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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
novel by Harper Lee
screenplay by Horton Foote
analysis by William M. Akers

WHERE A STORY COMES FROM...

Just because you don't have a ready-made story you're dying to tell, or just because you don't have amazing adventures happen in your life, doesn't mean you can't find something wonderful to write about.

Harper Lee based To Kill A Mockingbird on events that had gone on in America and her home town, things that happened to people she knew, and characters based on people she had grown up with.

She copied things, changed things, elaborated, etc. All based on what had happened around her. She took the events and made them her own, and, what's crucial to remember when you are sitting down to write...

She didn't just make it all up.

STRUCTURE OF THE NOVEL

Part One

1.
Set up Jem breaking his arm, making Boo Radley come out.
Establish Maycomb. Somehow it was hotter then...
Meet Dill. Tell of their games. Dill comes up with idea to make Boo come out. Establish Radley family and how they keep to themselves. How Boo came to be shut in the house. Jem runs to the house and slaps it. They see movement inside.

2.
Dill goes home.
First day of school. Scout gets in trouble for knowing how to read. Scout explains why Walter Cunningham has no lunch. Flashback to explain entailment. Scout gets in more trouble, gets smacked on the hand. Teacher next door blows up. Scout's young teacher is miserable.

3.
In schoolyard, Scout gets in fight with Walter. Jem invites Walter to lunch. Scout asks Walter why in the sam hill he puts molasses on everything. Calpurnia is furious at Scout, who later asks Atticus to fire her. Back at school, meet Burris Ewell, who is filthy and has lice. He makes the teacher cry. He's an awful human.
Cal is nice to Scout when she comes home.
Atticus comes home and after dinner, wants to read. Atticus talks of the Ewells and compromise. He agrees to read if she won't tell her teacher about it. He reads of a flagpole sitter.
All next Saturday, Jem sits in the tree.

4.
School continues. Scout is miserable. She runs home every day, past the Radley place.
One day, she finds two pieces of gum in the Radley's tree.
Jem tells her to spit it out.
Dill arrives. Says his father is President of the L&N railroad.
Later, they find more things in the tree.
They roll Scout in the tire. Jem rolls her toward the Radley house.
As the summer goes, they playact Boo Radley and his family.
Atticus catches them playacting, makes them quit.
Scout remembers when she rolled in the tire, that inside the Radley house, she could hear someone laughing.

5.
Jem and Scout and Dill play during the summer.
Meet Miss Maudie. Learn that Boo's name is Arthur. Learn about Boo's past.
In the morning, Jem says they're going to give a note to Boo.
Atticus catches them doing it, tells them to stop tormenting him.
Jem is no longer sure he wants to be a lawyer.

6.
End of the summer. Dill's last night in Maycomb.
They decide to look in Boo's house.
While they're sneaking up, a shadow comes up behind them, they run off. Shotgun blast. Jem's pants get caught. He leaves them behind.
Big commotion. Mr. Radley says he was shooting at a nigger in the back yard. Atticus notices Jem's pants missing, Dill says he won them playing strip poker.
Dill says good-bye for the summer.
Atticus goes to sleep, Jem says he's going back to get his pants.
While Jem is gone, Atticus coughs, awake.
Jem makes it back with the pants. They go to sleep.

7.
Jem was in a bad mood for a week.
School starts. Scout is in the second grade. It's just as bad as first.
Jem tells Scout the pants had been folded, as if they were expecting him.
They find something else in the knot-hole, and decide anything there is theirs.

In October, they find a boy and girl carved from soap. It's them.
They find all kinds of things and write a letter to the mysterious person... when they go to deliver it, they find the knothole filled with cement.
Later, Mr. Radley tells them it's because the tree is dying, but Atticus thinks the tree is healthy.
Later, Scout decides that Jem was crying.

8.
Winter comes, very cold. Mrs. Radley dies. Scout asks Atticus if he saw Mr. Arthur, he sternly says, "I did not."
It snows. School is out.
They make a snowman to look like Mr. Avery.
In the night, Miss Maudie's house burns. Their house catches too, but it's put out. Someone puts a blanket on the children. They don't know who. Atticus says it was Boo.

