To Kill a Mockingbird — Chapter 9

About This Passage

This single sentence shows mature Scout's narrative voice — the adult Jean Louise looking back with literary distance. Lee uses a hypothetical construction ('Had I ever harbored...'), a learned simile (Mount Everest), and a four-word verdict ('cold and there') that compresses a relationship into geology. The passage rewards close attention to syntax: the conditional clause performs the very erudition it claims to disavow.

Narration Prompt

Reconstruct the chapter's three concentric circles of conflict — the schoolyard exchange with Cecil, the Christmas confrontation with Francis, and the overheard conversation between Atticus and Jack — and characterize the kind of moral instruction Scout receives from each.

Discussion Questions

1. Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson is, in his words, a contest he was 'licked' before he began. Examine the philosophical position this commits him to: is the worth of moral action measured by likelihood of success, by quality of effort, or by something else entirely? Use evidence from his exchange with Scout to support your reading.
2. Lee distinguishes between Uncle Jack's situational ethics — apologizing once he learns he was wrong — and Atticus's formational ethics, which shape Scout's character over time. Examine where Uncle Jack's moral imagination ends, and what that limit reveals about why Atticus, rather than Jack, is the novel's primary moral teacher.

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide