Key Quotes

"Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks' talk at home it'd be out of place, wouldn't it? Now what if I talked white-folks' talk at church, and with my neighbors? They'd think I was puttin' on airs to beat Moses."

- Calpurnia

This quote explains how Calpurnia has to live a double life in order to survive the judgement of those around her. She has to act as a role model towards Scout and Jem to show them that the world in Maycomb county is not a beautiful town as it may seem. The people in the town are prejudice to their own beliefs. Calpurnia believes that if she was in the presence of the whites she would have to speak with respect whereas if she was with her own people she would be able to speak as she wished.

“ There are just some mind 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.”

- Miss Maudie

Miss Maudie here is talking about how some foot-washing baptists and Mr Nathan Radley think that she is going to go to hell for just doing one of her hobbies which includes making her garden pretty. Miss Maudie is willing to strike out on those who think that pleasure is a sin- only taking an exception for pleasure in judging those neighbours who are sinners.

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

- Scout

This quote means that Scout and her brother had no idea that Atticus was a man who knew how to handle a gun and was the bravest man they knew because he never used violence as a means to an end. To Scout he was the man that helped her face all of her fears and made her understand how the world around Maycomb worked, in a matter of fact way not tip-toeing around the subjects as though she would never understand. Atticus was a hero to his children whom he had made them believe that the way to find peace is not by using guns or violence.

“ She seem 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.”

- Scout

Scout believed that there was skill in wearing dresses and going to tea parties. All she has ever seen is acting like a boy playing games and doing as she pleased. Though when she saw how a girl acted she didn’t want to have to be confined inside the house doing chores, sowing and going to tea parties gossiping about the people in the town. When she tried to act as a women she thought there was a certain art in completing these tasks.

“ Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

- Atticus

This shows the concept of how beautiful things in the world shouldn’t be harmed. Arthur Radley is an example of a mockingbird. He exists in harmony with the world and causes no harm but from the town he is seen as a monster who shows no mercy in killing any animal. The only reason he is depicted in this manner is because he doesn’t leave his house and no one actually knows who he is and what he looks like. ‘A sin to kill a mockingbird’ shows how the innocent aren’t meant to be harmed in a world they have not caused damage towards and have that done to them.

“ I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”

- Jem

Jem uses this to show Scout that there is only one type of people that you might see in Maycomb.This signifies the prejudice that the town has for each other without the knowledge of the facts. There is no underlying truth but the gossip of the townsfolk feed on in order to make their lives more interesting.

"Bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it."

- Atticus

This quote shows how Atticus views his children. He sees them as young adults even from a young age and doesn’t believe that they should be treated as children. As Scout grows older he explains how she is going to go through phases and this shows how he understands his children and gives the freedom to be able to find their own way from the right and wrong.

"Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand."

- Atticus

This statement shows that Atticus is an idealist and believes in the system of the law, though he also sees how Maycomb don’t view the law as blacks and whites should be treated as equals. In this statement he also shows how he isn’t a racist man and won’t be one even if the town pushes him to be mad at them.

"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."

- Atticus

This conveys the message that if children are presented in a situation that involve adults in a position of irrational thinking they would give the adult some sense into what they are doing. Doing an at that could scar a children wouldn’t be something an adult would like to do. This comes to show that in order to be rational adults need to think about what their actions can do to others.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around it.”

- Atticus

This statement said by Atticus conveys the message that you don’t really understand a person if you don’t understand their circumstances. Atticus tries to show Scout the understanding and sympathy towards others in the terms that she can understand. By the end of the book Scout uses her father's advice when seeing Arthur Radley for the first time adding optimism at the end despite the darkness of the end of the plot.