Ignatius Valentine Aloysius

Critical Essay, Fiction

Summer 2012

Dispositions of Virtue: An Analysis of Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird has claimed its place among those great books of the American
literary canon. It is taught in American schools and remains a persistently bright and contemporary
revelation of ethics today. Here is a celebrated story about compassion, irrationality, and race and
class relations written by Harper Lee, a writer who grew up in Monroeville, Alabama, and who
attended the University of Alabama before venturing off to New York as an aspiring novelist. The
story, set in the Deep South around the 1930s, emerged from the vault of Harper Lees consciousness
in the years leading up to 1960, when the novel was published; it went on to receive critical acclaim
and earned Harper Lee the coveted Pulitzer Prize and other honors. To Kill a Mockingbird hosts
characters full of innocence, curiosity, selflessness, and mystery, and also characters who become
purveyors of inconsideration, prejudice, and hatred. At the novels heart is the trial (and death) of
Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping young and precocious Mayella Ewell, a white girl. In
spite of its serious tone and search for moral justice, the story conveys humor and regional parlance,
and its success lies largely in nine-year-old Scout Finch, the novels female protagonist, a tomboy,
and the eyes through which we observe Mockingbirds plot that takes place in Maycomb. While To
Kill a Mockingbird dramatizes the nature of its protagonists (Atticus, Scout, and Jem Finch), this
paper will focus on the portrayal of some of its secondary characters as undeniably unifying, caring,
and good in spite of their differing social and personal attributes. Calpurnia, Maudie Atkinson, Mr.
Underwood, Dolphus Raymond, Reverend Sykes, and Boo Radley exist as outsiders of the main
culture in the novel; as secondary characters, they demonstrate aspects of humanness that underpin
the actions of the protagonists and raise the novel to a special level.
At the onset and in the very first paragraph, Scout Finch leads us in her adult voice (a firstperson viewpoint) to a stopping point in timethat moment when her brother Jem breaks his left
arm when he is nearly thirteen. We only come to understand how Jems arm is broken, however,
Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com

once we follow the duration of the plot to reach the end of the novel, a technique Harper Lee
employs to make life and time in Maycomb comprehensible to us. Speaking through Scouts
character, the author encapsulates the story of Mockingbird within this incident (of Jems broken
arm). Scout gives us a sense of Atticus, a lawyer and her father; Dill, their summer friend; and the
mysterious Boo Radley. She then describes for us the setting and history of Maycomb and the Finch
family. The novels storyline and other characters gradually appear, including Calpurnia, the familys
black cook. In the following, we hear Atticus tell Aunt Alexandra, his sister, how he feels about
Calpurnia:

Atticuss voice was even: Alexandra, Calpurnias not leaving this house until she wants to.
You may think otherwise, but I couldnt have got along without her all these years. Shes
a faithful member of this family and youll simply have to accept things the way they are.
Besides, sister, I dont want you working your head off for usyouve no reason to do that.
We still need Cal as much as we ever did. (196)

This quoted passage expresses an important fact about Calpurnia. The absence of Jem and
Scouts mother leaves a void no other woman can fill in the Finch home, and Atticus Finch perceives
Calpurnia as the right person to occupy the kitchen; in fact, Atticus is insistent on maintaining
Calpurnias role beyond that of a cook. He relies on her to watch over Jem and Scout, while she
nurtures and nourishes them all as if they were her own. Calpurnia is an indispensable part of the
Finch family, tending the Finches from the harbor of her kitchen, and yet Aunt Alexandra wants
to get rid of her, offering to care for the children instead. Apart from her inexperience with raising
children, the aunt would bring along her biases and judgments. Furthermore, Scout would not be
content, because her aunt disapproves of her boyish behavior and takes a dim view of her refusal to
get out of overalls and wear girls clothes.
There is nothing irregular or inessential in Mockingbirds plot; the narrative is straight to the
point. It has, however, a wonderfully Southern poetic movement that is light and airy, as if the novel
were bestowed with a sense of permanent summer. The words are crisp with regional humor, and the
Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com

