Calpurnia takes the children with her to an African American church where they learn about Tom Robinson; the church is already collecting money for his family. Scout and Jem experience the unfairness of segregation – the separation of black and white people. They notice that nearly all African American people are illiterate, meaning they cannot read and write.
When the children are returning, they find out that Aunt Alexandra is staying with them for a longer period of time. She believes the children need some feminine influence and she does not feel Calpurnia is adequate. While Aunt Alexandra is liked in the neighbourhood, Jem and Scout would prefer for her to leave.
In contrast to Aunt Alexandra, Jem shows that he does not have any prejudices against African American people because when Aunt Alexandra says “put my bag in the front bedroom, Calpurnia”, it is Jem who takes the bag. He shows both maturity and lack of prejudice.
Aunt Alexandra does not want Calpurnia to stay any longer and she refuses to let Scout see her. She sees no further use for Calpurnia in the household and wants Atticus to let her go. Atticus says: “She [Calpurnia] is a faithful member of this family and you’ll simply have to accept things the way they are” (page 150). Atticus is firmly on Calpurnia’s side and ensures that she stays. As Scout is going to bed, she feels something in the dark which she initially thinks is a snake but it turns out to be Dill who has run away from home.
At night, Sheriff Tate and some men warn Atticus that Tom Robinson has been moved to the county jail and that there might be trouble. Consequently, Atticus spends the night in front of Tom’s cell. A group of men arrive, who want to lynch Tom and confront Atticus. Scout runs all the way to Atticus and the boys follow her. The graphic below shows how the tension in this particular scene when Scout manages to stop the mob is rising and falling. The next morning, the trial begins and Atticus asks the children to stay away from the courthouse. Nevertheless, he is thankful for the children’s appearance the night before. Although they are not allowed to do so, the children enter the courthouse. A white person would normally prefer to stay outside the courthouse than sit above next to a black person. Ironically, Scout thinks they have a better view from above, so they are sitting on the balcony, where the black people follow the trial. Through Dolphus Raymond, the reader gets to know that people of mixed ethnicities (interracial marriage) are even less liked than black people.
The trial concerning the rape of Mayella Ewell begins. As the first witness, Heck Tate explains that a doctor has never been called to examine Mayella Ewell. Atticus suspects that Bob Ewell himself has beaten his daughter because Mayella’s right eye has been blacked, so a left-handed person must have beaten her. While Bob Ewell is left-handed, Tom Robinson’s left hand is palsied [dt.: gelähmt], essentially useless. Mayella swears to tell the truth and Atticus treats her with respect and politeness but she thinks he is making fun of her.
Tom is guilty only of feeling sorry for Mayella. His kindness to help her is impermissible because he is lower in the social hierarchy. Trying to prevent his family reputation from being further diminished, Bob is responsible for causing an innocent man’s death. He feels superior due to the colour of his skin. The whole situation is the Ewells’ cover up, however, through the testimonies the Ewells are just more embarrassed because it is revealed that Bob Ewell has sexually abused his daughter. Although it is not specifically mentioned in the text, it is implied, that Bob Ewell abused his daughter.
Firstly, Atticus is frightened because of Calpurnia’s note about the children who disappeared. He calms down when Mr. Underwood tells him they’re in the courthouse. Jem has a glimpse of hope that the jury will acquit Tom Robinson but gets disappointed when the Ewells win. Atticus was not able to win the trial, which was already obvious for the majority, as Miss Maudie explains “Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win, but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that” (page 238). As a sign of gratitude, African Americans bring presents to the Finchs’ house, Tom’s fellow African American men are thankful and show the respect they have for Atticus. Scout and Jem begin to mature further and start to develop an understanding for interpersonal aspects like respect, help, gratitude or the helplessness towards prejudices. The mockingbird symbolism appears again in these chapters, when Scout compares the depressing [dt.: bedrückend, lastend] atmosphere in the courthouse to “a cold February morning when the mockingbirds were still”. Bob Ewell starts to threaten Atticus which makes the children afraid of him, as well.
When Atticus finds out that Tom Robinson was shot as he tried to escape, he asks Calpurnia about Helen’s (Tom’s wife) well-being. Helen’s situation worsened without her husband by her side. The society’s reaction concerning Tom’s death are mixed and differ from person to person. In Maycomb, people refuse the backwardness and cold-heartedness in relation to the racist attitudes in the Tom Robinson case. The shooting of Tom seems to highlight the power of the white oppressors to act outside of the law. Throughout the whole case, Jem and Scout mature. Jem, in particular, develops a new understanding for inferiority [dt.: Unterlegenheit] and superiority [dt.: Überlegenheit], as well as for fairness and equality. When Scout wants to kill a bug, he tells her not to do so. Refusing to kill the bug shows that Jem does not want to take advantage of any living organism that is not doing any harm to anyone. This is related to what Jem learned in the trial in which his father was involved.
Supporting Helen in her financial situation, Link Deas (Tom's former boss) gives her a job at his house. Bob Ewell is quite angry as he loses his job because of laziness. He wanted to put his family in a better position through the trial, but because he made a false accusation, his reputation worsened. Bob starts to scare and harass [dt.: belästigen] Helen on her daily walk to Link Deas’ house. This makes Link warn and reprimand [dt.: zurechtweisen, tadeln] Bob. In the high school, a Halloween feast is organized, and Jem takes Scout there because Atticus and Aunt Alexandra stay at home. On their way home, the children are attacked by someone they cannot identify and Scout thinks it is Jem who pulls the offender off her. Screaming for Jem, Scout does not get an answer, but she manages to reorient herself and recognizes a man carrying Jem back home, where Aunt Alexandra calls the doctor and Atticus calls for the sheriff. Sheriff Heck Tate later explains that it was Bob Ewell who attacked the children. It was Atticus’ duty to defend Tom Robinson, so his words were against the Ewells’, which is perhaps why Bob wanted to take revenge.
The knife cuts on Scout’s costume show that Bob Ewell wanted to kill the children and Scout realizes that it was Boo Radley – the mysterious neighbour – who saved their life. In a conversation, Atticus thinks he has to defend Jem who might have killed Bob, saying it was probably self-defence. Heck Tate says it was Bob who fell on his own knife and therefore killed himself. Atticus corrects Sheriff Tate because, although he appreciates it, he does not want Tate to cover Jem. What Atticus then realizes is that Sheriff Tate is not covering Jem, but Boo Radley. As it comes out that Boo Radley killed Bob Ewell for saving the children, Heck Tate decides that Mr. Radley is officially not guilty. According to Tate, dragging Boo Radley into the limelight would be a sin. At this point, it is important to mention that Boo is a quite a shy man. Heck Tate really wants Atticus to keep the secret that Boo actually killed Bob, whereby Mr. Tate stresses that telling the truth would be a sin. We can again relate this part to the mockingbird symbolism because with fairness in mind Boo does not commit a crime. Protecting Boo, Sheriff Tate says Bob Ewell killed himself. “Thank you for my children, Arthur” is what Atticus says to Boo (page 305). The novel ends with Scout sitting on Atticus’ lap who reads to her.