9.
Scout gets in a fight with Cecil Jacobs for saying her dad defended niggers.
Atticus explains about Tom Robinson. Tells them not to fight at school.
Scout avoids a fight at school, feels noble. Then Christmas comes and disaster.
They go visit the Finches. Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Jack.
Description of Finch's Landing and the house.
Cousin Francis explains the truth about Dill. Calls Atticus a nigger-lover. Scout slugs him.
Scout gets in trouble.
Scout tells Uncle Jack what Francis said. Asks him not to tell Atticus.
Jack and Atticus talk of children. The Tom Robinson trial, the Ewells. He knew she was eavesdropping.

10.
Atticus is nearly 50. He doesn't hunt. Tells them it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. Children think he can't do anything interesting. They have air rifles.
The rabid dog comes down the street. Cal calls Atticus.
Atticus hasn't shot in 30 years, kills the dog. Zeebo comes to get him. Children are amazed. And proud.

11.
Mrs. Dubose lives down the street. Scout hates her.
Atticus always says nice things to her.
After Jem's birthday, they go to town shopping. They pass Mrs. Dubose's and she calls them for their father lawin' for niggers.
They buy a steam engine. Scout gets a baton.
On the way back, Jem takes the baton and decapitates Mrs. Dubose's camellias. Breaks the baton.
Cal knows, is semi-nice to them. They wait for Atticus to come home.
Atticus sends him to talk to Mrs. Dubose. Scout gets in his lap.
Jem comes back, has to read to Mrs. Dubose.

On Saturday, they go to read to her. And again and again. She falls asleep.
Scout asks Atticus what a nigger-lover is. Mrs. Dubose calls him that.
Finally, they don't have to read to her any more.
She dies and they discover she was a morphine addict, and the reading helped her kick the morphine before she died.
Atticus says she was the bravest person he knew. She gave Jem a camellia blossom.

Part Two

12.
Jem is twelve and changed.
Summer comes and Dill doesn't come. He got a new father.
Atticus goes to the Legislature for two weeks.
Cal takes the children to church with her. Lulu says not to bring the white children in. Meet Reverend Sykes, who forces $10 out of the congregation for Tom Robinson's family.
Scout finds out that Tom Robinson is supposed to have raped Mr. Ewell's daughter.
They find out that Calpurnia speaks one way with her friends and another way with them. Cal says they can come visit her at her house.
When they get home, Aunt Alexandra is waiting for them.

13.
Aunt Alexandra has come to stay with them for a while. Scout needs a woman around. Aunt Alexandra's very preoccupied with heredity. Atticus has never really explained who the Finches are to them. He doesn't want Scout to change her ways.

14.
Scout asks Atticus what rape is. Tells him of her trip to Cal's church. Asks Atticus if she can go see Cal at her house. Aunt says no, wants Cal to be fired. Atticus says no. She's a member of the family and the children love her. Jem tells Scout not to worry Atticus, as he's got the Robinson case on his mind. Scout won't mind him, and they fight. Atticus sends them to bed and Scout steps on Dill... he's hiding under the bed.
Dill ran off from his new Dad. Atticus says he can stay with them the night. In bed with Scout, they wonder why Boo's never run off. "Maybe cause he doesn't have anywhere to run off to."

15.
Dill stays with them.
One night, Sheriff Tate comes to ask Atticus to get a change of venue. He's worried having Robinson in the jail.
Jem is scared for Atticus.
Atticus leaves the house one night in the car (highly unusual) with an extension cord with a light on it.
Jem and Scout get Dill and they head to the square, which is empty.
Atticus is reading outside the jail door.

Four cars of men come riding in. They want Tom Robinson. Atticus says no, and tells them to be quiet, that Tom is asleep.
Scout runs up to say hey to Atticus. Atticus tells Jem to take them home, but Jem refuses. Atticus tells him again, and then Scout says hello to Mr. Cunningham, asks him how his entailment is coming. She asks about Walter and keeps talking.
Finally Mr. Cunningham decides they should leave. They leave.
Tom, who was awake, asks if they're gone. They are. Turns out Mr. Underwood was watching all the time, covering them with his shotgun.
Atticus walks the children home, and massages Jem's hair -- his one gesture of affection.

