TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Chapter 16
Chapter 16
The next morning, everything feels strange and tense. At the breakfast table, Scout asks her father a question that is on her mind. "Is Mr. Cunningham still our friend?" Atticus looks up from his coffee, his face tired but kind. "He is," he says.
"But last night he wanted to hurt you," says Jem. His voice is full of confusion. "Jem, Mr. Cunningham is a good man," Atticus says calmly. "He just has his blind spots, like the rest of us." Scout does not understand.
"He was part of a mob." "That's right," Atticus agrees. "But a mob is always made of people. You saw that last night. You made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for just a minute. That was enough."
He explains that the men were still the same people they knew from town. They were farmers and neighbors. But in a group, they could do things they would never do alone. His words hang in the air as Aunt Alexandra enters. She places a plate of biscuits on the table. She has an angry look on her face. She does not like this conversation.
Later, the children watch from the front porch as the town of Maycomb comes alive. People are walking toward the courthouse from every direction. The day of Tom Robinson's trial has arrived, and it feels like a big, strange holiday. Wagons full of families from the country pass by their house.
"Look," Dill says, pointing. "There's the foot-washing Baptists. They told Miss Maudie she was going to hell." A group of serious-looking men and women in plain clothes walks by, and the children watch them go. Soon, they see someone they know.
"There's Mr. Dolphus Raymond," Jem says. The children see a white man sitting with black people. He holds a bottle in a paper bag and drinks from it with a straw. "Why is he sitting with the black people?" Dill asks.
"He likes them better than he likes us, I guess," Jem explains. "He has children with a black woman. People say he's always drinking from that bag. They say he’s a drunk. That’s why he’s with the black folk. But he's from a good family."
As the morning goes on, almost everyone in Maycomb walks past their house on the way to the courthouse. Jem, Scout, and Dill decide they have to go too, even though Atticus has told them to stay home. They want to see what happens. "We can just watch from the back," Jem whispers. He really wants to go. "Atticus won't see us."
They join the river of people moving toward the town square. The courthouse is in the center of the town square, big and old. The children feel a mix of excitement and fear. They know today is important, and they have to be there to see it.
