9/10/13
Chapter 1 Summary
Scout is the narrator, she is five in the story. Her brother name is Jem. They have cook Calpuria. Their
father is a lawyer. The story takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama. It is the Summer, and they
make friend with Dill, who lives with Aunt, Miss Rachel. Dill dares Jem to touch the house that Boo
Radley lives in. Jem touched the house.
Chapter 2 Summary
Scout starts the 1st grade. Her teacher’s name is Miss Caroline. Miss Caroline got mad at Scout because
she already knew how to read and write. Miss Caroline told her to stop reading and writing at home. It
was lunch time, Walter Cunningham didn’t have lunch. The teacher tried to give him a quarter. Scout
explained that the Cunningham’s never took anything for free. Scout’s teacher “had enough of her”.
Miss Caroline hit her hands with a ruler.
Chapter 3
Miss Caroline wanted to send home Burris Ewell because he had a “critter” that jumped off his head.
Scout explains that the Ewell’s have no mother, and there are a lot of children. Scout explains that they
live like animals. They only come the first day of school and then they leave. Burris Ewell made Miss
Caroline cry before he left. Jem invited Walter Cunningham home for lunch. Jem told Walter that their
father’s were friends, so it wasn’t like he was giving him a free lunch he had to pay back. Walter poured
molasses all over his food and in his drink. Scount yelled at him, Calpurnia yelled at Scout for being rude.
Scout didn’t want to go to school anymore. Atticus made a deal with Scout and said that if she went to
school, they could still read together at night. Reading together was their secret.
Chapter 4
Scout found a piece of gum in tree by the Radley house. Jem made Scout spit it out because he said it
was poisoned. A few days later, Scout and Jem found a tiny shiny package with two Indian head pennies
in it. They kept them and said when school started they would ask around to see if anyone lost them.
Two day after school was out, Dill came back for the Summer. They start talking about superstitions and
Scout, Jem , and Dill all believe in them. Next they played with a tire, and Jem pushed Scout in it. Jem
pushed Scout really fast because he was angry with her for disagreeing with him infront of Dill. The tire
went out of control and stopped on the Radley’s front step, and Scout fell out. Scout was scared and
confused and dizzy. Jem made her get up quickly and they ran back to their house. They played a new
game where they were pretending to be the Radley’s. Scout didn’t think it was a great idea. Atticus
came for lunch and asked they kids what they were doing. Atticus implied that they better not be reinacting the Radley story. Scout recalls that she heard Boo Radley laughing when she landed on the
steps in the tire.
Chapter 5
Jem and Dill start excluding Scout. Scout starts spending Miss Maudie. She was a widow, and loves to
garden. Miss Maudie lets the kids play in her garden as long as they don’t bother her flowers. Dill and
Jem plan to give Boo Radley a note using a fishing rod. They were going to attach it to his window. They
wanted to invite him out to play and eat ice cream. Atticus caught them in the act. He was angry. He
ordered them to leave Boo Radley alone.
Chapter 6
Dill, Jem, and Scout decide on the last night before Dill goes home that they are going to look into Boo
Radley’s window. Mr. radley hears them outside and fires his gun in the air. Scout, Dill, and Jem escpae,
but Jem’s pants are caught in the fence. Jem tells Atticus, when questioned regarding his lack of pants,
that he lost them playing strip poker with matches. In the middle of the night, Jem went to get his pants
back. Scout that was scraed for Jem, she thought that Mr. Radley was going to shoot him. Jem returned
later with the pants and trembled in his bed before he went to sleep.
Chapter 7
Jem and Scout aren’t as close as they have been in the past because Jem is growning up. They start
school again-- Scout is second grade and Jem is in 6th. Jem tells Scout the story about when he went to
get his pants from the Radley’s. Instead of being torn up and stuck in the fence, they were folded and
sewn messily. Scout and Jem discover more items left for them in the tree. They find a ball of gray
twine, soap carving of them, a broken pocket watch, and an aluminum pocket watch. They decide to
write a letter thanking them for the gifts. When they go Back to put the letter in the tree, they discover
that the hole has been filled in by Nathan Radley. Nathan Radley said he did it because the tree was
dying. Atticus said the tree was very healthy looking. Jem feels very sad.
