella Ewell
• Her true character is revealed by her final
outburst:
“ That nigger yonder took advantage of me
an’ if you fine fancy gentlemen don’t wanta do
nothin’ about it then you’re all yellow stinkin’
cowards, stinkin’ cowards, the lot of you”.
• Our final impression of Mayella is that she,
despite being a victim herself, inflicts worse
cruelty on others. She is prepared to destroy
Tom Robinson in order to cover her shame.
Characterisation – Tom Robinson
• The reader should pity him.
• His honesty and goodness render him supremely moral.
• He is hardworking and honest and has enough compassion to make
the fatal mistake of feeling sorry for Mayella,
“I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try
more than the rest of them”.
• He is measured in his speech. He challenges the white
characters’ stereotypes of a black man because he is
thoughtful and polite. He feels uncomfortable about having to
repeat bad language in court and says, “It’s not fittin’ for these
folks, chillun’ to hear”.
• Mayella’s advances towards him are completely unwelcome, but he
tries to be as gentle as possible with her, “didn’t wanta push her or
nothin’”.
Characterisation – Tom Robinson
• He doesn’t say anything bad about the
Ewells, even after he hears the lies they
tell in court.
• The fact that Tom is portrayed as a decent
man but still found guilty, shows how
people can be blinded by racial prejudice
and the terrible effects this can have.
Theme: Prejudice and Intolerance
• No matter what evidence is presented at the
trial, the racist jury would never, under any
circumstances, acquit a black man accused of
raping a white woman:
“ I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favour
of a coloured man over a white man”
• The jury are prepared to believe the word of
nasty Bob Ewell over decent Tom Robinson.
• There is even segregation in the court room, “
The Coloured balcony ran along three walls”.
Theme: Prejudice and
Intolerance
• Mr. Gilmer is prejudiced and disrespectful in his crossexamination of Tom and this upsets Dill,
“ The way that man called him ‘boy’ all the time
and sneered at him an’ looked around at the jury
every time he answered”.
• Mr. Gilmer is clearly prejudiced. He believes Tom must be
lying, must be violent, must lust after white women –
simply because he is black.
Theme : Prejudice and Intolerance
• The fact that this case has even come to trial clearly conveys
prejudice and intolerance:
“ She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did
something that in our society is unspeakable: she
kissed a black man”.
• The verdict is a clear sign of prejudice and intolerance: “I ain’t
ever seen any jury decide in favour of a coloured man over a
white man….” …… “Guilty… guilty… guilty…guilty”.
Theme – Growing Up
• Jem understands the finer points of the trial and
the workings of the court and law in a way that
Scout does not.
• From time to time during the five trial chapters
he explains to her what is happening.
Theme : Innocence
• Jem has grown up, but he is still in some respects innocent
and naïve.
• He still believes the world is fair and that the verdict of the
trial will be obvious.
• When Jem says, “We’ve got him,” after Bob Ewell is shown to
be left-handed, the reader knows better. We know that Atticus
like Mrs Dubose in her battle with morphine is “licked’ before
he begins.
• The innocence of childhood dies for Jem, Scout and Dill when
they realise that the adult world is often a cruel and unjust
place.
Theme: Innocence
• Tom Robinson was also innocent about the ways of the Ewells
– he felt sorry for Mayella Ewell and tried to help her, but she
accused him of rape. He was probably the only person who
had ever been kind to her.
• He was also innocent about the way people would judge him
for pitying a white person, “You felt sorry for her, you felt
sorry for her?’ Mr Gilmer seemed ready to rise to the
ceiling…but the damage was done. Below us, nobody liked
Tom Robinson’s answer”. People don’t like the fact that he
admits feeling sorry for Mayella when he’s on trial.
• He didn’t rape Mayella Ewell, but is still found guilty. Mayella
and Bob Ewell are guilty of lying. However, because they are
white, their word is believed over Tom Robinson.
Symbolism : The Trial
• Though the trial targets Tom Robinson, in
another sense it is Maycomb that is on trial.
• Atticus eventually loses the case, but he
successfully reveals the injustice of a prejudiced
society that confines blacks to the ‘Coloured’
balcony and believes the word of a despicable,
ignorant man like Bob Ewell over the word of a
decent black man like Tom Robinson.
• In the courtroom, Atticus loses. In the mind of
the reader justice and the white community lose.
Symbolism – The Mockingbird
• The title of the novel is really important.
• Mockingbirds represent the innocence of
people like Boo Radley and Tom Robinson
who are persecuted even though they do
no wrong and only try to help others.
Symbolism: The Mockingbird
• Like the mockingbird, Tom and Boo should be protected and
cared for. Instead they are hunted down by the mob. Tom is
persecuted by the jury, Boo is persecuted by the children and
by the town gossips.
• With its verdict the jury has killed “the mockingbird”, which
symbolises the gentle, harmless creature like Tom, but also
human values and justice itself.
• Justice is “killed” when the jury follow their own prejudices
and ignore the true evidence.
• The jury does not value these fragile things because they are
racist and prejudiced.
Success Criteria : Chapters Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen,
Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty One
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Plot Summary / Key Incidents
Structure
Characterisation – Jem Finch
Characterisation – Atticus Finch
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
Characterisation – Mayella Ewell
Characterisation – Tom Robinson
Theme - Prejudice and Intolerance
Theme – Growing Up
Theme – Innocence
Symbolism
Chapters Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen,
Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty One Analysis
The End!!