To Kill a Mockingbird — Chapter 26

About This Passage

Scout has just been listening to her teacher Miss Gates teach the class that Hitler is wrong to persecute the Jews. Miss Gates says, 'Over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody.' But Scout remembers something. The night Tom Robinson was on trial, Scout heard Miss Gates standing on the courthouse steps saying that it was time somebody taught Black people a lesson — that they were 'gettin' way above themselves.' Scout takes her question to Jem, the only person she can ask. The two halves of Miss Gates do not fit together, and Scout cannot make them fit. This is the chapter where Scout sees, very clearly, the kind of grown-up problem the trial has left in Maycomb.

Narration Prompt

Tell the chapter as a story. Begin with Scout going back to school and walking past the Radley Place. Tell about the Current Events lesson where Cecil Jacobs reports on Hitler and Miss Gates writes DEMOCRACY on the blackboard. Then tell about Scout asking Jem the question that has been bothering her — and how Jem reacts.

Discussion Questions

1. When Scout walks past the Radley Place now, she feels 'a twinge of remorse' — a feeling of being sorry for something. How can you tell that Scout has changed since the early chapters when she was so afraid of Boo Radley?
2. Miss Gates teaches the class that 'over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody,' but Scout remembers Miss Gates saying very different things on the courthouse steps. What in the story shows you that Miss Gates is being one way at school and another way outside of school?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide