TKAM 24-25

Chapter 24

-Jem and Dill go skinny dip.

- Aunt Alexandra has ladies over for a meeting of the Missionary Society of Maycomb, and forces Scout to stay in an attempt to make her a proper lady. 

The women discuss the plight of the Mruna people, a non-Christian group in Africa who are said to live in squalor and are being converted thanks to the efforts of a missionary named J. Grimes Everett.....a topic really necessary in Maycomb?

- Scout doesn't enjoy it, but does her best to take part. 

-Sudden turn to gossip: The topic of Tom's wife, Helen. The ladies have a lot to say.  Aunt Alexandra magically calms the room. Another lady says that Northerners are hypocrites who claim to give blacks equal standing but actually don't mix socially with them, whereas in the South people are very up-front about their lack of desire to share the same lifestyle.....This time period gives way to some very questionable opinions.

-Scout remembers that Calpurnia told Atticus that the day Tom went to prison, he lost hope. Atticus couldn't promise 

-Atticus enters the house and requests Aunt Alexandra and Calpurnia's presence in the kitchen. 

-Tom escaped fro prison and was shot to death by the prison guards. (Apparently the guards tried to tell him to stop and fired warning shots, but Tom kept running.)

- Atticus needs Calpurnia to go with him to Tom's wife to give her the news. 

-Aunty and Maudie talk about the trial and how it has drained Atticus.

-. Miss Maudie thinks that the town has paid Atticus a high tribute by trusting him to do right and uphold justice. 

-The two women are quite shaken, but then join the other women effortlessly. For the first time, Scout feels proud of her Aunt and of Miss Maudie, and for the first time feels inclined to be ladylike, thinking that, "if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I."

-What's happening to Scout?

Chapter 25

-It is now September.

- Scout sees a roly-poly bug and goes to kill it. Jem stops her, saying the bug never did anything to harm her. 

- As she returns to her cot on the porch, she thinks of Dill and remembers his story of the day Tom died in late August.

-When Atticus and Cal were driving out to see Tom's wife when they spotted Jem and Dill on their way back from swimming. Jem and Dill ask for a ride.  Hesitantly, Atticus agrees to let them come along. 

-Tom's wife faints

-Tom's death was only news in Maycomb for two days.  People were not shocked because of racial biases

-Scout reflects that "in the secret courts of men's hearts," nothing Atticus could have said could have freed Tom. 

-Upon hearing the news, Mr. Ewell is rumored to have said, "one down and about two more to go," and Scout is afraid for Atticus. 

-Jem confidently tells Scout that Mr. Ewell won't really take any action on his threats. HMMMMMMM

Plesse read 26-27 for Monday, 5/4