16.
Atticus tells the children about mobs. He goes into town, and Aunty tells them to stay in the yard.
After dinner, the children go into town.
It's like Saturday. Very crowded. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is drunk.
Children overhear people talking about Atticus and how he "aims to defend him."
The children go upstairs and sit with Reverend Sykes and the Negroes.
They get there and Heck Tate is testifying.

17.
Sheriff testifies how he learned of the rape. Mr. Ewell told him. No one called a doctor.
She was beaten. Atticus gets him to say it was on the right side of her face. And she'd been choked.
Mr. Ewell is called. Describes what happened on November 21st. Says he saw Tom Robinson "ruttin' on my Mayella." Reverend Sykes wants Jem to take Scout home, but she won't leave.
Atticus cross examines. Proves that Mr. Ewell is left handed.
Jem thinks they've won. Scout's not sure.

18.
They call Mayella Ewell. She says she called Tom up to bust up a chiffarobe. She describes how Tom raped her, then her father was there asking who done it.
Atticus learns of her horrible home life. Her father drinks. She tells of Tom coming in the yard, and can't remember if he beat her about the face. Atticus tells her to identify Tom, who stands, and his left arm is withered. Accident.
Atticus almost gets her to admit that her father did it, but she explodes and says it was Tom. Rails at Atticus. Then she cries.
They take a break.
Atticus calls his only witness.

19.
Tom can't keep his useless hand on the Bible. Tom tells of how Miss Mayella had things for him to do for her. Then, on November 21st, she has something for him to do -- having saved for a year to get seven nickels to send the children to town. She grabbed him and wanted him to kiss her, but her father saw in the window.

The prosecutor gets Tom to admit that he felt sorry for Mayella. Big mistake.
Dill cries and Scout takes him out. He can't stand the way the prosecutor talked to Tom. Mr. Dolphus Raymond comes from behind a tree and says, "You ain't thin hided, it just makes you sick, doesn't it?"

20.
Mr. Raymond gives Dill a sip from his sack, and it's only coca-cola... he's pretending to be a drunk. They talk of race relations.
Scout gets back to hear Atticus's summation.
Cal comes walking into court, and walks toward Atticus.

21.
Cal tells Atticus his children are missing. Atticus sees them, and tells them they can go home, get supper, and come back.
At home, Aunty is furious they can go back, and is silent.
When they get back to court, the jury's still out.
They come back, and Tom is declared guilty.
The black men in the balcony tell Scout to stand up, that her father is passin'.

22.
Jem cries.
Atticus is exhausted, goes to bed.
In the morning, the blacks have sent enough food to bury the family. Atticus cries and says times are too hard for them to do it again.
They eat with Miss Maudie and it's hard for Jem.
Then they hear that Mr. Ewell spat on Atticus and said he'll get back at him if it's the last thing he ever did...

23.
Jem is afraid, but Atticus says that Mr. Ewell won't harm him. "He meant it when he said it."
Summer melts away.
Atticus feels there's a good chance of doing well on appeal.
Jem and Scout and Atticus talk about race relations.
And the trail. And juries.
Aunty forbids Walter Cunningham to come over and play.
Much conversation about growing up and family.
Jem feels that Boo stays inside because he wants to.

24.
Scout goes to Aunty's ladies's tea.
They talk of sulky darkies -- the way the Negroes were after the trial.
Scout learns that Tom Robinson is taking it very hard.
Atticus comes in, asks for Cal.

Tom was shot dead, trying to escape.
Aunty is furious at the town for the way they treat Atticus.
Aunty and Scout go back into the lunch, and say nothing.

25.
Scout wants to squash a rolypoly but Jem won't let her.
Dill is gone.
Scout remembers Dill telling them how Atticus went to tell Mrs. Robinson that Tom was dead.
Newspaper editorial by Mr. Underwood.
Scout and Jem hear that Mr. Ewell is still threatening Atticus.