storytelling is unembellished and spared of excessive rambling, as it measures forward, step by step
and page by page, like when Atticus goes to and from work, like the Finch children and Dill when
they go tiptoeing up to the Radleys front porch, like Calpurnia when she sets the table then clears it.
From the very beginning we learn of Calpurnias unheralded but grounded presence in the
Finch home, although young Scout would be more inclined to think of Cal as an adversary. And
yet Calpurnia clearly needs to do what is right when Atticus is away at work in his office inside the
Maycomb Bank building; she cooks and clothes Jem and Scout, she keeps a close eye on them when
they play outside, and she even scolds them as any parent would. Calpurnia prefers not to have Aunt
Alexandras interference, but she has no place in the system and lacks the power to speak, as a cook
and maid in the Finch home. She silently accepts the aunts visit.
As the novel progresses, we notice a gradual change in the relationship between Calpurnia
and Scout. Harper Lee uses young Scouts first-person viewpoint consciously, and she is careful not
to get directly involved in interpreting the nine-year-old girls sensitivity, knowledge, and ability
with her own adult sense (I have struggled with this issue in my own fiction). Scouts young voice
is hospitable, sincere, and consistent, but there is an emergent toughness and directness in it, which
causes me to wonder if Harper Lee struggled in her craft to maintain the youthfulness of this voice
throughout the story, while the adult Scout actually tells it. Most children, unlike most adults, are
direct and truthful, even when they tell lies; the authors talent in Mockingbird would have been to
balance the young voice (of Scout) with the adult one without misguiding the readerwhile the
adult Scout ruminates on the past, it is always the little Scout in the story who talks and who resigns
herself to Calpurnia and her watchful eyes.
Scout begins to accept the virtues of this woman who knows whats best for her and Jem; her
suspicions wane, and she learns to trust Calpurnia (because her relationship with the cook isnt true).
Scout asks to go see Calpurnia, to go Out to your house (181). Calpurnia says yes and even tells
the little girl that she misses her when the Finch house seems empty. And Calpurnia bakes crackling
bread, Scouts favorite; she also lets Scout watch as supper is prepared, an uncommon invitation
from Calpurnia, who sends Scout off to play briefly when its time to lay supper on the table.
Calpurnia bent down and kissed me, Scout says. I ran along wondering what had come over her.
Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com

