In this chapter, a group of men approach Atticus to
discuss Tom's trial. They aim to stop him from defending Tom, and to convince Atticus to
simply let this case go. Atticus sends Scout and Jem in the house, where they watch the
developments from behind the curtains. Things are civil at first, but then the men seem
to move to attack.
There was a murmur among the group of men, made
more ominous when Atticus moved back to the bottom front step and the men drew nearer to
him.
Suddenly Jem screamed, "Atticus, the telephone's
ringing!"
The men jumped a little and scattered; they were
people we saw every day: merchants, in-town farmers; Dr. Reynolds was there; so was Mr.
Avery.
So Jem
shouts at Atticus in order to break the tension and prevent any violence.
Jem is afraid for Atticus when he sees the men surround him, and shouting that the phone
is ringing is his way of throwing the crowd off guard and ending the conversation. When
the crowd breaks up, the Finches see that it consists of men they've known their entire
lives.. This is one example of the Finch children diffusing tension and acting more
rationally than the adults in the novel. The second incident comes at the jail, when
Scout interrupts the mob coming to lynch Tom.
No comments:
Post a Comment