26.
School starts. Scout imagines what it'd be like to meet Boo. Atticus warns her away from the Radley's.
It's tough on Scout and Jem to have Atticus for a father. They get in fights about it at school.
Discuss Hitler putting people in pens.
While talking about it at home, Jem gets angry about the courthouse.
Atticus says Jem is trying hard to forget something.

27.
Bob Ewell loses his WPA job. He also tries to burgle Judge Taylor's house.
Helen Robinson is frightened by Bob Ewell and her employer, Mr. Deas, shames Ewell into leaving her alone.
There's to be a Halloween pageant. Scout is to be a ham.
Jem will take her to the pageant. "Thus began our longest journey together."

28.
They are walking to school, at night. Pass the Radley's. Jem is carrying her costume. Someone leaps at them... scares them, but it's Cecil Jacobs.
Scout falls asleep and stumbles onstage late, to huge laughter. Mrs. Merriwether says she ruined the pageant. Jem feels sorry for them.
On the way home, Jem is afraid, asks Scout to be quiet.
They are attacked. It's very confusing.
A man is lying down beside Scout... another man is carrying Jem home.
Atticus calls the sheriff.
The doctor comes, says that Jem will be fine.
Sheriff comes, says Bob Ewell is down there, stabbed to death.

29.
Scout tells what happened.
Someone carried Jem home, and he's standing in the corner. Pale white.
Scout says, "Hey, Boo."

30.
Atticus introduces Scout to Boo.
Atticus and Sheriff go to porch and argue over what story to tell. Atticus insists on the truth, even after Sheriff says Bob Ewell fell on his knife. "God damn it, I'm not thinking of Jem." Sheriff says you can't drag Arthur Radley and his shy ways out in front of everyone... he's the Sheriff and Bob Ewell fell on his knife. "It'd be like shooting a mockingbird."
Atticus says to Boo, "Thank you for my children."

31.
Scout tells Boo that he can pet Jem if he wants.
Boo asks if she'll take him home, and they go home arm in arm.
She understands Boo, just like Atticus said, by walking "in his shoes" and standing on his porch.
Scout comes home and sits up with Jem. Atticus reads to her until she falls asleep. He puts her to bed.
"He would be there all night and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."

SIMPLIFIED STRUCTURE OF THE MOVIE

TITLES. V.O. about Maycomb.

Mr. Cunningham brings hickory nuts for his entailment. Meet Scout & Atticus.

Jem in tree. Atticus won't play football for Methodists.

Meet Miss Marnie, across the street. Atticus is too old for anything.

Meet Dill.

Meet Calpurnia. She meets Dill.

Establish Mr. Radley and Boo.

Meet Aunt Stephanie. Scary stuff about Boo.

Meet Miss Dubose. She's horrible to Scout. Atticus is nice to her.

Atticus and Scout read. Discuss Boo, Atticus's watch, ring, and necklace from her mother, for Scout. Jem and Scout discuss their mother. Atticus listens. Judge Taylor comes. Atticus takes Tom Robinson's case.

Dare to roll the tire to the porch.

Children go to courtroom. Meet Mr. Ewell, who confronts Atticus, about having children of his own.

Children sneak to Boo's at night. Jem loses his pants, has to go back for them. Dill leaves.

First day of school.

Walter Cunningham comes to lunch.

Atticus shoots rabid dog. Children amazed he can shoot.

Visit Helen Robinson. Mr. Ewell threatens them. Find medal in tree.

Schoolyard fight. Atticus and Scout talk on porch.

Find two figures in tree. Knothole cemented up. Scout and Jem talk at night.

Summer. Dill comes back. Tom Robinson story comes back.

Courthouse, night. Confrontation between Atticus and the mob.

Trial. Tom Robinson found guilty.

Visit Robinson's.

Halloween pageant. Mr. Ewell attacks Scout. Boo saves her.

Denouement.

DETAILED STRUCTURE OF THE MOVIE

TITLES over the things that Boo left in the knothole. V.O. about Maycomb. "Somehow it was hotter then." "The day was twenty four hours long, but it seemed longer." "That summer, I was six years old."