She had wanted to make up with me, that was it. She had always been too hard on me, she had at last
seen the errors of her fractious ways, she was sorry and too stubborn to say so. I was weary from the
days crimes (41).
As a secondary character in the novel, Calpurnia is a silent hero. She is the sun and moon
presiding over the Finch home when Atticus is away, just as she is the wall Scout runs into or the
gatekeeper who keeps Jem and Scout within reach and out of harms way. Her defense of Jem and
Scout when she takes them to First Purchase (her church on the other side of the sawmill tracks)
shows the real person within Calpurnia and demonstrates her integrity and honor. She is unafraid to
speak the truth or stand by it, even when Lula, a critical church member, confronts Calpurnia by the
front door to ask her why she brings the Finch children to a black churchand Calpurnia asks in
return, What you want, Lula? (170), and then adds, Theys my compny (171). But Lula presses
on with insults, attempting to fire up other church members about Calpurnias supposed betrayal
(of her people), until Cal has no other option but to ask, Its the same God, aint it? (171). This
exchange outside the church unsettles Calpurnia, until Reverend Sykes comes to her rescue.
Jem and Scout are taken (surprised, actually) by the manner in which their cook changes her
voice to sound more natural to her black culture there. Clearly, the vernacular is essential to the
exchange between Calpurnia and Lula, and shows the authors attention to regional detail, although
this usage is few and far between, with just enough to give us a hint, but not too much to veer
from Scouts voice and the building tension of her story. Calpurnia feels compelled to lead a more
unnatural life while at the Finch home than away from it. That Calpurnia lead [sic] a modest double
life never dawned on me, the adult Scout admits. The idea that she had a separate existence outside
our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages (180).
Calpurnia even uses a contemptuous term to address Lula.
Early 20th Century writers like Thomas Wolfe, Sherwood Anderson, Willa Cather, and Richard
Connell often employed contemptuous terms in their writing to describe blacks, because it was
realistic for their time and place; and Harper Lee also employs these terms through her white and
black characters to address Lula and Tom Robinson. While the author represents time and place
accurately by doing this in Mockingbird, such contemptuous and offensive terms, when encountered,
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are jarring in todays context of racial tolerance and understanding. I wonder what boundaries can a
fiction writer push for authenticity (trying to capture whats real) in a contemporary story? And what
becomes of the writers level of awareness because of this? While capturing these offensive terms, is
the writer simply embodying the prejudices of our society unconsciously, and does the writer believe
in them? Perhaps, Harper Lee was burdened with similar questions, but she is conscious and aware
and does not embody prejudice.
In the front pew of the church with Jem and Scout, Calpurnia hands them each a dime, money
she has saved for the church offering. Harper Lee consistently presents Calpurnia with a sense of
benevolence and thoughtfulness, unable as the case may be to raise the cook to a more prominent
status in the story. Its the little things, the important little things our Calpurnia does that remain
unrecognized, but they are all actions that Harper Lee may have hoped the reader would comprehend
upon close reading. I know I did. Harper Lee is aware of the role of the outsider.
More than the role Calpurnia plays in the Finch home, she must also be the responsible bearer
of sad news following Tom Robinsons shooting death, when Atticus hurries home to ask her, Cal,
I want you to come out with me and help me tell Helen (340). Calpurnia obeys Atticus; she unties
her apron, stops serving coffee and cookies to Aunt Alexandra and her friends, and joins Atticus on
the drive to visit Helen. Together, they give Helen the devastating news in the Robinsons cabin, a
place more than a mile from town, past the dump and the Ewell residence. Atticus and Calpurnia
inform Helen and bring her back to her feet when she faints, and they spend a good while inside
the cabin with her. The burden to console Toms wife is placed on Calpurnia, however, and Atticus
leaves his cook alone with Helen. Here, I wanted to know more; I wanted Harper Lee to place me in
the meeting between both women so I could witness the weight and scope of their conversation, and
understand the burden that such a loss had brought to Cal, Helen, and their community. Perhaps, in
choosing not to tell us more about the black characters lives, the author simply voiced the unequal
nature of life in the Deep South at that time. It is possible that Harper Lee did not know the inner
reality of the blacks.
Calpurnia reaches into her black community and the white community; she moves between
both worlds and affects those around her. She does not wish to leave her employment and never lets
Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com

Atticus down, and folks in the Finch neighborhood understand that; they know about Calpurnia and
interact with her from time to time, most notably when the mad dog (Tim Johnson) finds its way on
their street and Calpurnia runs to warn others before calling Atticus for help.
Although Miss Maudie Atkinson (my next example) is not a neighbor Calpurnia tried to warn,
she knows the Finch children well and treats them warmly, including Dill. In this extract from the
novel, Scout tells us of Maudies good and caring nature:

Miss Maudies benevolence extended to Jem and Dill, whenever they paused in their
pursuits: we reaped the benefits of a talent Miss Maudie had hitherto kept hidden from us.
She made the best cakes in the neighborhood. When she was admitted into our confidence,
every time she baked she made a big cake and three little ones, and she would call across
the street: Jem Finch, Scout Finch, Charles Baker Harris, come here! Our promptness was
always rewarded. (60)

