To Kill A
Mockingbird
Chapters 12-15
Chapter 12
Letter from Dill
and
The Negro Community
Letter from Dill
• Jem is growing up; According to
Scout he is difficult to live with
June 1935
• He is moody;
Dear Scout,
• He has developed a superiority
You will never believe what happened!
I have a new father now. I am not going
to come to Maycomb this summer because
are going to build a fishing boat. He is a
lawyer like Atticus, but he is much younger
than Atticus. We are going to have so much
fun together.
Just remember that I will love you forever
and I plan to marry you when I get some
money. Please write to me.
complex
• Summer begins
• (third summer now) and
• Scout receives a letter from Dill
stating he will be staying in
Mississippi
• He has a new father
Love,
Dill
Church with Calpurnia
• Atticus, in addition to being a
•
•
•
•
lawyer, is a state representative
He is away for extended periods of
time because the legislature is in
session this summer
Atticus does not return by Saturday
evening
Calpurnia decides to take the
children with her to her church on
Sunday
This experience gives the children a
new perspective on not only
Calpurnia, but also the Negro
community as a whole
A Woman in Two Worlds
• The people at Cal’s church are
respectful to the children
• Scout notices that Cal speaks
differently when she is
around her own people than
how she speaks at their house
• The church has no hymnal
because most of the
congregation cannot read
Helping One of Their Own
• They take up a collection for Tom
Robinson’s family
• Reverend Sykes says it is not
enough
• They lock the doors until they get
the $10 the Reverend said was
needed.
• This shows their generosity
• Scout has questions about Tom
Robinson’s case
• Reverend Sykes tries to answer
Scout’s questions
The Charge
• The charge against Tom is
revealed
• He is accused of raping
Mayella Ewell, a white woman
• When Cal and the children
arrive home, Aunt Alexandra
is on the front porch
• She has come to Maycomb to
help take care of Scout and
Jem
Chapter 13
Aunt Alexandra
Aunt Alexandra
• We are given more insight into
Aunt Alexandra’s personality
• She believes in the caste system and
thinks she is part of the upper class
• She reveals more about the Finch
family
• She is can be described as
moralistic, prejudiced, a gossip, selfrighteous
Chapter 14
Runaway
Power Struggle
• Aunt Alexandra and Calpurnia do
not get along
• Aunt Alexandra is trying to usurp
Calpurnia’s position and the way
she runs the household
• Aunt Alexandra suggests that
Atticus fire Calpurnia
• Atticus refuses
• Everyone bosses Scout
• She believes this to be unfair
Dill Runs Away
• Dill comes to Maycomb
• He hides under Scout’s bed
• He has run away from home
because his parents ignore
him
• He runs from a place where
there is no love and
acceptance to where he
knows he will be loved and
accepted (the Finches)
Dill Gets to Stay
• He is granted permission to
stay with his aunt all summer
• Scout asks Dill why Boo
Radley has never run away
• Dill is very intuitive in his
reply: “maybe he doesn’t
have anywhere to run off to”
Chapter 15
Protecting Tom Robinson
Warnings
• Heck Tate comes to warn Atticus
they’re moving Tom Robinson to the
Maycomb jail
• He expects trouble from the farmers
from Old Sarum
• Link Deas also warns Atticus
• Atticus leaves the house that evening
• He takes his car
• This is unusual because he seldom used
his car in Maycomb
• The kids begin to worry when Atticus is
not home by 10:00 that night
The Gang from Old Sarum
• They decide to go down to
the jail to see what is going
on
• The men from Old Sarum
show up
• They are a lynch mob
• Atticus refuses to budge or
release Tom to them
The Lynch Mob
• Scout gets scared and runs to
Atticus to see if he is okay
• Atticus tells Jem to take the
kids home
• Jem refuses
• A man from the mob grabs
Jem
• Scout kicks him in the groin
Protecting Tom
• Scout recognizes Mr. Cunningham
• (Walter’s dad)
• She talks to him about his
entailment
• This embarrasses him into realizing
that he was given fair treatment
under the law
• The mob needs to do the same for
Tom
• Scout does not realize what she has
done
• She has averted a crisis situation
Tom is Safe
• Atticus and the kids go home
after the mob leaves
• Tom was also being protected
by Mr. Underwood, the
owner of the newspaper, who
was on the second floor of
his building with a gun