Kelso High School
English Department
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
Chapters Twenty One, Twenty Two, Twenty Three,
Twenty Four, Twenty Five– Learning Intentions
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Plot Summary / Key Incidents
Characterisation – Jem Finch
Characterisation – Atticus Finch
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
Characterisation - Dill
Characterisation – Tom Robinson
Theme - Prejudice and Intolerance
Theme – Innocence
Theme – Growing Up
Symbolism
Plot Summary / Key Incidents
• Chapters 22-25 Summer - September 1935
• Jem is upset by the verdict.
• The black community send gifts to Atticus to
show their appreciation.
• Bob Ewell spits at Atticus and vows revenge.
• Tom tries to escape from jail and is shot dead.
Characterisation – Jem
• He is still upset by the verdict and “weeps
bitterly” and tells Atticus, “It ain’t right”.
Characterisation - Atticus
• Atticus appears strained by the verdict.
• He is bitter about the lack of outrage on the part
of Maycomb to the verdict
“Seems that only children weep”
• The black community, however, show their
appreciation by sending him food.
Characterisation - Atticus
• He is calm enough to walk away when Bob Ewell spits in
his face and threatens him - “I wish – Bob Ewell
wouldn’t chew tobacco,’ was all Atticus said about it.”
• He is extraordinarily reasonable in:
(i) saying that he would rather Bob Ewell vent
his anger on him rather than on “that houseful
of children there”
(ii) trying to persuade the children to see the situation
from Bob Ewell’s point of view.
• He makes a mistake, however, in underestimating how
angry Bob Ewell is about the court case.
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
• His negative portrayal continues:
He spits in Atticus’s face and threatens him
He is suspected of breaking into
Judge Taylor’s house
Aunt Alexandra describes him as having
a ‘permanent running grudge against
everyone involved in the trial”
Characterisation: Dill
• Dill is upset by the unfairness of the
verdict
“ I think I’ll be a clown when I
get grown …”
• He is disillusioned and so angry with
people that he wants instead to separate
himself from them and become a clown
who laughs at them.
Characterisation – Tom Robinson
• Tom never seems to get angry about his situation, even
though he has been unfairly accused and unfairly convicted.
• He does, however, lose faith in the justice system which is why
he tries to escape. He lost his faith in “white men’s chances”.
• He is shot seventeen times by the guards trying to escape.
• His death is described in the Maycomb Tribune as a “senseless
slaughter”.
Theme – Prejudice & Intolerance
• Mr Dolphus Raymond recognises the prejudice and
intolerance of Maycomb:
“You haven’t seen enough of the world yet,” he tells Scout
(when commenting on how special and good her father is, and
her innocent belief in human goodness).
“You haven’t even seen this town, but all you gotta do is
step back inside the courthouse”.
Theme: Prejudice and Intolerance
• The missionary ladies, led by Mrs Merriweather,
complain that Atticus shouldn’t have stirred up trouble
by defending Tom.
• Portrayed as hypocritical, “Mrs Merriweather’s large
brown eyes always filled up with tears when she
considered the oppressed”, [in Africa]. They talk about
helping black people in Africa, but don’t recognise how
they mistreat black people in their own town.
• Maycomb loses interest in Tom’s death after only two
days. It seems his trial has changed nothing, “Maycomb
was interested by the news of Tom’s death for perhaps
two days”.
Theme: Innocence
• Jem does not understand the flaws in the legal system.
• He does not understand that laws can only be changed when
people want them changed.
Theme – Growing Up
• Physically, Jem is growing up. He shows Scout his
chest hair and is thinking of trying out for
football.
• Emotionally he is growing up. He realises that
things aren’t always as they seem. He’d always
thought that “Maycomb folks were the best
folks in the world”, and he is disappointed to
learn that they are not.
Theme: Growing up
• He learns that in life the just / right thing is not always done.
• He learns how the justice system in America really works.
Atticus tells him that “when it’s a white man’s word against a
black man’s, the white man always wins”.
• He also learns from Atticus that the world is sexist as Miss
Maudie could never sit on a jury because she is a woman.
• Scout is learning to become more considerate and put other
people’s feelings before her own. She sits with the ladies at
the Missionary Tea because she knows it will please her aunt.
Theme: Growing Up
• Scout is excited about crushing the rolypoly bug which conveys her as a child.
• Jem, who is now sensitive to the
vulnerability of those who are oppressed,
gets her to leave the defenceless insect
alone.
Symbolism – Mr Dolphus Raymond
• His sitting outside the courtroom is appropriate because he
does not belong inside with the rest of the white people
because he does not share their prejudice.
Symbolism – Mr Underwood’s article
• The article states, “sin to kill cripples, be
they standing, sitting or escaping”.
• Underwood “likened Tom’s death to the
senseless slaughter of songbirds by
hunters and children”
• Symbolism makes clear that it is wrong to
kill creatures who do no harm.
Symbolism – The Insect
• Jem prevents Scout from killing insects because “they don’t
bother you”.
• This is reminiscent of mockingbird symbol that it is wrong to
kill creatures who do you no harm.
Symbolism – “The Giant”
• When Helen Robinson is told of Tom’s
death she falls to the ground “like a
giant with a big foot just came along
and stepped on her”.
• Is white society the giant?
Success Criteria : Chapters Twenty Two, Twenty Three, Twenty
Four and Twenty Five
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Plot Summary / Key Incidents
Structure
Characterisation – Jem Finch
Characterisation – Atticus Finch
Characterisation – Bob Ewell
Characterisation – Dill
Characterisation – Tom Robinson
Theme - Prejudice and Intolerance
Theme – Innocence
Theme – Growing Up
Symbolism
Chapters Twenty Two, Twenty Three, Twenty
Four and Twenty Five
The End!!