Chapter 8
It snows in Maycomb for the first time in 50 years. Scout thinks that the snow is the end of the world.
Scout and Jem build a snow man and it looks like Mr. Avery. Miss Maudie called it morphodite. In the
middle of the Atticus wakes up Scout and Jem because Miss Maudie’s house is on fire. Atticus tells
Scout and Jem to wait by the Radley’s house because it was safe. During the commotion, Boo Radley
puts a blanket around Scout. Scout and Jem did notice. Miss Maudie accepts the fate of her house and
moves on. She is planning on building a smaller house and she stays with Miss Stephanie in the
meantime.
Chapter 9
Scout got into a fight with Cecil because he said the Atticus defended “N”’s. Attiucs told Scout that he
was defending a man named Tom Robinson and he told her not to use the “N” too. They picked up
Uncle Jack Finch (Atticus’ borther) who is a doctor. He is not married and doesn’t have children. They
went to to Finch’s Landing for Christmas. Aunt Alexandra (Atticus’ sister) and Uncle Jimmy live there,
and their grandson Francis was staying with them. Scout got into a fight with Francis and Uncle Jack
spanked her. Scout was very upset with Uncle Jack because he didn’t ask for her side of the story. Uncle
Jack asked Scout and she told him that Francis called Atticus a “N” lover and said he would ruinination of
the family. Uncle Jack wanted to get him in trouble, but Scout made him promise not to tell. Scout
eavesdrops on Uncle Jack and Atticus and Atticus talks about how hard it is going to be for them during
the trial of Tom Robinson. Atticus wanted Scout to hear.
Chapter 10
Atticus is almost 50. Jem says that he’s too old to play football like the other kids fathers and
that he is too old for anything basically. Scout and Jem set up targets to practice shooting their air rifles.
Atticus says they cannot shoot a mockingbird. Atticus tells Scout that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird.
Miss Maudie explains that it is because all mockingbirds do is sing for our enjoyment. They don’t destroy
anything or anybody. Jem was out and found Tim Johnson, the neighborhood dog. Tim Johnson was
stumbling around and looked crazy. Jem ran home and told Calpurnia. Calpurnia called Atticus. She ran
to a couple neighborhood houses and told them to go inside because there was a sick dog coming.
Atticus shows up with the sheriff, Heck Tate. Tim Johnson is stumbling down the street and Heck Tate
gives Atticus the rifle to shoot him. After hesitating, Atticus shot Tim Johnson with one shot. Scout and
Jem then found out that Atticus’s old nickname was 1 shot. Scout wanted to go to school and brag
about her dad but Jem told her not to because if Atticus wanted them to know, he would have told
them.
Chapter 11
Jem and Scout walk by Mrs. Dubose’s house daily—she’s miserable and yells at them for no
reason. Mrs. DuBose made Jem angry because she called Atticus an “n” lover. Jem was so angry he
chopped all of the Camelia flowers with Scout’s baton. Atticus was furious. Jem had to read to Mrs. Du
Bose 6 days a week, for 2 hours a day, for 1 month. Mrs. Du Bose was digusting and dying. A month
after Jem finished reading to her, Atticus was called over to her house and she died. Mrs. Du Bose was
addicted to morphine and she wanted to morphine free before she died, so she was detoxing during the
time that Jem was reading to her. Even though Atticus didn’t agree with her views, her thought Mrs. Du
Bose was a very brave and courageous woman and he wanted Jem and Scout to get to know her. Mrs.
Du Bose left a box for Jem. Inside was a white camellia flower, just like the ones he destroyed. Jem was
very upset when he opened the box. Atticus explained that it wasn’t out of bad intentions.
Chapter 12
Dill wasn’t coming for the summer because he was building a boat with his new father. Atticus
went away for a few days to the state capital for an emergency state congress session so Calpurnia
stayed and watched them. Atticus leaves them money for church on Sunday, but they go to church with
Calpurnia, called the First Purchase Church. After Lula gave Calpurnia a difficult time about bringing
them, Jem and Scout were accepted kindly by the people of the church. Reve. Sykes takes a collection
for Helen Robinson, the WIFE of Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping one of the Ewell’s. Rev.
Sykes shuts the doors and the church gets hot, so more people give money to reach the goal of $10.