Mr. Cunningham brings hickory nuts for his entailment. Scout pulls Atticus out to see him. Atticus tells Scout it embarrasses Mr. Cunningham to be thanked. Atticus explains entailment. Talk of being poor, and the crash hitting farmers the hardest.

Jem in tree. Atticus won't play football for Methodists. Meet Jem, in tree. "I'm the only father you have." Atticus says to suit himself, and not come out of the tree.

Meet Miss Marnie, across the street. Atticus is too old for anything. She defends him, says he can do plenty of things. He won't let Jem have a gun and won't play tackle football. Marnie says he can write an airtight will.

Meet Dill. "I'm Charles Baker Harris. I can read." We learn Scout can read, and that school starts next month. Dill's spending two weeks next door with his aunt. Dill tells wonderful lies about his father.

Meet Calpurnia. She meets Dill.

Dill tells stories and gets shushed... Mr. Radley, "the meanest man who ever took the breath of life..." goes by. Jem tells Dill about Boo, who's chained to a bed. They wonder about Boo. Jem says scary things about Boo. "He drools most of the time."

Meet Aunt Stephanie. She doesn't want Dill playing about the Radley house, because there's a maniac lives there. Stephanie tells how Boo stabbed his father with scissors. He's there, and has never left. "Lord knows what he's doing or thinking." DISSOLVE TO:

Jem swings in the yard. It's 5:00, time to meet Atticus. Dill wonders why they call him Atticus. They explain about Miss Dubose and the pistol under her shawl. They walk by... Miss DuBose yells at Scout. Introduce Dill to Atticus. Atticus says she looks likes a picture... comments nicely on her flowers. See Miss DuBose's black servant.

Night. Atticus and Scout read. Discuss Boo. Atticus has told the to stay away from their house and stop tormenting them. She wants to see Atticus's watch. It will belong to Jem. Discuss ring, and necklace from her mother, for Scout. Kiss goodnight. Atticus leaves. Jem and Scout discuss their mother. Atticus listens. "Did I love her?" "Yes." "Do you miss her?" Judge Taylor comes, wants to appoint Atticus... he knows Atticus is busy, and that the children take up a great deal of his time... Atticus takes Tom Robinson's case. Atticus sits and thinks...

Children dare to roll the tire to the porch. Scout ends up at Radley's porch. Jem saves her, then Jem slaps the door and they run. Dill wants to go to the courthouse to see the room they kept Boo in. "He nearly died from the mildew."

Square. Old man directs Jem and Scout to court to see their father. Jem explains to Dill about the case. Dill wants to go watch. Jem and Scout know Atticus wouldn't like for them to watch.

Children go to courtroom. Hold Dill up to transom, who describes it. "I see your Daddy and a colored man. The colored man looks to me like he's crying." Atticus catches them watching, sends them home. Meet Mr. Ewell, establish that Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mayella. Mr. Ewell confronts Atticus, about believing Tom Robinson's story. "What kind of man are you? You got children of your own!"

Night. Children try to look in Boo's window to see him. Scout is scared... "Scout, you're acting more like a girl all the time." Swing thumps, scares them. They sneak around back. Spit on hinge. Jem sneaks up to window, peeks in and they see a shadow... all hide their eyes and the shadow passes. They run. Jem holds fence up, then gets caught. Loses his overalls, they run to their back yard. Dill is called in. Dill leaves, "I'll see ya next summer." Jem goes back for his pants. Scout wants to call Atticus. Jem says to stay right here... he leaves... fence slat swings... Scout waits, afraid. Hears a shotgun blast. Finally, Jem comes back.

Stephanie is wailing. Atticus says that Mr. Radley shot at a prowler. Atticus tells the children it's time for bed. End on Radley house. FADE OUT.

FADE IN: Marnie comes over at breakfast. Scout's first day of school. Cal wonders what she'll do with both children at school. Scout won't come. Finally, she comes in in a dress. Jem laughs. Atticus draws her in for breakfast. She hates the dress. Jem leaves, is called back and told to wait for his sister. She eats a bit and they leave. She comes back and kisses Atticus. DISSOLVE TO:

First day of school. Recess. Scout gets in a fight with Walter Cunningham. Jem pulls her off. Scout was trying to explain to the teacher why Walter had no money for lunch. Jem invites him over for dinner.