Maudie Atkinson allows Jem, Scout, and Dill to roam her front yard, as long as they do not
invade her flower bedsfull of azaleas, a mimosa, angels breath, and even the terrible nut-grass,
which Scout describes as a pestilence that causes Maudie to engage in the Second Battle of the
Marne (60). Miss Maudie Atkinson lives alone in a big house she dislikes, so she spends hours
in her flower beds, wearing a straw hat and coveralls made for men. For an entire summer she
welcomes Scouts company, as the two of them sit on Maudies front porch watching twilights;
meanwhile, Scout feels her rejection by Jem and Dill, who spent days together in the treehouse
plotting and planning, calling me only when they needed a third party (59). During times when
Scout is consigned to being treated as a girl by her brother and Dillshe resents the designation
she and Maudie enjoy their conversations that range from Maudies nut-grass (Maudie regards them
with disdain), to Boo Radley (his name is Arthur and he is alive, Maudie reminds Scout), and Uncle
Jack Finch (Maudie knew Atticuss brother as a child).
Although Scout is only nine and Maudie a grown woman (the daughter of a neighboring
landowner, Dr. Frank Buford), Maudies topics also include adult conversations that show Scouts
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curiosity to learn from her and Maudies own appreciation of Scout. In a conversation, Maudie and
Scout discuss the difference between primitive baptistry and closed communion (63), and Maudie
tells Scout about a group she refers to as foot-washers (63) who pass by her house then declare
that she [Maudie] and her flowers will end up in hell, because Maudie takes too much pleasure in
her flowers. What caught my interest here is the delicate friendship between Scout and Maudie,
nurturing in Scout memories to last her own lifetime, even when things do not go wellMaudies
house burns down unexpectedly, or Tom Robinsons difficult trial and shooting death changes the
mood in Maycomb and in the Finch neighborhood.
More than anyone outside the Finch home who takes Tom Robinsons shooting death badly,
Mr. Underwood of The Maycomb Tribune is most noticeable. According to Scout, he remains bitter
about the whole incident and does not care one way or the other if his advertisers choose to cancel
their advertisements with him. Mr. Underwood is clearly a minor character within the arc of the
storytelling, but a man who plays a crucial role in Maycombs affairs, and especially in Atticuss
life near the courthouse and jail. Mr. Underwood lives above The Maycomb Tribune and runs the
newspapers office alone. He covered the courthouse and jailhouse news, Scout tells us, simply
by looking out his upstairs window (216). But Mr. Underwoods peculiar role in Maycomb comes
as a blessing to Atticus after Tom Robinson has been jailed. Atticus begins to realize the complexity
of the situation, which causes him to stay away from home longer than usual, a matter that worries
Jem. The boy decides to investigate the cause of his fathers delay one evening. With Scout and Dill
in tow, Jem leads them to the square and the Maycomb jail, where they find Atticus sitting by a light
in front of the door of Tom Robinsons cell, while Tom waits for his trial in isolation. Harper Lee
prepares the reader well for the tensions that are being played out across Maycomb.
While the author wishes us to see the great honor and virtue of Atticus, a leading Maycomb
citizen who will do all he can to defend his client Tom Robinson (and prove the mans innocence),
it is Mr. Underwoods alarming and unexpected assistance with an armed shotgun that adds
unanticipated drama. Scout sets up the scene for us: We were taking a short cut across the square
when four dusty cars came in from the Meridian highway, moving slowly in a line.They stopped
in front of the jail (217). These men whisper and move like many shadows with the smell of stale
Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com

whiskey and pigpen around (218). Led by Walter Cunningham, they come to take Tom Robinson
away by force, so they can impart their own brutal justice on him before the trial begins. Good and
evil come face to face. But just as Atticuss hopes to intervene fail, Scouts desperate dash to join
her father in their midst disrupts the whole affair, and the men leave without their captive. (Here as
in other places in the story, Harper Lee represents good and evil, including Atticuss stance against
the mad dog, the courtroom scenes, and Boo Radleys defense of Jem and Scout against the vengeful
Bob Ewell.) All along, and from his window above The Maycomb Tribune office, Mr. Underwood
trains his double-barreled shotgun on the men, and his voice breaks the tension when Atticus tells
Tom the men wont bother him anymore. Mr. Underwood says, Youre damn tootin they wont.
Had you covered all the time, Atticus (223).
I did not expect this twist in the story, and Harper Lee gives Atticus and Tom a new (and
temporary) escape from injustice while increasing the suspenseful climate of the plot. This twist
in the plot, this element, is the authors skillful use of craft; but more than craft, I admit we learn
lessons of courage shown by human beings (however fictional) when they are confronted by
wrongdoing and evil. We believe in the actions of these characters because they represent all that
might be true in life for us, just as this may have been true for Harper Lee. We discover Atticuss
courage, and Scouts, too, but we also silently acknowledge Tom Robinsons courage to face evil at
his jails door.
Mr. Underwoods daring places him at risk, but his willingness to defend Atticus makes him a
powerful unifying thread that runs beneath the main storyline in the novel. In addition, it is Scouts
willingness early on in the novel to save the younger Walter Cunningham some embarrassment in
the first grade classroom that also helped to stave off the unruly and shadowy men led by the older
Walter Cunningham.
At the heated trial of Tom Robinson in Maycombs courthouse, Dolphus Raymondreputed
for being evil, suspicious, and a drinker with mixed children (290)is kind enough to help settle
Dills upset stomach by offering Coca-Cola from his paper sack and straw, and in doing so takes
delight in corrupting a child, as Scout describes his act (289). Dismissed and come into his fullness
as an outsider, Dolphus Raymond has no care one way or the other how folks perceive and judge
Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com