After church they return home and see Aunt Alexandra sitting on their porch.
Chapter 13
Aunt Alexandra comes to stay with them for a while because she think that Atticus isn’t raising
Scout and Jem properly. Aunt Alexandra mostly socializes with different clubs and has people over for
tea. She also gossips about everyone in town. Aunt Alexandra says that every family in town has some
kind of streak. Aunt Alexandra makes Atticus talk to Jem and Scout about what it means to be a “Finch”
and how they are better (more or less) than other families in Maycomb, so they should act they way.
Scout gets upset and cries. Jem is confused because Atticus was very serious and not acting like himself.
Atticus is uncomfortable having this conversation and at the end he tells Jem and Scout to forget
everything he just said.
Chapter 14
Scout gets mad at Aunt Alexandra because she said that she can’t visit Calpurnia’s house.
Atticus makes Scout apologize to Aunt Alexandra for being disrespectful. Aunt Alexandra wants Atticus
to get rid of Calpurnia. Atticus refuses because he calls her family. Jem tells Scout to not cause problems
because Atticus is under a lot of stress. Scout gets mad and fights Jem. Atticus pulls them apart and
Scout goes to her room. Scout calls to Jem that she thinks there is a snake under her bed. Jem comes
and looks and it is Dill hiding under her bed. Dill makes up a wild story about why he had run away. He
later tells Scout that he ran away because his parents don’t need him, and they don’t spend any time
with him.
Chapter 15
Jem, Scout, Atticus, and Aunt Alexandra are sitting in the living room and Heck Tate comes over
to tell Atticus that Tom Robinson was being transferred to the Maycomb County jail and people aren’t
happy. Heck Tate implies to Atticus that there may be a drunk angry mob forming. The next day, they
go to church and see Mr. Underwood, the owner, publisher, and the reporter of the Maycomb Tribune.
That night, Atticus takes an extension cord, a lamp and says he’s going to office. Jem, Scout, and Dill
follow Atticus. They find Atticus sitting in front of the jail. The drunk, angry mob pulls up in front of the
jail and demand Tom Robinson. Scout recognizes Mr. Cummingham and introduces herself and basically
calls him out by reminding him about his entailments. Mr. Cummingham told the mob to leave. Mr.
Underwood comes out of his office with a shot gun and he was protecting Tom Robinson and Atticus the
whole time.
Chapter 16
The trial starts and everyone come into town to see it. Dolphus Raymond rides in on his horse,
already drunk. He is drunken old man who has been drunk since his fiancée shot herself in the head
after their rehearsal. People say it’s because Dolphus had a “negro girlfriend” . Dolphus prefers the
company of “negroes”. He has a black girlfriend and many “mixed children” with her. He take s good
care of them. There was no place to sit in the courtroom so Rev. Sykes offered a seat up in the “colored
section” and they took it. Judge Taylor was the judge for the case. He was laid back, allowed smoking in
the courtroom and kept his feet up too.
Chapter 17
Sheriff Heck Tate is on the witness stand. The prosecutor is Mr. Gilmer. He asks Heck tate to tell
his what happen. He says he found Mayella beat up—she had bruises on her arms, a black eye, and
strangle marks around her neck. Atticus then questions Heck. First Atticus asks if they called a doctor.
Heck says no because he could see what happened. Atticus then asks which eye was the black. Heck
said it was the right eye after some confusion. Mr. Ewell was called next. The Ewell’s live behind the
dump. The walls are falling down, there’s junk in the yard, there are between 6 and 9 kids, and they live
on welfare. The house was infested with rats and mice. On witness stand, Atticus made Mr. Ewell write
his name to show the jury that he was left handed. Jem said that Atticus was trying to prove that Mr.
Ewell was the person who gave Mayella a black eye.
Chapter 18
Mayella Violet Ewell was called to the witness stand. She started to sob as soon as she got to the
witness stand. She told the judge because she was afraid of Atticus. The judge told her just to tell him
what happened. She said that she told Tom Robinson that she would give him a nickel if he chopped up
the chiffarobe for firewood. When she went inside to get the nickel, she said he threw her down and
beat her up. She said she was fighting back and screaming. Mr. Ewell heard her scream and ran to save
her, but it was too late. Atticus is able to cross examine Mayella, and he asked her about her family and
background. She thought Atticus was making fun of her by being polite and calling her Miss, and Ma’m.
