To kill a mockingbird Chapter 12-14

Chapter 12

1. Scout notices that Jem is changing in many ways: "He was difficult to live with, inconsistent,
moody. His appetite was appalling...." He now values his privacy, likes to be by himself, and even
spends time reading the newspaper. According to Scout, Jem has acquired a new set of values,
which he tries to impose on her, to her annoyance and dismay. It is also clear that he is beginning to
understand certain things in the adult world. For example, he is able to explain to Scout the meaning
of the puzzling political cartoon about Atticus that appears in The Montgomery Advertiser. At the
beginning of the novel, Jem saw the world similar to the way Scout saw it, with a child's point of
view. Now, he exhibits a wiser and more serious attitude toward it, as an adult would.

2. Dill sends Scout a letter telling her that he has a new father. He says he has to stay in Meridian
this summer because he and his new father are going to build a fishing boat together. Scout is
extremely disappointed. She has come to feel great affection for Dill and excitedly looks forward to
his visits. Reiterating her feelings from Chapter Four, she again speaks in metaphorical terms about
what summer means to her, and how the season is embodied by Dill: "...summer was Dill by the
fishpool smoking string, Dill's eyes alive with complicated plans to make Boo Radley emerge;
summer was the swiftness with which Dill would reach up and kiss me when Jem was not looking,
the longings we sometimes felt each other feel... without him, life was unbearable. I stayed
miserable for two days."

3. The state legislature has been called into emergency session because of civil unrest due to the
country's economic troubles. The impact of the Great Depression is seen again in Scout's
explanation for Atticus's being called away: "The Governor was eager to scrape a few barnacles off
the ship of state; there were sit-down strikes in Birmingham; bread lines in the cities grew longer,
people in the country grew poorer."

4. Calpurnia's church is called First Purchase African M.E. Church. It is called First Purchase
because it was built with the first earnings of newly freed slaves.

5. It is a poor church located in a remote area of town. The interior is unpainted and undecorated,
and the pews are simple pine benches. Unlike Scout's church, it contains no piano, organ, hymn-
books, or programs. However, Reverend Sykes's sermon is very similar to the kind of sermon
delivered in Scout's church: "His sermon was a forthright denunciation of sin...he warned his flock
against the evils of heady brews, gambling, and strange women... Again, as I had often met it in my
own church, I was confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy all
clergymen." One difference about the sermon is that Reverend Sykes speaks not in general terms
but of individuals. When he asks the Lord to bless the sick and suffering, he gives specifics about
who needs this blessing and why. When he speaks about lapses from grace, he points out those who
have acted against the tenets of the church and describes their sins. One more difference occurs in
the way the collection is taken up. Instead of passing around a plate, people go up to the pulpit one
by one and put their donations into a coffee can.

6. An angry and menacing woman named Lula insults Calpurnia for bringing Jem and Scout
to the church: "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got
our'n." This causes Jem and Scout to feel unwelcome at the church. The incident is resolved when
the rest of the congregation gathers around Calpurnia and the children, protecting them from Lula:
"They seemed to be drawing closer to us...When I looked down the pathway again, Lula was gone.
In her place was a solid mass of colored people."
7. When the Reverend counts the money in the coffee can, he finds that it is not enough. The church
must collect ten dollars to give to Helen Robinson, Tom Robinson's wife. Because Tom is in jail,
and she has children to care for, she is in dire need of financial help. The Reverend's authoritative
action works: "Slowly, painfully, the ten dollars was collected. The door was opened, and the gust
of warm air revived us."

8. People do not want to hire Helen because of what Tom has been accused of. As Calpurnia states,
"Folks aren't anxious to—to have anything to do with any of his family.

9. Calpurnia reveals that Bob Ewell has accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter.

10. One person speaks the line of a song so the rest of the chorus knows what to sing. It is done at
Calpurnia's church because many of the people in the church cannot read. This fact also explains the
lack of hymnals and programs in the church.

