To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapter 27
Characters:
Mr Bob Ewell: Acquired a job and lost in within three days. He is the first one who was fired from the
WPA for laziness. Mr. Ewell found himself as forgotten as Tom Robinson. Thereafter he resumed his
weekly appearance at the welfare office for his cheque, and received it with no grace amid obscure
mutterings that the bastards who thought they ran this town wouldn’t permit a man to make an honest
living. Insulted Helen Robinson when she went to work at Mr Link Deas.
Ruth Jones: The welfare lady. Said Ewell openly accused Atticus of getting his job. She was so upset
about Ewell’s remarks that she walked to Atticus’s office to tell him.
Judge Taylor: Judge Taylor did not go to church on Sunday evenings but Mrs Taylor did. At evening
church time Judge Taylor would be in his study reading about Bob Taylor. Judge Taylor heard a
scratching noise and thought he saw the glimpse of a person on his back porch. The screen of the back
door was cut. He then sat with the shotgun across his lap.
Ann Taylor: Judge Taylor’s dog.
Helen Robinson: Helen had to pass the Ewell place to Mr Link Deas every day. She had to walk a mile
out of he way to work because the Ewells chunked (made rude remarks) at her.
Mr Link Deas: Made a job for Helen. He drew it out of Helen what the Ewells were doing. He walked
Helen home the short way, stopped at the Ewell house and warned the Ewells to leave Helen alone. The
next morning when Helen passed the Ewell house, Mr Ewell walked some steps behind her talking dirt
the whole time. Helen phoned Mr Link Deas and Mr Link came an warned Ewell that he will have him
arrested for breaking the Ladies Law (sexual harassment). Mr Ewell never bothered Helen again.
Aunt Alexandra: Did not like any of these events.
Atticus: Atticus thinks Ewell is upset because he is not a hero after the trial. The town just sort of told
him to go back to his dump. Atticus says Judge Taylor looked at Ewell at the trial as if Ewell was a three
legged chicken hatched from a square egg. Something very strange.
Cecil Jacobs: Wanted to know if Atticus was a radical. Atticus said he was as radical as Cotton Tom
Heflin.
Mrs Tutti and Frutti Barber (Sarah and Francis): It was rumoured they were Republicans who migrated
from Clanton. Their house had a cellar. They were both deaf. Last Halloween the children slipped into
their living room in the middle of the night and carried all the furniture into the cellar. The two sisters
said they heard a truck driving away with their furniture. They insisted the Syrians took it. They ordered
Heck Tate to get the bloodhounds. They only ran to the cellar and bark. After the dogs did it for the third
time Heck Tate guessed the furniture was in the cellar. All the children kept their shoes on until the
hounds were returned for in case the hounds smelled out the guilty one.
Halloween: Because of what happened to the Barbers, Halloween would be organised. The high-school
auditorium would be open and there would be a pageant for the grown ups, and a prize of twenty five
cents for the best Halloween costume.
Mrs Grace Merriweather: Wrote a play for Halloween: Maycomb County: Ad Astra Per Aspera (From
mud to the stars). Scout was going to be a ham, Cecil Jacobs a cow, Agnes Boone a butter-bean, another
child a peanut.
Mrs Crenshaw: Made Scouts costume. She took some chicken wire and bend it in the
shape of a cured ham. She covered it with brown cloth and painted it to represent
the original. They would lift the outfit over Scout’s head and she would get in. She
looked like a ham with two legs. Once in she could not take if off herself. She could
not even scratch her nose and it was very hot.
New phrases:
WPA: Work Progress Administration later changed to Work Project Administration. The WPA
provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United
States. Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA provided almost eight million jobs. Until
ended by Congress and war employment during 1943, the WPA was the largest
employer in the country. Most people who needed a job were eligible for at least some
of its jobs. Hourly wages were the prevailing wages in each area; the rules said workers
could not work more than 30 hours a week, but many projects included months in the
field, with workers eating and sleeping on worksites.
Cotton Tom Heflin: Heflin argued, successfully, for completely excluding Black Alabamans
from voting, stating that he truly believed that "God Almighty intended the negro to be
the servant of the white man."
NRA (National Recovery Act): That New Deal law was designed to promote recovery and
reform, encourage collective bargaining for unions, set up maximum work hours (and
sometimes prices) and minimum wages, and forbid child labor in industry.
Halloween: Is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of
Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints, but is today largely a secular
celebration. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and
attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing,
visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films.
The Evening of the Halloween Show
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Atticus did not want to go because he just returned from Montgomery where he had
spent a week.
Jem would take Scout.
Aunt Alexandra said she decorated the stage the whole afternoon and was tired. She
would also not go but would go to bed early.
Scout gave them all a preview of her performance in the sitting room.
Jem acted the part of Mrs Merriweather.
They were all delighted with Scout’s performance.
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Scout performed it to Calpurnia in the kitchen who said she was wonderful.
Scout also performed it to Miss Maudie across the street.
After all those performances Scout did not care who went.
Chapter 28
The Halloween show
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Jem took Scout to the concert.