Atticus asks Tom Robinson to stand up so Mayella can identify him, and we see that his left arm in 12
inches shorter than his right, and it doesn’t really work. It is Atticus’s turn to call witnesses to the stand,
and he only has one witness.
Chapter 19
Atticus calls Tom Robinson to the witness stand. He is large, muscular, black, and 25
years old. His left arm is shorter and flops around because of the accident with the cotton gin
when he was a kid. Atticus asked Tom why he walked past the Ewell place everyday and he said
it was the only to get to Link Deas field where he worked as a picker. Scout is thinking about
Mayella and thinks she is very lonely because she has no friends. White people don’t want to
have anything to do with Mayella because she is trash, black people don’t want to have
anything to do with her because she is white. Tom said that he would do little odd jobs for her
for free and that incident with the chiffarobe happened over a year ago. The dya of the
alledged rape, Mayella sent the kids to get ice cream so they were alone. Tom went inside to
help Mayella, as he was standing on the chair, Mayella hugged him around the waist. He
panicked and jumped off the chair, and the chair turned upside down. Mayella tells Tom that
she never kissed a man and what her daddy does doesn’t count, so might as well kiss him. Mr.
Ewell come to the window screams, Tom get scared and runs. Mr. Gilmer thinks Tom beat up
Mayella. Tom tells Mr. Gilmer that he felt sorry for Mayella. The crowd is astonished that a
black man would feel sorry for a white woman. Dill starts to cry, loud, and Scout takes him
outside. Dill says he upset because they way Mr. Gilmer was treating was treating Tom. Mr.
Dolphus Raymond was behind the tree and heard Dill. He agreed that is made him sick too.
Chapter 20
Scout and Dill were talking to Mr. Raymond outside. He offered Dill his drink from the
bag, to settle his stomach. Scout got nervous because she thought it was alcohol. It was Coca
Cola. He explained to Scout and Dill that he let the townspeople believe he was a drunk
because it was easier for them to accept his lifestyle. The year is 1935.
Chapter 21
Calpurnia came rushing into the courtroom with a note for Atticus from Aunt Alexandra.
The note said that the children were missing. The judge told Atticus that the children were up
in the colored balcony. The children left, Calpurnia was upset because it wasn’t appropriate for
children to hear. After they finished eating, they returned to the courthouse to hear the verdict.
The verdict was Tom Robinson was guilty. The judge and Atticus were visibly upset. As Atticus
was walking out, the balcony (colored section) all rose to their feet to show respect.
Chapter 22
Atticus was up at the “ungodly” hour the next morning and was optimistic about the
appeal. The appeal would give Tom Robinson a second chance to be found innocent. The
Robinson family and their community sent over tons of food to show their appreciation for
Atticus for his defense of Tom Robinson. Jem is disappointed in the people of Maycomb, but
Miss Maudie shows him how the people are some progress regarding their ideas of the black
community. Mr. Ewell sees Atticus at the Post Office and spits on him threatens him to get
him.
Chapter 23
Atticus ignores Bob Ewell when spat in his face. Jem and Scout are nervous about Bob
Ewell threatening Atticus and they think he should get a gun. Atticus is anti-gun. Tom
Robinson is waiting for his appeal in jail. Tom Robinson feels hopeless. If Tom Robinson loses
his appeal, he will get the death penalty. Jem and Scout talk about racism at the end of t he
chapter. Scout says that she feels if everyone is the same and should all get along. Jem says he
felt that at when he was her age. But now he sees things differently.
Chapter 24
Aunt Alexandra is having a meeting with all her bible friends. Scout puts on a dress and helps
Calpurnia serve refreshments. The ladies are all discussing the trial and they are being very racist,
except for Miss Maudie and Aunt Alexandra. Atticus come home and interupts the meeting to speak
with Calpurnia and Aunt Alexandra. He tells them that Tom Robinson was shot and killed. Tom Robinson
ran across the prison yard to escape, and the guards shot warning shots to stop him, but then they shot
to kill. The guards shot him 17 times in the back.
