TKAM quotes

Maudie on Atticus’ defence

"Atticus Finch won't win, he can't win, but he's the only man in these parts who can keep a jury that long"

Maudie on the outcome of the trial

"Just a baby step, but it's a step"

Maudie on Maycomb’s gossip

“Stephanie Crawford even told me she woke up in the middle of the night and found him looking in the window at her. “

Maudie explaining TKAM quote

"they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

Atticus why Maudie can’t serve on a jury

“For one thing, Miss Maudie can’t serve on a jury because she’s a woman –”

Jem’s perception on Maudie’s independance

"Jem said he didn't know what was the matter with her that was just Miss Maudie"

Maudie rejecting uncle Jack

"Miss Maude would yell back, “Call a little louder, Jack Finch,"

Maudie on Boo

"His name's Arthur and he's alive"

Lula about Scout and Jem

“You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here"

Merriweather reaction to oppression

"Mrs. Merriweather's large brown eyes always filled with tears when she considered the oppressed"

Miss Gates on persecution

"Over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced."

Mr Underwood’s Racist views

“He despises Negroes, won’t have one near him.”

Mr Underwood’s view on the trial

"Mr Underwood likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds"

Cunninghams being broke

“The Cunninghams never took anything they can’t pay back”

Cunninghams honesty

“You’re shamin’ him, Miss Caroline. Walter hasn’t got a quarter at home to bring you, and you can’t use any stovewood.”

Who finch women are interested in

"Finch women aren't interested in that sort of people"

Alexandra talking about the cunninghams

“There is no doubt in my mind that they’re good folks. But they’re not our kind of folks.”

Dill quote on talking to Tom

“I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right, somehow it ain’t right to do ’em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that – it just makes me sick.”

Dill on Boo

“Lets try to get him to come out”

Dill on laughing at others

“Well, I’m gonna be a new kind of clown. I’m gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks.”

Jury’s prejudice against Tom

“The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s words against the Ewells’.”

Mr Underwood’s description of Tom’s death

"Mr Underwood likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds"

Bob’s description of Tom attacking Mayella

“-I seen that black n***** yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!”

How Tom’s was percieved

“To Maycomb, Tom’s death was typical.”

Calpurnia teaching scout about how to be ladylike

"It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not lady-like"

Calpurnia scolding scout about Walter

“anybody sets foot in this house’s yo’ comp’ny,”

Calpurnia’s education

"Can't but about four folks in First Purchase read... I'm one of 'em"

Atticus telling Alexandra about Calpurnia’s importance

"Atticus’s voice was even: “Alexandra, Calpurnia’s not leaving this house until she wants to."

Calpurnia teaching scout about social divide

"there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.”

Only factor why Bob outs Tom

“that if scrubbed with lye soap in very hot water, his skin was white."

Ewells living situation

" Ewells lived as guests of the county in prosperity as well as in the depths of a depression."

Bob’s worthlessness

"Even then, they ain’t worth the bullet it takes to shoot ’em. Ewell ‘as one of ’em."

Power of Mayella’s words

"Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed"

Burris in school

"Ain’t no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born e’n make me do nothin’!”

Jem being confident in Justice

Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard.

Jem’s naivety in believing rumours

“Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo:", "dined on raw squirrels"

Jem’s telling of TKAM

"Why couldn't I mash him?" "Because they don't bother you"

Jem when they say guilty

"each 'guilty' was a separate stab between them"

Jem’s earlier view of Maycomb

"I always thought Maycomb folks where the best in the word"

Jem hoping that Tom was free

“Did he die free?” asked Jem.

Boo is perceived as

“Malevolent phantom”

Why Boo doesn’t come out

“It's because he wants to stay inside.” - Jem

Atticus thanking Boo

'Thank you for my children, Arthur,' he said”

Atticus suggesting to scout to thank Boo

“Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.”

Scout’s perception of Boo at the end of the book

“Child afraid of the dark”

Scout helping Boo home

"Mr Arthur bend your arm down like this"

Scout’s intelligence

“Scout yonder’s been readin’ ever since she was born”

Scout’s failure to be a women

" I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I walked around in breaches"

Scout vs the mob

"Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in."

Scout on Tom’s death

"To maycomb Tom's death was typical"

Scout on sending Boo to jail

"It would be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird wouldn't it"

Scout on Mayella’s impact in the trial

"Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed"

Scout on Atticus defending Tom

"Do you defend n***** Atticus?"

What does Scout call Boo at the end

“Mr Arthur”

Atticus is taken at face value

“Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.”

Atticus TKAM quote

“Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

Atticus quote about consciousness

“The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

Atticus quote about understanding

“until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

Atticus describing prejudice

"Maycomb's usual disease"

Atticus debating moral vs legal justice

"He fell on his own knife"

Atticus on mobs

“ Every mob in every little Southern town is always made up of people you know”

Attiucs on principles

"if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature.”

Atticus on conflict with Maycomb

“This time we aren’t fighting the Yankees, we’re fighting our friends."

Atticus on white vs black violence

“whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”

Maudie loving everything

spent indoors was time wasted…She loved everything that grew in God’s earth, even the weeds.

Maudie wanting to see Boo

"I wish I had been with her and smart enough to catch a glimpse of Boo"

Maudie caring about the commotion

“Only thing I worried about last night was all the danger and commotion it caused”