Tension at Tom Robinson's Trial

Harper Lee builds tension during the trial of Tom Robinson in a variety of different ways. Firstly, Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella Ewell who was supposedly raped by Tom Robinson. He used very informal language “Mayella was screaming like a stuck hog”, which shows great disrespect towards the court, and makes people have less sympathy to this side of the case. This builds tension because Mr Ewell is using strong language which shows his passion and belief towards his account of event which makes the reader want to find out whether theses events are true of not.

Lee creates further tension as Miss Maudie doesn't attend the case, "'You goin' to court this morning?' asked Jem. We had strolled over. 'I am not,' she [Miss Maudie Atkinson] said. 'I have no business with the court this morning.''Aren't you going to watch?' asked Dill. 'I am not it's morbid, watching a poor devil on trial for his life. Look at all those folks, it's like a Roman carnival.'" - pg 159. Women and children didn't usually attend court, as it was something that they shouldn't see, despite Jem and Scout being there.  Miss Maudie's response shows that she doesn't want anything to do with the trial, that she doesn't really care what happens either way. 

In the courthouse white people were invited to sit downstairs first, before black people who had to sit upstairs. However, Scout and Jem were sitting upstairs which builds tension as it is clear that the are not supposed to be there and could get in serious trouble with Atticus for being there. This also adds racial tension that white people and black people were separated, and highlights the importance of the trial because they were seated in a formal seating arrangement.  

It is discovered to everyone in the court that Tom Robinson is unable to use his left had, therefore this doesn't match up with the bruises left on Mayella's face. This creates tension slowly because evidence of perhaps Tom Robinson's guilt is released. This lets the reader decide which side they are on, letting them anticipate what the final verdict will be. The reader's opinion might change though as each witness is heard. 

Part 1 - Life Lessons for Jem and Scout

Scout, the cheeky, tomboyish main character of To Kill a Mockingbird learns to stay strong and not change who she is despite what hurtful judgments that have been made of her by several unashamed characters. Scout dresses like a boy and follows along with what her brother, Jem, does most of the time, keeping up with the stories of Maycomb and creating his own opinion of each. Aunt Alexandra has the strongest opinion towards Scout's dress and un-girlish nature "Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants" - pg 90. From this she learns that not everyone is going to agree with how she acts or how she dresses, but she shouldn't change herself because of this as she is such a strong character.

From the start of the book Jem and Scout are terrified of Mrs Dubose, "Jem and I hated her", but when they are faced with having to go to her house and read to her their opinions change. They see Mrs Dubose as a woman who hates children and is a horrible and old, they have no respect towards her. When they release that she is actually really sick, they understand why she is the way that she is, Atticus explains "She can't help that. When people are sick they don't look nice sometimes"- pg 120. Overall, this experience teaches Jem and Scout not to judge a person just by the way they look or the way they act at the first instance. They learn from Atticus "what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew." Atticus strongly believes in not judging people, which is why he has been seen teaching this to Scout and Jem often, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb around in his skin and walk around in it."

Exam Question - Chapter 10

Part a) What methods does Lee use to present Scout's feelings about Aunt Alexandra and Francis?

Harper Lee presents Scout as bubbly and childish which has been contrasted with Francis in this passage, for instance Francis "requested" things for Christmas whereas Scout didn't ask for anything but was pleased with the gift she received, an air-rifle, which continues the spoiled child image. Lee represents Scout's reluctant tolerance with Francis, "That's nice, I lied" which also shows much sarcasm. Humour is another method that has been used in the passage to show Scout's feelings towards talking to Francis, "Francis gave me the sensation of settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean"" and "he was the most boring child I ever met". Francis has been presented as quite sophisticated and well-off, making him seem older than he actually is, "Francis sat with the adults at the dining table". Scouts's feelings at the dinner table are clearly shown as she becomes increasingly annoyed of being recognised of even more of a child, "I sometimes though of asking her if she would let me sit at the big table", however the way Scout has said "big table" actually makes her sound of even more of a child. 

Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to stop her 'tomboyish' behaviour by changing her "attire". Scout shows irritation to Aunt Alexandra misjudging her "she hurt my feelings and set my teeth permanently on edge", Lee uses the method of having the narration of Scout's thoughts and feelings at the time which makes it clear to the reader exactly what she thinks of individual characters. Lee has not conformed to stereotypes by contrasting a stereotypical girl that Aunt Alexandra would like her to be with Scout as she is, "vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves". Lee has used the method of repeating what Aunt Alexandra has said to show Scout's annoyance of what hurtful things have been said to her, for example several times she has repeated "ray of sunshine", as Aunt Alexandra thinks that's what Scout should be in her "fathers lonely life".

Maycomb as a Society

What kind of society is Maycomb?

Maycomb shows many attributes of a traditional Southern Culture. From the beginning of the book as families are introduced there is a very judgmental approach to how they are introduced to the reader and how they are spoken about. Members of families are judged based on what their relatives are like and what they have done, its is very dependent on family background. Harper Lee highlights the social status of characters. for example Scout is represented as very  pure minded, whereas Burris Ewell is represented as completely the opposite as filth and uncivilised.

Harper Lee's Writing Style

Harper Lee has used first person narrative with in depth character detail to evoke sympathetic and empathetic feelings within the reader. Scout, a six-year old girl, is the narrator of the story, but this has not limited the language that Lee has used to represent expressions. This makes it apparent to the reader that the book was written by an adult scout who is recreating her child hood. Lee has used language to represent each character, for example Burris Ewell uses foul words whenever possible which shows his poor class and lack of manners. In contrast Atticus is very formal in his speech, as his words are often clever with much irony.

The Opening Chapters

A Summary of Chapters 1-4

At the beginning of the book we meet the first character, Jean Louise Finch, who we become to recognise by her nickname Scout. It starts with her explaining the circumstances that led to the broken arm of her older brother, Jem. Scout and Jem live in the county Maycomb where they live with their father, Atticus Finch, their brother, Jack Finch and Alexandra Finch. Scout's mother died when she was just the age of two, and does not remember her well. However, her brother Jem has memories of her, which makes him unhappy at times. 

In chapter 2 Scout has her first day at school. Miss Caroline Fisher, her new teacher, is not happy with the amount of knowledge Scout knows. The class is taught the alphabet but Miss Caroline dis-approves strongly as Scout already knows this and how to read and write, when they are supposed to learn this in third grade. 

The first day of school continues into chapter 3 where Miss Caroline and Scout still get along badly. Walter Cunningham, a boy in Scout's class, goes home with Scout for lunch as he cannot afford any food, but when is offered money he has been taught to refuse. Scout gets told off at lunch for being mean to Walter by Calpurnia. Back at school, Burris Ewell is introduced. The boy who goes to school for the first day every year, but doesn't go for the rest. He is described as "the filthiest human" by Miss Caroline and is sent home for being in the state. Burris is part of the Ewell family who are extremely poor and not respected.

The school year passes and the summer holidays come at last for Scout. When walking home from school Scout discovers chewing gum in the hole of the tree, and puts it in her mouth and chews it. She tells her brother Jem about it, and to his horror he tells her to spit it out. When they go back to the tree the next day they discover two old "Indian-head" pennies in the same hole of the tree, the then decide to keep them . During the summer Dill, Scout and Jem begin their games. They develop their game into a play of the entire Radley family. However, Atticus disagrees with this and is not happy with them doing this.