Chapter 16 and 17, the trial case

Analysis of chapter 16-17: The trial

The trial is the most gripping, and somewhat the most important part of to kill a mockingbird.

The courtroom scene is possibly the most tension-filled part of the book. Atticus tries frantically to pick apart the Ewell’s as the whole town watches – possibly the most narrative part of the novel. The trial scene creates so much atmosphere that it reveals the authors writing ability because there is no real suspense; even Atticus and the whole courtroom know how the trial will end. no matter what evidence is presented at the trial by Atticus, the end result will still be the same because of the racist attributes that the town so forwardly peruse. Jem, Scout and Dill have no racist thoughts or feelings about Tom Robinson and can’t comprehend the thought that all their fathers’ hard work will be vain.

                Although Atticus loses the trial, he reveals the injustice that the black people of Maycomb have received. 

                The children end up sitting in the ‘coloured section’ of the courtroom and Miss Maudie refuses to attend the trial as she doesn’t want to be related in any way to the black people. The chapter shows the clarity of racism at the time as all the children in the courthouse have exclaimed abuse at Dill, Jem and Scout for their apparent ‘nigger-loving’ personality in the school-yard.

Hidden secrets

Katherine was just another ordinary girl in the second grade. She was small with curly brunette hair which she often had in bunches, parallel on either side of her head. Everyday she’d put on her school uniform which consisted of a green checked dress and green cardigan which had the school logo sewn into the left corner.

Katherine was half way through her school year and her teacher, Miss Hutchings, was lovely. Katherine often helped the teacher and in English she did extra-curricular activities as she excelled in telling stories. Although she didn’t like reading, Katherine would spend the day day-dreaming out the window, drawing and thinking of new ideas to write about.

During the summer before hand, she had written a story about her three cats; Twiglet, Rosie and Bryan, who went on an adventure on a boat and travelled the world with their friends who varied in animal type and age.

Katherine was a popular girl, she knew everyone in her year and everyone knew of her. the teachers often congratulated her on her academic works and grades she was able to achieve for the school Ofsted that year.

But everything wasn’t all bright for Katherine.

It started one hot day in the middle of May. Katherine woke up, got changed for school before her mom made her breakfast and brushed her hair. Katherine prepared her school books in her book-bag and placed her lunchbox next to it. When she left for school that morning, she ran ahead of her mom and picked flowers from a nearby tree and placed them in her hair.

When she arrived at school that morning, she joined the playground with her friends and entered Miss Hutching’s classroom and took her seat. After asking us how the weekend was and what we’d been up to, she paused and looked over to the front door of the classroom where a girl was standing. Immediately Katherine didn’t recognise her. She was thin in size and fairly tall with gingery hair and freckles. Her hair was in a perfect bob which was cut slightly skew at one side – perhaps it was just the way she held herself.

“And this, boys and girls, is Amber, our new student.” Her voice was somewhat sweeter than it had previously been that morning. She continued, “Now you all know how daunting your first day at school was, so I want you to be extra nice to Amber” the class looked at each other, made eye contact and hand gestures to one another and listened to her again. It was that every time a new student joined our school that they had to sit next to one member of the class. When the last new girl joined, Gemma, she sat next to Jordan – much to her distaste as well as his. She moved back after Easter to Germany, taking her poor hygiene with her. Katherine zoned out of the teachers speech before she was suddenly brought back into the room with a mention of her name

Creative story

You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view, climb into their skin and walk around in it.
I looked at her, the most beautiful girl in the world, lying lifelessly in my arms. I don’t know why she took her life, I don’t know if I ever will. She was so perfect; beautiful and clever. She meant the world to me and she didn’t realise as much.

I kissed her forehead and laid her on the bed that we once shared. I removed her ring and placed it on the same hand that mine was in the hope I could regain something we once had: the promise of forever and eternal love. I held her hand, it was ice cold. Her heart, the one thing she had promised me with, the one thing which pumped blood into our relationship, had stopped. She lay on the bed in her white ivory gown, clutching a bouquet of flowers her mother had given her.
  “Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.” Her mother said handing over the sapphire hair pin and placing it carefully in her hair earlier that morning. Her eyes were filled with tears when she continued “I guess my little girl is finally growing up, Lucy, I love you and you’re so beautiful.” They were the last things she every said to her baby girl.  I don’t know what went wrong. I blame myself, if only I could’ve been there to stop her or tempt her out of what she was doing, persuade her in some other way that what she was doing wasn’t for the best and that I’d help her. But I wasn’t there for her, I didn’t help her. I wasn’t there when she needed me most. I’m the reason for so many peoples heartbreak and misery. I’m the cause of everything. Every argument we once had, although they were few and far between, I wish I could’ve taken everything back so that perhaps she’d be alive now to tell me she loved me one last time.

I remember her screams, I remember so clearly, but I could never have predicted the outcome of what would happen. Her sister called the police immediately but as soon as I ran to her hotel room, it was too late. I screamed, tried to resuscitate her, cried so hard I couldn’t breathe. I shouted at everyone to leave us alone, that I didn’t want to be with anyone.

  “Lucy, You are my lover and my teacher, You are my model and my accomplice, And you are my true counterpart. I will love you, hold you and honour you, I will respect you, encourage you and cherish you, In health and sickness, Through sorrow and success, For all the days of my life.”  But what good is it if my vows, my long term promises to the girl I solemnly love,  now lay as broken and lifeless as she is.

I pulled the duvet over her and tucked her in,  untied her hair and let her curly brown locks fall down her neck. She was still so beautiful. I took the bouquet of lilies from her grasp and placed them in my pocket before kissing her forehead and leaving the house. It was raining, the perfect pathetic fallacy my situation needed, the weather described me perfectly. Every little raindrop lumbered down and burst like little bombs of ammunition attacking the ground. I walked out the house and to the road where I continued. I shouted at the sky, “Why her, why not me, she was an angel to me and its not fair you take her life to ruin what's left of mine. You’re so selfish taking all the best people for your own. I hate you.”

Finally I got where I wanted to be, the bridge. i climbed over the side and onto a narrow platform, took out the bouquet of flowers and held the image of us earlier that day at the wedding. I stroked my finger over her face and told her that I loved her before walking slowly to the end of the platform. I looked down, thousands upon thousands of litres of water cascaded down below my feet. I took a last glimpse of my Lucy and jumped. My life flashed before my eyes. Then, nothing. 

I don’t know why she took her life, I don’t know if I ever will.

To Kill A mockingbird chapter summary

Chapter 1

To Kill a Mockingbird starts as Jem brakes his arm at the age of 13 and we get introduced to the town of Maycomb and the characters that live there. Maycomb, as we find out, is a hot and tired town in Alabama. There is nothing to buy there and nothing to buy it with.

Scout Finch (also the narrator of the book) lives with her older brother Jem, their father Atticus, the local lawyer and their cook Calpurnia. The story starts at the start of summer. Scout is six and Jem is ten, they encounter a scrawny boy who is hiding in next doors turnips called Dill. They instantly become friends and they spend the rest of the summer together trying to make Boo Radley appear from his house in the corner. Legend has it that Mr Boo Radley has never been out of his house and all the small crimes in Maycomb are due to him.

When their games from the start of summer begin to get boring they move on to dares. Dill dares Jem to run up to the Radley house, touch it and run back. He finally accomplishes the dare and keeps his reputation for always doing a dare but after 3 days consolidating about it.

Chapter 2

Chapter two starts as Dill leaves to go back to his home country of the Meridian and scout starts her first day at school. But it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and she’s determined not to ever go back again after an eventful first day in trying to explain to her new teacher about the backgrounds of one of her classmates Walter Cunningham. Her new teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, tries to offer to pay for Walters’ lunch by offering him a quarter - seems like a nice thing to do – but the Cunningham’s never take anything they can’t pay back so Walter denies the kind offer. As she tries to explain the Cunningham’s family history she’s accused of lying and also being too clever for her age. She’s told to tell her father, Atticus, to stop teaching her at home as it would interrupt with her reading and Miss Caroline’s teachings and she’s beaten with a ruler.

Chapter 3

Chapter three is opened with scout pushing Walter Cunningham to the floor before Jem stops her from beating him up. Jem then invites Walter round for lunch at their house – much to scouts distaste. Scouts day doesn’t improve when she embarrasses Walter at the table and Calpurnia and her are forced to eat in the kitchen.

The next day at school, as if the first wasn't bad enough, Miss Caroline is found screaming at a rodent which has crawled out of Burris Ewell's hair. Miss Caroline attempts to send Burris home but he retaliates, calling her a 'snot-nosed slut of a teacher' before he runs off and leaves Miss Caroline in tears and for the other classmates to cheer her up.

Scout returns home to tell Atticus about her first couple of days at home when he states 'you never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view and until you climb into his skin and walk around in it' (page 35)

Chapter 4

The rest of the school year passes rather slowly for Scout, who endures a curriculum that moves too slowly for her capabilities. After school one day, she passes the Radley's household and sees some tinfoil sticking out of a knothole in the oak tree. And on their last day of school they find two old 'Indian-head' pennies hidden in the same knothole as the tinfoil (later found out to be chewing gum)

When summer eventually returns at last and Dill returns to Maycomb, the three begin their games again. However their next game will be their most devious yet, they're going to play 'Boo-Radley.' This entails the three children acting out a melodrama of the Radley household and when Atticus catches them, they start to wonder whether playing 'Boo-Radley' was such a good idea in the first place.

Chapter 5

Jem and Dill begin to grow closer to each other and Scout seems to be left out of their friendship and as a result begins to spend more time with her neighbour Miss Maudie Atkinson who was Atticus' childhood friend. She embarks on telling Scout that Mr Boo Radley is in fact alive, however his real name is Arthur Radley and he is a 'foot-washing Baptist' (Baptists who believe that most people are going to hell) She also adds that Arthur was a very polite child with manners and she doesn't believe the rumours spread about him.

Meanwhile, Jem and Dill continue to play and plan on giving a note to Boo Radley, inviting him out to greet the children and get ice-cream. They try sticking the note on a fishing rod and putting it through the window of the Radley house, but Atticus catches them and orders them to stop tormenting the poor man.

Chapter 6

Jem and Dill obey Atticus' orders until Dill's last day in Maycomb when he and Jem plan to sneak over to the Radley house and peek in through a loose shutter. Scout, unwilling to let them go alone, joins in with their game and they creep around the house, peering through all the windows. Suddenly they see a shadow of a man in a hat and assume its Mr Radley but their thoughts are interrupted by a shotgun going off behind them. They escape under a fence by the school yard, but Jem loses his pants and has to go retrieve them later that night.

The children return home, where they meet a gathering of the neighbourhood’s adults who seem to have gathered around Mr Radley's house. Miss Maudie says that Mr. Nathan Radley shot a Negro in his yard. When Atticus asks as to where Jem's pants are, Dill lies about them gambling down by the school yard and Jem gets his pants back later that night.