Walter Cunningham comes to dinner. He's never had a roll. Been eating squirrels and rabbits, has a gun of his own. Asks for the syrup. Jem finds that Atticus got his first gun when he was thirteen or fourteen. Atticus explains rules of the gun... "It's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Cal brings syrup. Walter dumps it on all his food, and Scout calls him on it. Walter is upset. Cal brings her in the kitchen and chastises her. Scout runs out to the porch. Atticus talks to her, she cries. She refuses to go back to school. She says teacher said Atticus was teaching her to read all wrong. Scout explains about the teacher and the Cunninghams and money. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view." She worries about not being able to read any more. They agree to compromise... she'll go to school and they'll read every night.

V.O. "There just didn't seem to be anyone or anything Atticus couldn't explain. Though it wasn't a talent that would arouse the admiration of any of our friends, Jem and I had to admit he was very good at that. But that was all he was good at. We thought." DISSOLVE TO:

Street. Dog comes hopping down street. Cal and Scout and Jem come out and see the dog. Cal hurries the children inside. Cal calls Atticus, tells him.

Atticus and the Sheriff drive up. They know the dog is mad. Sheriff wants Atticus to take the shot. Scout says Atticus can't shoot. Sheriff can't shoot that well, but Atticus hasn't shot a gun in years. Sheriff would feel mighty comfortable if Atticus did now. Atticus shoots the dog. Jem is amazed. Sheriff tells them their father is the best shot in the county. Sheriff will send Zeebo to pick him up. Kids study the dead dog. DISSOLVE TO:

Night. Atticus is leaving. Children want to go with him. He has to talk to Helen Robinson. Makes kids promise not to get out of the car.

Robinson house. Scout is asleep in car. Atticus comes to talk to Helen Robinson. While he's inside, one of the black children comes up to talk to Jem. Mr. Ewell comes out of the woods, scary. Jem asks the boy to get his daddy. Ewell comes to car... threatening looking... Atticus comes to car, stares him down. "You nigger lover." Atticus gets in the car, but Jem is worried. "No need to be afraid of him son, he's all bluff." They drive off. Robinson's watch. Jem looks out back of car, sees Ewell lurching in road, threatening.

Home. Atticus carries sleeping Scout in. Tells Jem there are a lot of ugly things in this world, but he can't keep them away from him. He'll drive Cal home. Tells Jem to watch after Scout while he's gone.

Atticus drives away. Jem hears noises. A bird calling... frightened, he runs after Atticus, but he's gone. Jem stops in front of the Radley house. Walking home, he finds something in the tree next to his house. He takes it, and is scared by the Radley porch swing, banging. Jem runs home. FADE OUT.

School. V.O. "Atticus promised me he would wear me out if he heard of me fighting any more. I was far too old and too big for such childish things. And the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be. I soon forgot. Cecil Jacobs made me forget." Scout in a fight.

Atticus comes home. Scout is hiding her eyes on the porch. "Atticus, do you defend niggers." She tells him the fight at school. He says he's defending Tom Robinson. Some people think he shouldn't be defending him. He couldn't hold his head up if he didn't do his best. He asks her to promise not to fight.

Jem comes home walking like an Egyptian. She walks past tree... Find two figures in tree. Realize it's them... Suddenly, Mr. Radley is there, puts concrete in the hole. DISSOLVE TO:

Night. Scout and Jem talk. He has a cigar box. Finally shows Scout. All the things he found in the knothole. A spelling medal, a watch, a knife. Jem tells her about when he went back to the Radley house, his britches were folded. "Sorta like they was expecting me." V.O. "It was to be a long time before Jem and I talked about Boo again." DISSOLVE TO:

Day. V.O. "School finally ended. And summer came. And so did Dill." Dill comes running over. Tells more lies about his father. DISSOLVE TO:

Jem, Scout, Atticus on the porch. Car rides by. Tom Robinson with the Sheriff. He's been in the Abbotsville jail. where he'll be safe. "They're bringing him back here tonight because his trial is tomorrow."

