We covered chapters 21-23 in class.
Please study for your chapters 16-21 quiz on Thursday.
HOMEWORK:
-Chapter 22-23 questions
-Slang sheet
- Study for the quiz
NO READING!
Chapter 23
Summary:
Atticus is unconcerned about Mr. Ewell's threat, and tells his worried children that Mr. Ewell, who has been publicly discredited by the trial, just needs to feel like he is retaliating against someone, and better it be Atticus than the Ewell children.
Summary:
Atticus is unconcerned about Mr. Ewell's threat, and tells his worried children that Mr. Ewell, who has been publicly discredited by the trial, just needs to feel like he is retaliating against someone, and better it be Atticus than the Ewell children.
Tom is being held on a prison farm, and his wife and children are not permitted to visit him. Atticus thinks there's a good chance he'll be spared execution by having his sentence commuted by the governor. Atticus comments that too many people are sent to death based upon purely circumstantial evidence. Jem thinks that juries should be done away with, because they can't make reasonable decisions. Atticus responds that men don't behave rationally in some situations, and will always take a white man's word over a black man's. Atticus tells Jem that any white man who cheats a black man is trash.
Jem and Atticus talk about what keeps people off of juries. Women can't serve on juries in Alabama (which Scout takes exception to), and many people don't want to get involved in court cases because their livelihood depends in some way upon maintaining good favor with both parties involved in a case. Jem thinks that the jury decided quickly, but Atticus reminds him that it took a few hours, which is much longer than usual. Typically, a case like Tom's would be settled in a matter of minutes. Atticus sees this as a sign of the beginnings of change for the better. Also, Atticus reveals that he learned that the one jury member who kept everyone out so long was a Cunningham who defended Tom’s innocence. Atticus thinks that all Cunninghams will stand solidly behind anyone who wins their respect, without fail - and the incident at the jailhouse won the Finch family great respect.
Upon learning that his father believed Tom to be innocent, Scout wants to inviteWalter Cunningham over for lunch more often, but Aunt Alexandra puts her foot down, saying that the Cunninghams aren't the right sort of people for Scout to spend time with. Scout can be gracious to Walter and polite, but can't invite him over because "he is trash."
Scout is upset about this and goes to Jem to talk about it. Jem tries to cheer her up and proudly shows her the beginnings of chest hair, which Scout pretends to see and congratulates him on. Jem explains he wants to go out for football next year. Next, Jem tries to comfort Scout by explaining that Aunt Alexandra is just trying to make her into "a lady." He says that there are four different kinds of people in Maycomb county: "ordinary" people like themselves, people like the Cunninghams in the woods, people like the Ewells by the dump, and black people. Each class looks down upon and despises the class below it. The two try to resolve exactly what separates and distinguishes the categories of white people. Background doesn't seem to matter, because all the families are equally old. Jem thinks these class definitions have to do with how long the family has been literate. Scout disagrees and thinks, "there's just one kind of folks. Folks." Jem says he used to think so as well, but he doesn't understand why they despise one another if that's the case. Jem seems very frustrated with society, and adds that maybeBoo Radley stays inside because he wants to.
Analysis:
Again Atticus is overly hopeful: his opinion of Mr. Ewell shows a lack of understanding for the ultimate possibility for evil inherent in some people.
Jem is unsure whether people can be trusted to serve on juries, based on the jury that served in Tom's case, and Atticus points out some of the factors that make juries less than ideal. Some people are not willing to do right by serving on a jury because they fear public opinion. For instance, a shop owner would not want to lose business by sitting on a jury in a dispute between two customers. Fear seems to be the main motivating factor that makes individuals shirk the task of upholding what they know to be right. Also, as Atticus points out, the state itself is unfair by not allowing women (or for that matter blacks) to serve on juries.
Even after all the events of the trial, Scout continues to believe that all people are the same. She believes all people are "folks," and that they are neither all good nor all bad, and sometimes they act out of weakness. She can't determine what makes her family "better" than the Cunninghams. Jem seems to still want a reason to explain why some people act the way they do; he feels that he has outgrown Scout's viewpoint and needs a new one that is calibrated to his more mature mind. His comment about Boo shows that on the whole, he is feeling mistrustful toward humanity.