11. They learn that Calpurnia is much older than she looks, that she is one of only four people in her
church who can read, and that she taught her son, Zeebo, to read. They also discover that Calpurnia
knew their grandfather and that she grew up at Finch's Landing. In addition, the children are
surprised to hear her speak in the dialect of the members of her church. While Jem thinks it is
wrong to speak that way when one knows better, Scout is impressed: "That Calpurnia led a modest
double life never dawned on me. The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household
was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages." Both children now see
Calpurnia as an individual in her own right, with a life and a history of her own. Previously, they
had taken her for granted and had not stopped to think that she has a life outside of the Finch
household. This is most evident in Scout's request to Calpurnia at the end of the chapter. Scout has
never been to Calpurnia's house, and she asks if she can come out there sometime and see her.

Chapter 13

1. Aunt Alexandra believes that Scout needs the influence of a woman in the house. Scout is not
happy about Aunt Alexandra's arrival.

2. She strongly believes in heredity this is obviously an illogical belief. Jem highlights the irrational
nature

3. People are divided into classes or categories based on family history. This is because the system
is not based on an individual's actions but merely on what others have come to expect of the family
as a whole.

4. Atticus tells Jem and Scout that Aunt Alexandra wants them to know that they "pure blood" He is
so obviously uncomfortable, it seems that Atticus does not really believe in what he is saying. It
appears that he is saying it only because Aunt Alexandra demanded that he do so.

5. Atticus speaks sharply to her, and Scout suddenly feels distant and isolated from Atticus, as if she
does not know him.

6. He is admits that all of the things he just said went against his own beliefs and against what he
wants his children to learn. He had said them only to keep peace with Aunt Alexandra, and it is now
obvious that he regrets this action.

Chapter 14
1. When Jem and Scout go into town, people whisper about them and make remarks behind their
backs, such as, "There's his chillun" or "Yonder's some Finches." Jem and Scout overhear one man
say, "They c'n go loose and rape up the countryside for all of 'em who run this county care," a
reference to Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson.

2. He gives her a legal definition, which she does not understand: "...rape [is] carnal
knowledge of a female by force and without consent." He wisely decides that she is still too young
to be burdened with the knowledge of what rape is.

3. Aunt Alexandra is talking about not allowing Scout to visit Calpurnia at her home. This,
combined with Aunt Alexandra's plans to make Scout into a proper young woman, causes Scout to
feel like a prisoner. She uses the metaphor of a "pink cotton penitentiary" to describe what she
views as an impending loss of freedom at the hands of her aunt.

4. he wants Atticus to fire Calpurnia. Alexandra believes that now that she is there, the family does
not need Calpurnia anymore. In addition, it is clear that she does not like the fact that Calpurnia has
influence over Scout. Atticus firmly tells her that he has no intention of firing Calpurnia:
"Alexandra, Calpurnia's not leaving this house until she wants to. You may think otherwise, but I
couldn't have got along without her all these years." He stresses that Calpurnia is a faithful member
of the family and that she has done a great job of raising Scout and Jem.

5. Jem tells Scout not to antagonize Aunt Alexandra. Scout resents the fact that Jem is giving her
orders. When Jem threatens to spank her if she does not heed his advice, she punches him, and they
end up brawling until Atticus comes in and breaks them up.

6. They find Dill under her bed. He has run away from home and has been hiding there for about
two hours.

7. He tells Atticus that Dill ran away. Scout and Dill are shocked that Jem revealed their secret to an
adult. They view Jem as a traitor. Of the perceived betrayal, Scout says that Jem "broke the
remaining code of our childhood." Jem explains that he had to tell Atticus. He says to Dill, "You
can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'." This decision further establishes
that Jem is maturing. He knows that Dill's mother must be extremely worried. He is thinking the
way a responsible adult would think, and his action reflects that.

8. He says that his parents do not pay very much attention to him. He explains to Scout that they are
not mean or hateful and that they buy him everything he wants. However, they do not spend any
time with him, and it is obvious that he feels lonely and unwanted: "...they just wasn't interested in
me...they stayed gone all the time, and when they were home, even, they'd get off in a room by
themselves."

9. She finds herself thinking of the Radley house and Boo's imprisonment in it. She asks Dill, "Why
do you reckon Boo Radley's never run off?" Dill's answer is that maybe Boo "doesn't have
anywhere to run off to...."