To Kill a Mockingbird — Chapter 24

About This Passage

Mrs. Merriweather's missionary report on the 'squalid lives of the Mrunas' is the chapter's thesis in miniature. The ladies are weeping over a tribe of strangers in a faraway jungle while, in the same room, they will speak with disdain about Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Merriweather's own cook Sophy. Lee places the satire in plain view: the same compassion that crosses oceans cannot reach across the kitchen door. Scout records the report deadpan, which gives the irony its full force.

Narration Prompt

Retell the chapter as two scenes that mirror each other. The first scene is the missionary tea — the ladies discuss the Mrunas, Tom's wife, Sophy the cook, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The second scene is the kitchen — Atticus arrives white-faced and announces Tom is dead, and Aunt Alexandra and Miss Maudie face the news together before returning to the diningroom. Tell what changes between the two scenes, and what stays the same.

Discussion Questions

1. Mrs. Merriweather weeps for the Mrunas in Africa but complains that her own cook Sophy 'sulks' at home. Miss Maudie answers Mrs. Merriweather with the simple question, 'His food doesn't stick going down, does it?' What does Miss Maudie's question expose about Mrs. Merriweather's idea of charity?
2. Atticus tells Aunt Alexandra and Calpurnia, 'He wasn't Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner.' Then he says about the seventeen bullets, 'They didn't have to shoot him that much.' How does Atticus's careful, factual report show the exact place where injustice happens?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide