Mr. Dolphus Raymond offers a sip from his brown
bag to Dill. Dill sips warily, and then grins, realizing that it contained, not whisky, but Coca-Cola. Mr. Raymond explains that it is sometimes better to make people believe that you are something which, in reality, you are not. The children return to the courtroom. Atticus rises and begins to loosen his clothes slowly. The children are horrified. He then begins to speak. He insists that there is no proof that Tom has raped Mayella; no verdict of any doctor. He also insists that Mayella, too, has committed no crime. She is just a "victim of cruel poverty and ignorance". At the end of his speech, Dill suddenly espies Calpurnia entering the courtroom and heading towards Atticus
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homas Robinson is Atticus’ only witness, and he is called to the stand. It is mentioned that he had earlier been in trouble with the law for disorderly conduct. Apparently, Tom used to go across Mayella’s house to Mr. Link Deas’ place to work on his yard. Mayella used to regularly ask him to do some minor chores for her. The other children used to always be around. On that particular day, she had called him in to repair a hinge of the door, which Tom, however, had found to be all right. On inquiring about the children, Mayella says that she had saved up some money so that she could send them to town for ice cream. When Tom climbed a chair to remove a box from atop the ‘chiffarobe’, Mayella had grabbed his legs, hugged him and even tried to kiss him. While he had been fighting her off, her father had entered. Tom had fled away in fear for his life. He insisted that he had not even laid a finger on Mayella, and definitely not raped her.
Mayella, Bob’s daughter, is called to the witness stand. She gives her side of the story, claiming that Tom had forcefully entered the house, and had taken advantage of her, hitting her all the while. When Atticus rises to interrogate her, Mayella is extremely frightened. Through his penetrating questions, it is revealed that the family is very poor, the father spends most of the relief money on drinks, and that she is a very lonely girl, bereft of love and affection. On cross-examining her further, as to whether it had really been Tom or her father who had beaten her up, Mayella at first remains silent in terror and then bursts into tears. The court is adjourned for a recess. Mr. Underwood sees the children, and the children perceive that a mention of them would definitely be made in the next issue of the "Tribune".
Mr. Tate relates his story -- on the night of November twenty first, Mr. Ewell had rushed into his office saying that his daughter has been raped by a ‘nigger’. On reaching their house, he had found the girl on the floor, badly beaten up. She had declared that the ‘nigger’ had been none other than Tom Robinson. Then Atticus questions Mr. Tate as to whether a doctor had been called, but the reply is in the negative.
Aunt Alexandra is disapproving of the children having had a rendezvous in a jail in the middle of the night. The children are worried for their father, especially for the fact that Mr. Cunningham would have tried to kill Atticus, if it had not been for Scout’s timely intervention, with her small talk about entailments.
A group of Mennonites pass by in wagons. As they pass Miss Maudie’s house, they comment upon her love for gardening, considering it a sin. But Miss Maudie is stubbornly unmoved. Dill is given permission to stay at Scout’s house for the summer. One evening, as the family is relaxing, Heck Tate arrives with a few men. A discussion is held over the forthcoming trial, and whether Tom Robinson is safe in their custody. To the children it sounds like a fracas, but Atticus pacifies them. The next day, being a Sunday, is spent in Church, but in the evening Atticus declares that he is going out. In the night Jem prepares to follow his father. Dill and Scout join him in this venture. They find their father going to the Maycomb jail. As they watch, a group of men join Atticus and get around to talk to him. Scout interrupts them at an inopportune moment and Atticus instructs them to leave. Scout attempts at a conversation with Mr. Cunningham but fails to elicit any response. Finally they leave. Atticus had been protecting Tom Robinson, in the jail, but it turns out that Mr. Underwood had also been covering him (Atticus), with a shotgun, from his window above the Maycomb Tribune office, in case anyone would attack him. Finally, they all return home.
Scout asks Atticus the meaning of rape and is given a perfunctory, yet technically correct answer. Further discussion discovers their trip to the blacks’ church. Aunt Alexandra is outraged at this. Later Scout overhears her father and her aunt discuss her. Aunt Alexandra feels that Calpurnia shouldn’t be allowed to work in the house anymore, but Atticus refuses to let her go. Jem advises Scout not to irritate their father as he has too many things in his mind. His advising her seems too high-handed for Scout, who ends up quarreling with him.
Aunt Alexandra makes her presence felt from the first day itself. Atticus returns home the same day. Aunt Alexandra settles down in the house. She becomes the secretary of the Maycomb Amanuensis Club and holds parties in the house. Whenever she does so, she summons Scout, to get her introduced to the guests. Aunt Alexandra’s attempts at instilling her sense of etiquette into the children is of no avail and Atticus has to speak to them about it. Atticus seems stern and gruff to the children who cannot understand this sudden change in his behavior. But finally, even he relents and allows the children to not take everything that Aunt says, too seriously.
When Atticus leaves for town for some official work, Calpurnia takes the children for a service to a black church. Their presence is acknowledged by all the members of the church, except for Lula, a troublemaker, but her stance is overlooked. She is later told that most of them are uneducated except for a few, including Calpurnia. Calpurnia’s sudden switch to the colored folks’ way of talking, also surprises them, and they realize the somewhat dual life that Calpurnia has to lead.
The preacher, Reverend Sykes virtually commands the people to donate money for Tom Robinson’s wife and children. Jem and Scout donate from their own pockets. Aunt Alexandria tells Calpurnia to take her suitcase upstairs. Jem takes it and Aunt Alexandra tells Scout that she and Atticus decided that it’s time for her to stay “for a while.” In Maycomb, this could mean any length of time. She says that Scout needs a feminine influence. Scout thinks that she has Calpurnia and knows there’s more to it, but she doesn’t press since Aunt Alexandra is irritable on Sundays. The day passes slowly and Jem and Scout race outside when they hear Atticus get home. Scout assures Atticus that she’s thrilled to have Aunt Alexandra, which is a lie. Atticus says that Aunt Alexandra is doing him a favor and that it’ll be a hot summer. Scout doesn’t understand but suspects that this was Aunt Alexandra’s idea.
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