TKAM – Chapter 15

After convincing Dill’s mother that it was OK for him to stay, the Finch family was settling into a quiet week until hearing a knock on the door. A group of men surround Atticus outside the house while the children listen in since in Maycomb, men gather outside the front of someone’s house for 2 reasons, death and politics. They overhear Mr. Heck Tate telling Atticus that “he’s being moved to the county jail” and the townsfolk are worried. As they worry over this, the men ask Atticus why he took the case in the first place since he has the most to lose.

Atticus gives them one of his famous “Do You Really Think So?” and Scout recognizes an Atticus lesson coming upon them. Jem is afraid of the mob and tries to get Atticus back in the house, then questions him about what is happening. Atticus tries to reassure him but Jem tells Scout later that he fears for Atticus’ life. After a quiet Sunday, Atticus goes out and ‘took the car’ which was an ominous event since Atticus liked to walk everywhere.

Later that night Jem decides he’s going to follow Atticus to the jail and Scout and Dill follow along. After watching him sitting in front of the jail, they notice a group of men getting out of their cars approaching Atticus, asking if “He” was in there and telling Atticus “You know what we want”. When Atticus brings up Sheriff Tate, the men tell him that he won’t be around for a while because he’s on a snipe hunt and that changes things. Again Atticus says “Do You Really Think So?” Now, Dill knows there’s trouble and breaks her silence. She calls out to her father and pushes through the men. Atticus for the first time shows real fear. He tries to get Jem to go home and take Scout, but Jem refuses to budge. Apparently, he inherited someone’s courage.

Now, things get dangerous. One of the men grabs Jem to get him out of the way, Scout aims for the man’s shin but reaches higher, throwing the man backwards. As everyone tries to get the children out of the area, Scout spots Mr. Cunningham and yells her famous line “Hey, Mr. Cunningham. How’s your entailment getting along?” She starts talking away to him about his problems, his son and how they had him to dinner, his visits to her father paying off work he had done for him, etc. She just keeps talking and talking about entailments and how her father was trying to help him since it seems to be an area that they are all interested in. Mr. Cunningham finally reaches down to her, tells her that he’ll tell her son she was asking for him, and tells his boys to go home.

After the men leave, they find out that Mr. Underwood had a rifle trained on the men from his window next door. Dill offers to carry the chair for Atticus back into the office, and they walked back home. Scout thought that they would catch hell for interfering but Atticus merely patted Jem’s hair, his one gesture of affection.

What a tense chapter. I was so proud of Jem and Scout for bravely confronting the men and standing tall next to their father. I shudder to think what might have happened if the children had not brought the group to its senses. No doubt Atticus is also aware that his children helped thrwart a situation that would have ended in violence.

Well, I finally got caught up! I had gotten several chapters behind, so I need to go back and read several previous chapter summaries. I love reading everyone's take on the story.

I agree with you Lady Jayne, this was a very tense chapter, and I enjoyed reading your summary of events Pauline.

Atticus commands such a quiet respect, and it appears Jem is following in his footsteps. Scout, on the other hand, is a feisty little girl, and she tackles adversity head on, sometimes without thinking things through (a young Claire?). I loved how she grabbed the attention of the mob, and took the air out of their sails.

Dill really looks up to Atticus, and I thought it was sweet that he offered to carry Atticus' chair.

I was a little perturbed when I read this chapter - the whole thing is starting to get ugly, and Jem and Scout are caught up in the crossfire....

You can definitely feel the story starting to shift to the dark side. Before this, you see this idyllic town with kids playing in the streets, tormenting the neighbors, etc. and now you start to see danger coming along, like that rabid dog coming down the street.