Quotes by Atticus, Scout, and Jem               

5 Quotes by Atticus

1. "They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.  The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." 

2. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."

3. "When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake.  But don't make a production of it.  Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em."

4. "The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.  As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash."

5. "So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human.  Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children."  



5 Quotes by Scout                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

1. "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing."

2. "I think there's just one kind of folks.  Folks."

3. "I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year."

4. "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived."

5. "She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl."



5 Quotes by Jem

1. "If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside."

2. "There goes the meanest man that ever took a breath of life." 

3. "Atticus says cheating a black man is ten times worse than cheating a white." 

     4.  "Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on." 

     5.  "You got it backwards, Dill," said Jem. "Clowns are sad, it's folks that laugh at them." 

 Quotes by Miss Maudie and Dill                                                                                                                             

3 Quotes by Dill                                                                                     

1. "I don't care one speck. It ain't right, somehow it ain't right to do 'em that way."

2. "I'm Charles Baker Harris. I can read. I can read anything you've got." 

3. "I'm little but I'm old." 

3 Quotes by Miss Maudie 

1. "I don't know if it will help saying this to you... some men in this world are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us... your father is one of them."

2. "He can do plenty of things... He can make somebody's will so airtight you can't break it. You count your blessings and stop complaining, both of you. Thank your stars he has the sense to act his age."

3. "Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results." 

Quotes by Judge Taylor, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley

1 Quote by Tom Robinson

1. "Looks like she didn't have nobody to help her. I felt right sorry for her. She seemed..." 

1 Quote about Boo Radley

1. "Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained – if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time."

1 Quote about Judge Taylor

1. "A sleepy old shark”
   

  Atticus Finch

      Probably the most thoughtful and reflective of all the characters, Atticus has a one of a kind personality. He is always thinking about every perspective of anything that he is affiliated with and has a very influential mind from all of the cases and experiences that he has had. Atticus has many lessons to be taught stored away in his wise mind. He is usually calm because he knows almost exactly what he is going to say before he says it. He loves to learn and teaches himself through experience, and that is what makes him the perfect lawyer type. Although he is retrospective and reserved, Atticus is more than he looks and is very direct about what he thinks, and is sometimes untouchable. Atticus may not talk at you for a long time, but when he has something to say you should listen up because it is always worth hearing.

Scout Finch

       Although she is extraordinarily bright for her age, Scout still has a remarkable personality. For one, she is independent but still self-conscience of herself. She is one who can never turn down a fight. She really wants and tries to fit in with Jem and Dill, and is not the cute little schoolgirl. She does not even like school, which shows that she realizes that it is messed up. She, too, learns from experiences and draws conclusions. Still, Scout has some compassion and sense in her when she realizes that they should leave Boo alone. Scout does not necessarily like the way that she is sometimes treated, but as the story progresses, she realizes that being a girl is not so bad after all.

Jem Finch

     Jem is an outgoing character. He is also a very impatient person. He likes to do dangerous things like going up to the Radley house and touching it, or sneaking into the back of the house to try to get Boo come out. He feels really disappointed that Tom Robinson was found guilty even though everyone knew he was telling the truth.  He want to be just like Atticus, honest, wise, always making the right decisions, even if he doesn't do that now, he wants to become a better person. As the book reaches the climax, he does become more mature and wise.

 Charles Baker (Dill) Harris

     The representation of childhood innocence in the novel, Dill certainly fits that category. He never really changes emotionally, and not that much physically, either. His actions compare the harsh reality of a racist society to the sweetness of a child. Dill’s young fantasy of all that he can do in the world is his way of escaping his life, and it can be proven false when he gets emotional around certain things, such as the trial. But he does have an advantage in that his character helps him to understand that racism is wrong and should not be tolerated. Dill says he learns from things and is mature, but at the end of the novel he is still that boy standing on the corner, hugging the pole, and waiting for Boo Radley to venture out.

Miss Maudie

     Miss Maudie is one of Scout's, and Jem's good friends. She is also a wise charcter like Atticus, and she has somewhat of a respect for him. In addition to being very nice to Scout and Jem, she is one of the only adult friends of the children, and they look up to her.

   Tom Robinson

     The mockingbird symbol and whole point of the story, Tom Robinson is the prime example of a perfectly good black man prosecuted for doing nothing but good. Because of a racist society, he was blamed for raping Mayella Ewell when, in fact, she had tempted him, but he had resisted because he was a good person. Tom always wanted to help and do good because he knew that Mayella could use it. Just because he was kind enough to feel sorry for her he got arrested. That showed that he was truly a person with a good intent who used what he had to help - and was not afraid to do it. Tom certainly succeeded in that concept all the way up to the point when the mockingbird was unfairly killed.

Boo Radley

     Boo Radley is also one of the characters that symbolizes a mockingbird. To make him come out of the house was what Scout and Jem wanted most. He is a helpful character tot eh kids. When Scout was cold at the night of the fire, he came out and put a blanket on her. He also left items for the children to take in the hole of the tree. He has never done anything wrong to make him a bad person. He has never harmed anyone, just helped, very much like Tom Robinson. 

Judge Taylor

       Judge Talor is a "sleepy old shark". He is a very sharp character. He can spot anything out of the ordinary. In the Tome Robinson case, he and everyone in the courtroom knew Tom was innocent. But Judge Taylor has no power over if he is guilty or innocent.