When passing the Radley house they speculated whether Boo was there.
The road was long and dark.
They could not see anything.
Cecil Jacobs jumped at them and frightened them.
They put their costumes backstage.
The whole county was at the auditorium.
Jem gave Scout thirty cents and she could do six events.
Scout did the House of Horrors, bought some home-made divinity.
The show started.
Somebody smashed Scout’s costume and Mrs Merriweather fixed and reshaped it.
Scout did not enter the stage at the right time and possibly ruined Miss
Merriweather’s pageant. The other found it very entertaining especially Judge
Taylor.
Jem said she did all right
Scout forgot her shoes.
They wanted to turn back but the auditorium lights went out.
Jem thought he heard someone following them.
They thought Cecil was following them.
The fat streaks of Scout’s ham glowed in the dark, that is how Cecil could follow
them.
They screamed things at Cecil but nobody came out.
Somebody was still following them.
Jem wanted Scout to take off the ham to move faster but she could not.
They were almost at the tree.
The children stopped again.
Whoever was following them ran towards them
Jem told Scout to run.
Something crushed the chicken wire around Scout.
Jem pulled Scout with him.
Jem was jerked backwards and screamed after Scout heard a dull crunching sound.
Scout rammed into the person who had Jem and just heard ‘Uff!’
Someone else grabbed the person that was holding Scout.
A man was breathing heavily.
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Jem was not answering any calls.
The heavily breathing man picked Jem up and carried him towards the house.
Scout followed them.
Atticus ran towards them and took Jem into the house with the man.
Aunt Alexandra ran for Scout.
Dr Reynolds was called.
Atticus phoned Heck and told him someone attacked Jem and Scout.
Jem was unconscious.
Aunt Alexandra brought Scout her overalls.
Dr Reynolds arrived.
Jem had a broken arm, his elbow was broken.
Mr Heck Tate arrived, said he found Mr Ewell lying under the tree with a kitchen
knife stuck up his ribs.
Chapter 29
Mr Bob Ewell: said he would get Atticus even if it was the last thing he did in his life
and this seemed to be the last thing he did.
Aunt Alexandra: wanted to leave the room. She said she had a feeling about the
night. She was in shock.
Mr Tate: started to question Scout about the night. He said Ewell’s arm had little
holes in it where the chicken wire hurt him. Ewell did try to hurt Scout by squashing
the ham. The costume showed evidence that someone tried to cut it with a knife.
The costume saved Scout’s life.
Boo Radley: He was the one who saved Jem and Scout.
Chapter 30
They discuss the events on the porch where the lights are not too bright for Arthur
Radley.
Atticus: Thinks it would be the right thing to do to prosecute Jem for the murder of
Bob Ewell. He was not yet thirteen and it would not be so hard on Jem. Atticus did
not want to hide anything, he wanted the truth to come out because he was an
honourable man even if it mean Jem had to go to jail. Finally Atticus accepted Heck
Tate’s explanation and told Scout that Bob Ewell fell in his knife. He hoped Scout
understood. Atticus thank Arthur for his children.
Heck Tate: Told Atticus that Jem never stabbed Ewell. Heck Tate convinced Atticus
that Bob Ewell fell in his own knife. He killed himself. Heck Tate said he could prove
it. In the end Heck said he was not thinking of Jem, he was thinking of Arthur Radley.
Heck Tate showed Atticus how Ewell could fall on his own knife. He demonstrated
with a switch blade he had on him. It could have been Ewell’s switch blade but Heck
Tate said he took the blade off a drunk earlier that night. Ewell must have found the
kitchen knife on the dump and sharpened it. Heck Tate said the events of the night
was his decision and not Atticus’s decision. Jem never stabbed Bob Ewell. Heck Tate
said there was a black boy dead for no reason, the man responsible was dead. Let
the dead bury the dead. Mr Heck Tate did not want the town to know that Boo
Radley prevented a crime from being committed because all the ladies of the town
would be knocking on the door to say thanks. Boo would not be able to handle all
the visits and attention. Heck Tate said it would be a sin to drag Arthur Radley into
the limelight after what he has done for Atticus.
Scout: She told Atticus she understood. She said it would be like killing a
Mockingbird.
Chapter 31
Arthur Radley: Touched Jem while he was still unconscious.
Scout: Made it look as if Arthur was leading her to his house when Arthur asked her
to take him home. She wanted people like Stephanie Crawford to see that Arthur
was a gentleman. On the porch of Arthur’s house she saw that you really could see
the whole street from there and that it was possible for Arthur to know what was
going on in the neighbourhood.
Atticus: Was sitting up with Jem for a while. Atticus had to read for Scout from The
Grey Ghost.
The Grey Ghost: This little story becomes a metaphor or allegory for Boo Radley's
life. The character in the story is accused of many things and people don’t really
know what he looks like. In the end he does not look that bad, is real nice, and never
did any of the things he was accused of. They same applies to the life of Boo Radley.
Many things were said about him, in the end he looked real normal and he saved the
lives of Jem and Scout.