Scot Key
To Kill A Mockingbird
Status Report
12.7.07
Last Chapter Read: 15
Last Page Read: 177 (40th Anniversary Edition)
The Chapter I just read, Chapter 15, is full of tension and drama. In it Atticus Finch literally defends Tom Robinson from a mob of men in the middle of the night. Atticus has heard there might be trouble and has staked out a place at the front entrance to the Maycomb jail. The mob arrives, watched closely by a snooping Scout, Jem and Dill.
The kids don't really have a sense of what the confrontation is all about, an example of how Harper Lee uses Scout as an "unreliable narrator". Instead of explaining things thoroughly, the reader is led to events such as the mob confrontation first from the eyes of young children.
This allows the scene to blossom in a more suspenseful way, and one that doesn't immediately trigger our preconceived notion. As I said, the scene blossoms before us. For example, if I wrote a book and said something like "Jem, Dill and I walked carefully to where the mob was gonna try to kill my father," that would be a very, very different book, and a much less suspenseful one in my opinion.
Any interesting component of the jail scene is the "off-screen" presence of Mr. Underwood. Most people notice the direct action, such as Scout poignantly intervening in the struggle by noticing Walter Cunningham and being nice to him. Less noticeable is Mr. Underwood who has seen the entire confrontation from his newspaper office window. Mr. Underwood says "Had you covered all the time, Atticus." as he appears, double-barrel shotgun in hand. It adds a dimension to the Underwood character, fleshing out how support for Atticus comes from unexpected corners and in unexpected ways.
And yes, there is also the presence of Tom Robinson. His question "They gone?" is one of the most chilling questions by any character in any book I've ever read. Imagine being in a jail cell, hearing a mob coming to lynch you. That is a very scary scene to play around with in one's head….
Word count (so far) 359