Chapter 25
Atticus, Calpurnia, Dill, and Jem went with to go see Helen and tell her the news. Helen faints
when she hears the news. Maycomb says it’s typical behavior of blacks to “cut and run”. The news is old
in 2 days. Mr. Underwood was upset and wrote about it in his editorial. He compared Tom’s death to
the “innocent slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children”.
Chapter 26
Scout is going to 3rd grade and Jem is starting 7th grade so he is going to high school. Scout walks
past the RAdley place everyday, but is no longer scared. Scout in more curious about Boo Radley. She
imagines what it would like to talk to him and have a conversation with him. Scout discovers that
Atticus knows that her, Jem, and Dill were at the Radley house when Mr. Radley fired the gun.
Chapter 27
Everything about the case settled down. 3 strange things happened n Maycomb the beginning
of October. 1) Mr. Ewell got and lost a job in a few days in the WPA (Works Progress Administration). 2)
There was an intruder in Judge Taylor’s house. 3) Helen was working for Link Deas and was harassed
when she walked past the Ewell’s. Link Deas threatened Mr. Ewell and then Helen was abel to walk past
the house without a problem. Maycomb is having a Halloween pageant because the previous year the
children were out of control so they thought that it would be different if they had someplace to go.
Scout was dressed up as a ham. Scout thought the whole family would come and see her, but Atticus
was tired, Aunt Alexandra was tried from decorating for the pageant, so Jem had to take her.
Chapter 28
Halloween night was dark and warm; there was no moon. And it was windy. As they were
walking, Cecil Jacobs jumped out and scared them. Scout falls asleep waiting to be called on stage. Mrs.
Merriweather calls “Pork” and Scout misses her entrance. She runs on stage at the end and everyone
laughs. Mrs. Merriweather told her she ruined the pageant, and Scout was embarrassed and felt awful.
Scout and Jem are the last to leave because she is embarrassed to see anyone. Scout forgets her shoes
and Jem says they’ll get them tomorrow (which is Sunday). They are walking through woods and being
followed by someone. Jem told Scout to run and she fell. Jem was pulling her and them Jem was
attacked. Scout heard a crunching noise and then Jem screamed. Scout went to Jem and she was
grabbed and almost squeezed to death. Someone grabbed the man attacking Scout and she escaped.
The man took Jem home. Scout followed. Jem is unconscienous and they call the doctor. He also has a
bump on his head. Heck Tate investigates and finds Bob Ewell dead under the tree stabbed a kitchen
knife.
Chapter 29
Heck Tate asks Scout to describe what happened. Atticus showed Scout’s crushed costume to
Heck. Heck said that the costume saved her life because there was a knife slash in the costume. Boo
Radley saved Jem and Scout!!!
Chapter 30
Atticus believes that Jem stabbed and killed Bob Ewell. Heck Tate says Bob Ewell tripped over a
tree root and stabbed himself with a kitchen knife. Atticus and him argue; Atticus doesn’t want Jem to
go through life with people thinking he got away with something. Atticus thinks that Jem should face it
head on and that it was an act of self defense. Heck insists that Mr. Ewell killed himself. He shows
Atticus a switch blade that he got it off of a drunk in town. Mr. Ewell was stabbed with a kitchen knife.
Heck decides how the murder happened and he is going the record saying that Mr. Ewell killed himself.
Boo Radley really killed Mr. Ewell, but Heck knows that publicity would be terrible for the shy Boo. Heck
says that know things are even because Mr.Ewell was responsible for Tom Robinson’s death and now he
is dead, so it is justice. Atticus asked Scout if she understood and Scout said that “it would be like
shooting a mockingbird”.
Chapter 31
Scout leads Boo or “Mr. Arthur” to say good night to Jem. Jem is still sleeping. He touched
Jem’s hair. He was very nervous. Scout said that she would walk him home. Scout gave him her arm so
he was leading her. While Scout was standing on Boo’s front porch, she recalled the whole book from
Boo’s perspective. She understood what Atticus meant when he said that “you don’t understand
someone until you walk around in their skin”. Atticus stays by Jem’s side and Scout falls asleep in his
lap. He reads to her from Jem’s book “The Gray Ghost”. Scout retells the story and tells Atticus the
character in the story (who was like Boo Radley) was really nice. Atticus tucks her into bed and tells her
“most people are, when you really see them”.