|
Scout is about to experience the dramatic events
that will affect the rest of her life. She and brother Jem are being raised by
their widower father Atticus and by a strong-minded housekeeper Calpurnia.
Wide-eyed Scout is fascinated with the sensitively revealed people of her small
town but, from the start, there's a rumble of thunder just under the calm
surface. The black people of the community have a special feeling about Scout's
father and she doesn't know why. A few of her white friends are inexplicably
hostile and Scout doesn't understand this either. Unpleasant things are shouted
and the bewildered girl turns to her father. Atticus, a lawyer, explains that
he's defending a young Negro wrongfully accused of a grave crime. Scout wants to
know why he's doing it. "Because if I didn't," her father replies, "I couldn't
hold my head up." He goes on to prepare Scout for the trouble to come. Things do
get bitter, to the point where Atticus props himself in a chair against the cell
door of the man he's defending and confronts an angry mob. Horrified Scout
projects herself into this confrontation and her inconvenient presence helps
bring back a little sanity. Atticus fights his legal battle with a result that
is part defeat, part triumph. As Atticus comes out of the courthouse, the deeply
moved town minister tells Scout, "Stand up. Your father's passing!" |