Night. Kids in bed. Sheriff comes by. The news has gotten around the county that Tom is in jail. Sheriff is worried there might be trouble from the bunch at Old Sarum. Atticus asks Cal to stay the night. Atticus takes a lamp. Jem watches him go. All the kids wake up. DISSOLVE TO:

Town. Deserted. Children run downtown, to bushes outside court house. Atticus reads outside the jail. Jem decides that Atticus is all right, and they're about to leave when cars come. Men ask Atticus for Tom Robinson. Atticus says Sheriff Tate is around, but they led him on a goose chase. Kids come running closer. Scout can't see Atticus, so she runs up. Atticus tells Jem to take them home, but Jem refuses. One man grabs Jem, to send him home and Scout kicks him. Atticus asks Jem to leave again, but Jem won't. Scout sees Mr. Cunningham, asks about his entailment. She keeps talking, about the hickory nuts and Walter. Mr. Cunningham feels bad. "I'll tell Walter you said hey." Mob breaks up, drives away. Atticus sends them home, says he'll be there later. Children leave. Tom asks if they're gone...

Day. Town crowded for the trial. Children decide to go watch.

Town. They have to go upstairs with Reverend Sykes.

Tom Robinson comes in. We see Mayella Ewell. All rise.

Sheriff testifies. Mr. Ewell said Tom Robinson did it. Atticus cross examines. She was beaten on the right side of her face.

Mr. Ewell is called. Tells what happened on August 21st. Says he saw Tom with his Mayella, ran for Sheriff Tate. Ewell gets down, delighted, but Atticus puts him back to question him. Ewell agrees with everything Tate said. Atticus shows that he's left handed. Ewell yells at Atticus.

Mayella is called. She barely puts her hand on Bible. She tells her side of the story, about asking Tom to bust up a chiffarobe. She tells of the beating. And her father yelling, "Who done it?" Atticus cross examines. Asks if Mr. Ewell ever beat her. She says no. Talk of the chiffarobe and did she ever ask Tom inside the fence before. She doesn't remember that he hit her... then she remembers that he did. Asks Mayella to identify the man who did it. Tosses Tom a glass, then asks him to catch it with his left hand. "I can't, sir. I can't use my left hand at all. I got it caught in a cotton gin when I was twelve years old." Atticus asks if Tom raped her, but she can't say how he did it. She's got something to say... "He took advantage of me, and if you fine fancy gentlemen ain't gonna do nothing about you, then you're just a buncha lousy yella stinkin' cowards..." She breaks down, tries to run out.

The State rests. Tom Robinson takes the stand. Tom tells his side of it. How he knew Mayella, and she asked him to bust up a chiffarobe. That was over a year ago. August 21st, she asked him to the house. The children were gone. She'd saved a year to have enough nickels to send them for ice cream. She grabbed him and finally Atticus gets him to admit that she kissed him. Mr. Ewell cusses at her through the window and says he's going to kill her. Atticus asks if he raped her, and he says no.

D.A. cross examines. Gets Tom to admit that he felt sorry for Mayella. D.A. nails him for feeling sorry for a white woman. DISSOLVE TO:

Atticus make his closing argument. Destroys the State's case. Ridicules Mayella. Long speech about race and Negroes and the courts. "In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson." DISSOLVE TO:

Balcony. Everyone waits. Jury's been out two hours... then they come in. Guilty. Dead silence in courtroom. Jem puts his head down. Judge slams door on way out. Atticus tells Tom he'd told Helen they'd probably lose this one... Tom is led away. Court is empty and all the blacks are in the balcony. They stand when Atticus leaves. "Miss Jean Louise. Stand up. Your father's passin'."

Street. Night. Atticus and the children walk home. Maudie says she's sorry. Sheriff Tate drives up. Talks to Atticus, but we don't hear. Maudie talks to Jem about his father. He has to do the unpleasant jobs. Sheriff drives away. Atticus says that Tom is dead, accidentally shot trying to escape. "Tom just ran like a crazy man." Atticus felt they had more than a good chance to win on appeal. Jem tells Atticus he's going with him.

