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To Kill A Mockingbird Chapter 1 Analysis

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Scout s ready to fight Cecil Jacobs because he insults her father. Scout has promised Atticus that she will not fight, and he said he would “wear her out” if she did it. Yet Cecil angered her so much she forgot. In the novel it states, “Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch's daddy defended niggers. I denied it, but told Jem.” This is why Scout is ready to fight Cecil Jacobs. Atticus says that they are not going to win the case before it begins because Atticus is defending an African-American. Atticus explains to Scout that he is defending a Negro, Tom Robinson. She does not understand why he is doing something that everyone in the town considers a terrible betrayal. “Atticus, are …show more content…

She doesn't want to go to school because the students keep mentioning how Atticus is helping a negro in his case. In the South, African-Americans were treated differently than any white man. Even if you were innocent, every African American would be found guilty. Atticus states, “Bad language is a stage all children go through and it dies with them when they learn they’re not attracting any attention with it.” Chapter 9. Atticus says this because he knows that it is a phase and Scout will soon be over with it but for now Scout is cursing. Every year, Scout, Atticus and Jem spent Christmas at Finch’s Landing. After Christmas dinner, Scout and Francis sat on the back steps of the house and started talking. Francis stated how well his grandma can cook. He told Scout that she was gonna teach him how to cook. Scout though that this was amusing and said, “boys don’t cook.” Aunt Alexandra believes every man should know how to cook. Scout said she did not, “want Dill waiting on her.” Scout also said that she was planning on cooking for him. She also told Francis they were getting married and Francis though this was funny. Francis called Dill, “that little runt Grandma says stays with Miss Rachel.” Francis also says Dill doesn’t have a house and says’ “gets passed around from relative to relative and MIss Rachel keeps him every

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646 Words | 3 Pages

Scout when her classmates are making fun of Atticus for defending a black man , and Jem when he believed Nathan Radley when he cemented the tree because it was “ill”. Scout hears her classmates saying terrible things about Atticus because he's defending a black man, but she doesn't see the wrong in what her father is doing. Atticus explains to her that it's not really a bad thing, but some people see it that way. Scout is too young to understand prejudice and injustice. Atticus tries to preserve this innocence by raising her to believe that there is nothing wrong with defending a black man.

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647 Words | 3 Pages

Scout is a tomboy and she usually solves her problems with her fists. Atticus is one of the only people that accept Scout for who she is. The rest of her family is constantly trying to make her act more like a lady and this is enforced greatly when her

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745 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus is talking to Scout about the Tom Robinson case.” You might hear some ugly talk about it at school”(Lee pg 101). Even though Atticus know that the case is going to affect his career and his children he continues on knowing that he must

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707 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel, Scout gets made fun of because of the fact that her father is defending a black man. Scout’s classmates treat her as though something is wrong with her father and often refer to him using racial slurs. Even though she gets mistreated, Atticus reminds Scout it's not worth it. This is shown on page 87 Atticus says, “Hold your head high but keep those fists down.”

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

“What’s rape?’ I asked him that night. ”As she grows older she want to learn and gain more knowledge. She does this by asking questions no matter the situation she will ask anyone she can to give her an answer to her question. When she asked this she wanted to not only understand it and have the knowledge by she wanted to understand Atticus case more and be able to climb into his skin and feel what he feels at the time and

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578 Words | 3 Pages

In Chapter 12 of Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many events and situations in which irony is used to support the theme of the chapter. An example of this is in the very beginning of the chapter, when Scout is concerned about how distant and moody Jem is acting, and asks Atticus, “’Reckon he’s got a tapeworm?’” (Lee 153), to which Atticus replies no, and that Jem is growing. This is dramatic irony because the readers understand that Jem is acting oddly because he’s growing, but Scout doesn’t know this until she asks Atticus about it. This quote supports the theme of Chapter 12 by showing when Jem started to grow distance from Scout, getting aggravated with her and telling her to stop bothering him, and shows how the children

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1171 Words | 5 Pages

At the time that Alexandra first appears in the story, on the day of Christmas Eve, both Scout and Francis have a disagreement. Francis, then puts the blame on Scout claiming that “‘she called me a whore-lady and jumped on me!’” (Lee 112). Including Aunt Alexandra, all the adults do not bother asking Scout for her side of the story, therefore Scout who is unladylike, receives a punishment. Aunt Alexandra is incredibly proud of the family history and status around town, talking down on other families that did not have as much history.

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979 Words | 4 Pages

Up until this trial, Scout and Jem have only partially understood what true courage is. They have not fully understood it until their father Atticus takes on a trial to defend a black man. Atticus tells Scout why he takes on the trial when he explains, “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down” (Lee 86-87).

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662 Words | 3 Pages

The teacher then says that she can not read anymore. Scout complains about this to her father and says she does not want to go to school anymore. Atticus compromises, “If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night”(41). This shows that not only he wants his child to go to school, but he also lets the child do what she is obligated to

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417 Words | 2 Pages

She is confused because he isnt responding to her or being kind. This illustrates how she’s growing up around racism and it doesn’t make her act racist like him. One issue that affect the life of Atticus is that he and his family gets threatened after defending Tom Robinson. Atticus defends Tom Robinson because he tries to prove that just because of his skin color it doesn’t mean white people can treat them bad.

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733 Words | 3 Pages

Chapter nine opens with the intense scene of Scout facing off with { }classmate Cecil Jacobs. Although Atticus has recently asked Scout to stop fighting, she justifies the situation by saying that Cecil 'has made her forget' by announcing in the schoolyard that, 'Scout Finch's daddy defended niggers,' but after a meaningful flashback that informs readers that Scout had asked Atticus if Cecil's comments were true, we learn why Scout was being teased and taunted by Cecil Jacobs. Atticus has a new case which involves defending Tom Robinson, a black man who "lives in that little settlement beyond the town dump," and who is also a memebr of Calpurnia's church. Atticus tells Scout that he feels he has the duty of defending Tom, because if he didn't "He couldn't hold up his own head in town, he

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1089 Words | 5 Pages

Atticus tells Scout to keep her head up and avoid any fights when anyone is saying something bad about Atticus. Keeping this in mind, when Cecil Jacobs is intimidating Scout by calling her Atticus a nigger-lover. She refused to fight thinking “Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and me to do something for him, I could take being called a coward for him. I felt extremely noble for having remembered, and remained noble for three weeks” (77).

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251 Words | 2 Pages

Scout is provoked by her classmate, Cecil Jacobs, who says Atticus is a nigger-lover. Atticus remains mild rather than offended. As a lawyer, he is defending a Negro named Tom Robinson. During the case, he may use the power of law to challenge the residents' prejudice towards Negros. Christmas comes.

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531 Words | 3 Pages

At the beginning of the book, Scout wants to pick a fight at the slightest aggravation and is high tempered. One example is when she beats up Walter Cunningham for not having his lunch and getting her in trouble in class. She rubbed his nose in the dirt, but Jem came by and told her to stop. Atticus then told Scout that if he heard she was fighting, he would wear her out. Throughout the book, Scout fights less and less because she realizes it does her no good.

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766 Words | 4 Pages

At school, Scout nearly starts a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs after he declares that her “daddy defends niggers” (Lee, 74). Scout being too young to fully understand this statement automatically denies it. Atticus, who has been asked to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman has received many controversial remarks on his take of the case. Although Scout does not initiate the fight with Cecil, her “fists [a]re clenched and [she is] ready to let [them] fly” (Lee, 74). This depicts another one of Scout’s un-ladylike reactions because the ladylike response would be to simply ignore the boy and to remain prim and proper.

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