TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Brief Chapter Overviews
(CHAPTERS 16 - 20)
CHAPTER 16
p.
Scout cries when she thinks about the mob and the events at the jail.
p.
Braxton Underwood “despises negroes”.
p.
Scout has some “coffee”.
p.
Aunt Alexandra asks Atticus to watch what he says in front of the help.
p.
Atticus’ subtle change
p.
He lets Alexandra know exactly how much Calpurnia means to the family.
p.
Mr. Cunningham is basically a good man who has his blind spots just like everyone else.
p.
a mob is always made up of people / it took an 8 year old to bring them to their senses
p.
Atticus does not want Scout to fight Walter Cunningham.
p.
Atticus does not want the children near the courthouse.
p.
Mr. Dolphus Raymond
p.
Mennonites
p.
Mr. X. Billups
p.
foot-washing Baptists quoting scripture at Miss Maudie because of her flowers
p.
Miss Maudie will stay away from the courthouse; Miss Stephanie Crawford will go.
p.
Dolphus Raymond’s life story
P.
mixed children: “they’re real sad”
p.
“…around here once you have a drop of Negro blood, that makes you all black.”
p.
the Idlers’ Club
p.
Atticus was appointed by the court to defend Tom, so he has to do it.
p.
African Americans enter the courthouse last.
p.
no room for Jem, Scout, and Dill to sit
p.
Reverend Sykes offers to let them sit in the Coloured balcony.
p.
Four Negroes rise and give up their front row seats.
p.
The jury seemed to be made up of all farmers.
p.
Judge Taylor
CHAPTER 17
p.
the solicitor, Mr. Gilmer
p.
Sheriff Heck Tate’s testimony
p.
Atticus questions Heck Tate
p.
no doctor was called
p.
description of Mayella’s injuries
p.
Mayella had a black eye – her right
p.
finger marks all around her throat
p.
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p.
Mr. Bob Ewell takes the stand
description of Ewell family life and where they live
Mayella’s red geraniums
Bob Ewell does not speak in a serious tone; tries to make jokes
Bob Ewell’s testimony
“I seen that ----- ------ yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella”
Judge Taylor had to pound his gavel for a full five minutes
Reverend Sykes thinks it’s a good idea for Jem to take Scout and Dill home
a request is made to have the courtroom cleared of the women and children
Mr. Ewell testifies that he saw the defendant having intercourse with Mayella.
According to Bob Ewell, the African Americans living close to him are devaluing his property.
Bob Ewell runs into Atticus as he leaves the witness chair.
Atticus cross-examines Bob Ewell.
reasons for not running for a doctor
Bob Ewell agrees with Heck Tate’s description of Mayella’s injuries.
Bob Ewell knows how to read and right; he is left handed.
Jem: “We’ve got him.”
It seems that only a left-handed person could have caused Mayella’s black right eye.
CHAPTER 18
p.
Mayella Violet Ewell takes the stand.
p.
Mayella’s testimony
p.
Mayella cries; she is afraid of Atticus.
p.
On the night in question, she asked Tom Robinson to bust up an old chiffarobe for a nickel.
p.
Mayella’s description of what Tom “did”
p.
Atticus cross-examines Mayella.
p.
“Miss Mayella” and “Ma’am” … is Atticus making fun of her?
p.
Atticus builds up a picture of the Ewell’s home life
p.
Does Mayella have friends?
p.
Does Mayella love her father? He is “tollable, ‘cept when…” he has been drinking.
p.
Has Bob ever beaten Mayella?
p.
The testimony continues. She never asked Tom to come inside the fence before that night.
p.
“Do you remember him beating you about the face?”
p.
Mayella identifies Tom Robinson as the man who raped her. Atticus asks Tom to stand.
p.
Tom is crippled / description of his left arm / how the accident happened
p.
Atticus: “Is this the man who raped you?”
Mayella: “It most certainly is.”
Atticus: “How?”
p.
Why didn’t you run? Where were the children?
p.
Did Mayella start screaming only when she saw her father at the window?
p.
Did Bob Ewell beat up Mayella?
p.
Mayella: “I got somethin’ to say an’ then I ain’t gonna say no more…”
CHAPTER 19
p.
Tom Robinson takes the stand; he tries to place his hand on the Bible
p.
30 days for disorderly conduct
p.
employed by Mr. Link Deas
p.
no other way to go to work except by passing the Ewell property
p.
chop up the chiffarobe – way last spring
p.
Mayella would always find some work for Tom to do.
p.
Mayella: the loneliest person in the world
p.
Tom never went on the Ewell property without an invitation.
p.
“If he had been whole, he would have been a fine specimen of a man.”
p.
Mayella has a door falling off its hinges that needs to be fixed.
p.
it’s quiet/no children around/it had taken her a year to save up seven nickles/ice cream in town
p.
Mayella asked Tom to stand on a chair and get a box down from on top of a chiffarobe.
p.
she grabs him around the legs / a chair is overturned / she hugs him around the waist
p.
“She says she never kissed a grown man before…”
p.
“She says what her papa do to her don’t count.” Does Bob Ewell sexually abuse his own
daughter?
p.
“…you god-d*** whore, I’ll kill ya.”
p.
Tom’s predicament: can’t hit/push Mayella (a black man being violent towards a white woman)
and he can’t run away (it would mean he was guilty of doing something bad)
p.
Tom’s explanation of why he ran
p.
Mr. Link Deas stands up and vouches that tom has been a model employee; Judge Taylor gets
mad and throws Mr. Deas out of the courtroom.
p.
Mr. Gilmer’s cross-examination of Tom
p.
30 days for disorderly conduct / strong enough to choke the breath out of a woman and sling
her to the floor / mighty generous and anxious to help Mayella
p.
Mr. Gilmer: “You did all this chopping and work from sheer goodness, boy?”
p.
Tom Robinson: “Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her…”
Mr. Gilmer: “You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?”
p.
Mr. Gilmer: “…you say she’s lying, boy?”
Tom Robinson: “I say she’s mistaken in her mind.”
p.
Dill starts crying.
p.
Dill explains why he is crying.
p.
Scout: “Well, Dill, after all, he’s just a Negro.”
p.
Mr. Dolphus Raymond: “… it just makes you sick, doesn’t it?”
CHAPTER 20
p.
Mr. Raymond gives Dill a sip from his paper sack – it’s Coca-Cola!
p.
Mr. Raymond explains why he pretends to be a drunkard.
p.
The townsfolk could never understand that Dolphus Raymond lives the way he does because
that’s the way he wants to live.
p.
Scout is fascinated by this man who is deliberately perpetrating a fraud against himself.
p.
Why does Dolphus trust Scout and Dill with his secret?
p.
“…the hell white people give coloured folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people
too.”
p.
Atticus is not a run-of-the-mill man.
p.
Dolphus: “…you haven’t seen enough of the world yet. You haven’t even seen this town, but all
you gotta do is step back inside the courthouse.”
p.
Scout and Dill go back to listen to the rest of Atticus’ speech to the jury.
p.
Jem: “….and we’re gonna win, Scout. I don’t see how we can’t.”
p.
Atticus unbuttons his vest and collar, loosens his tie, and takes off his coat.
p.
Atticus: “This case is as simple as black and white.”
p.
Atticus pities Mayella.
p.
review of the evidence
p.
Atticus is sweating.
p.
Atticus’ final appeal to the jury to make the right decision
p.
Calpurnia arrives and heads straight for Atticus.