Helen Robinson. Jem waits in the car. Atticus tells Tom's father that Tom is dead. There won't be an appeal. Helen collapses and Atticus helps her in. Bob Ewell walks up, tells them to tell Atticus to come out. Ewell spits on him... long pause, and Atticus wipes off his cheek, gets in the car. Ewell just stares. Looks crazy.

October. V.O. "By October, things had settle down again. I still looked for Boo, every time I walked by the Radley place. This night, my mind was filled with Halloween. There was to be a pageant representing our county's agricultural products. I was to be a ham. Jem said he would escort me to the school auditorium. Thus began our longest journey together." Jem walks Scout to the school.

After the pageant, Jem waits and Scout comes out dressed as a ham. They hear things. Jem is attacked, but tries to help Scout. Jem is thrown to the ground and someone attacks Scout, but another man is there and stops it by killing the attacker. The second man walks away, carrying Jem home.

Scout gets out of her costume and runs home. Atticus comes out, and scoops Scout into his arms. She's not sure what happened. He calls the Sheriff. She asks if Jem is dead.

Doctor examines Jem. Sheriff comes into the bedroom. Bob Ewell's got a knife in his ribs, dead. Sheriff asks Scout what happened. She says someone carried Jem... then sees him behind the door. "Hey, Boo." Atticus introduces them, then he and Sheriff go on porch. Scout takes Boo over to say goodnight to Jem. "You can pet him, Mr. Arthur..." Boo holds his hand on Jem's head.

Porch. Scout and Boo come out to the swing. Atticus tries to figure out what to do... he thinks Jem killed Bob Ewell.. Sheriff: "Bob Ewell fell on his knife." Sheriff tells him how it's going to happen; he's not going to tell anyone that Boo did it. It's a sin to drag Boo into the limelight. Sheriff leaves.

Scout tells Atticus that the Sheriff was right, because it would be like shooting a mockingbird. Boo looks in the window. "Thank you Arthur. Thank you for my children."

Scout walks Boo home. V.O. "Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives. One time, Atticus said, 'you never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough." Boo goes inside. Scout walks home.

V.O. "The summer that had begun so long ago had ended and another summer had taken its place. And a fall. And Boo Radley had come out. I was to think of these days many times. Of Jem and Dill and Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. And Atticus. He would be in Jem's room all night and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning." Scout is in Atticus's arms. PULL BACK to reveal the house. FADE OUT.

HOW THE BOOK CHANGED...

Many flashbacks inside scenes are eliminated. Scout is told to quit playacting One Man's Family and tells us that she'd heard someone inside the Radley's house, laughing.

We see Mr. Radley fill the knot-hole. In the book, it happens off screen.

The Boo story and the Tom Robinson story are wrapped together... it all happens at the same time, not one after the other.

In the book: At the jail, at night, Mr. Underwood is there, with a shotgun. He's not there in the film. Why is it better without him?

Time is compressed. What takes, I think, three years in the book is a two summers and a fall in the movie. Why?

Why do they not tell us that Tom Robinson's arm was withered as soon as we meet him?

p. 207 -- Atticus's speech is reordered. Why?

What do you think the story is really about, on a deep level... what do you think made the writer really interested or excited?

In the book, Jem is not present when Atticus tells Helen Robinson that Tom is dead. Why is he in the car in the movie?

Set up and pay off... Mr. Ewell threatens Atticus several times, then carries out his promise.

It's about children worried about their father. Especially Jem and Atticus.
About father worried about children.
About black / white race relations.

Tom Robinson is killed immediately after the trial. In the book, it took a long long time.

In the book, Mr. Ewell spits on Atticus and says he'll get back at him, but off screen.

In the movie, Ewell spits on Atticus, but never threatens the children. He does it with a look, not dialogue. When it's visual, it's stronger for the audience. You don't always need dialogue.

"He would be there all night and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."
becomes
"He would be in Jem's room all night and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."

Final narration is not in the book:

"The summer that had begun so long ago had ended and another summer had taken its place. And a fall. And Boo Radley had come out. I was to think of these days many times. Of Jem and Dill and Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. And Atticus." This part was in the book: "He would be in Jem's room all night and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."