To Kill a Mockingbird

Chapters 17 and 18

by Rachel Mandelstam and Neel Manthani

Significant Moments
Atticus makes Bob Ewell sign his name
Tom Robinson stands up
Mayella Ewell suddenly remembers what
happened to her clearly

Themes
True courage is knowing you will fail from the
start, but beginning anyway and following
through until the end.
The innocent should be spared.
To really understand someone you have to
think of things from their perspective.

Literary Devices
Foreshadowing
Jem seemed to be having a quiet fit. He was pounding the balcony rail
softly, and once he whispered, Weve got him. (178)

Simile
I heard Mayella screamin like a stuck hog inside the house. (172)
Mayella was screamin fit to beat Jesus. (172)
Judge Taylor staring at him (Mr. Ewell) as if he were some fragrant gardenia
in full bloom on the witness stand. (177)

Idiom
Atticus seemed to know what he was doing--but it seemed to me that hed
gone frog-sticking without a light. (177)
I thought Jem was counting his chickens. (178)

Literary Devices Contd.

Onomatopoeia
The only sound in the courtroom was a dim pink-pink-pink: the judge might
have been rapping the bench with a pencil. (173)

Passage 1
Atticus seemed to know what he was doing-but it seemed
to me that hed gone frog-sticking without a light. Never,
never, never, on cross-examination ask a witness a
question you dont already know the answer to, was a
tenet I absorbed with my baby-food. Do it, and youll
often get an answer you dont want, an answer that might
wreck your case. (177)
This shows that Atticus is desperate and willing to try anything to win the
case.
The word light in the expression frog-sticking without a light
represents enlightenment or knowledge, and since Atticus is without a
light, he has no knowledge of whether his question will do any good for
his case.

Passage 2
But Tom Robinson could easily be left-handed, too and
(Scout) concluded that he might have held her with his
right hand and pounded her with his left. I looked down at
him. His back was to us, but I could see his broad
shoulders and bull-thick neck. He could easily have done
it. I thought Jem was counting his chickens. (178)
This shows how people have a tendency to think of others in only one
way and not realize there is another side to them.
Tom Robinsons concealed, unusable arm symbolizes the other sides of
people that are not found on the surface.
This is also similar to how Scout and Jem dont see the other side to Mrs.
Dubose. They only see the side of her thats mean.

Passage 3
I (Mayella) got somethin to say an then I aint gonna
say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an
if you fine fancy gentlemen dont wanta do nothin about
it then youre all yellow stinkin cowards, stinkin
cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs dont come to
nothin-your maamin and Miss Mayellerin dont come to
nothin, Mr. Finch-
Mayella gets angry at Atticus because he is right in all his assumptions
about her.
Atticus also makes Mayella look like shes lying.