him, but he manages to impress Scout, Jem, and Dill by admitting he drinks nothing but Coca-Cola
from that paper sack. Dolphus also impresses Scout with his English boots; she has seen no one else
in Maycomb wear boots like his English boots. And then there is Reverend Sykes nice gesture just
as the trial gets started. The main floor of the courthouse is packed, so the Reverend leads Dill, Jem,
and Scout to the second floor balcony, where they are offered four seats in the front row and get a
direct view of the courtroom below.
Harper Lee misses no detail. She even gives Aunt Alexandra the benefit of earning forgiveness
for her arrogant behavior with a touching gesture: After Boo Radley carries Jem safely home at the
end of the novel, Aunt Alexandra brings Scouts overalls to her even though she hates seeing Scout
in them.
It is the mysterious Arthur Boo Radley most of all who seals the unifying link of goodness
with his unquestionable sense of nurturing and timeliness, when he saves Jem and Scout (concealed
under her ham costume) from the vengeful attack by Bob Ewell (the antagonist) one dark evening.
This happens at the novels end, a high drama of the plot, so full of confusion, impact, and mystery
for me as a reader, as it is for Scout (still under her ham costume). Boo brings Bob Ewell down, but
Ewell falls on his own kitchen knife then coughs and dies. Then Boo carries Jem (with his broken
arm) home to AtticusThe man who brought Jem in was standing in a corner, leaning against the
wall. He was some countryman I did not know (384). Scout tells us this just as Sheriff Tate arrives
and before she lays eyes on Boo in Jems room. As an unseen specter who confounds Jem, Scout,
and Dill from the very first page in Mockingbird, Boo finally leaves the confines of his shuttered
home to show his true self and save the Finch children. He has been watching over Jem and Scout all
along, and secretly leaves gifts for them in the crook of a tree.
I thank Harper Lee for causing Boo to show us his face at last. To Kill a Mockingbird carries
symbols worth discussing, like that of Tom Robinson and the title of the novel, or Atticuss killing
of the mad dog, or that Calpurnia is the name of a flowering shrub in eastern South Africa that
can withstand the frost. But if any allegory in the story warrants discussion, it is this one of Boo
Radleya good man, who is misunderstood as a projection of the evil conceived by others. By
staying shuttered, Boo comes to embody racial injustice and its enduring consequence and fears;
Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com

and by leaving his shuttered confines, Boo represents racisms eventual demise, because it can no
longer remain hidden and preserved by society. Racism comes into light, in the same way that Boo
brings his shadow into the light. Harper Lee is trying to convey this meaning to us, when she makes
us aware of who is seen and unseen, just as she shows us what is projected and not projected. As a
presentation of evil, Boo comes into the light.
Nurturing is borderless and blind to color or class; it is most ethical, a universal human
imperative that is limitless in scope and essence. My named secondary characters in To Kill a
Mockingbird support the actions of the protagonists by their coalescing goodness. I believe they
help make this novel the timeless work it is today. I had never been exposed to Mockingbird prior
to my immigrant experience, having read older works of fiction from around the world while
attending school in India; but my examination of meaning and craft in this novel offers me a clearer
understanding of how great fiction is written and how it can make us feel differently about ourselves
and the world we live in.

Copyright 2012 Ignatius V Aloysius | Evanston, Illinois USA | www.trueideas.net | ignatiusaloysius.com