Planning for

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

Character
Saturday 6 April 2024
Checklist:
• No word is an accident and every situation has been set out
for a purpose in a particular way.
• The question will expect you to address the purpose the
author has in mind when writing the character
• You must not treat the character as a real person

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

• Consider how the character in question links to the key
themes of the text being studied
• Ensure my quotations are relevant and focused on the
requirements of the question.
What is the significance of the
characters Calpurnia and Tom

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

Robinson in To Kill A
Mockingbird?
Lee’s purpose?
• A novel based on her life, designed to expose racism at the
heart of Southern States
• Fictionalised account of a trial at heart of book
• Requires the accused to appear honest, dignified and a victim
of discrimination if the book is to have any purpose.

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

• Requires a clear contrast to exist in the readers’ minds
between the 2 communities in opposition – the Blacks and the
“White Trash”.
• To present Atticus as a man focused on justice above all, as a
synecdoche for what Lee wishes was the attitude of US
judiciary at the time.
So, the pair represent all that is
good in the black community…
• Calpurnia
• As educator – helping
Scout to read and write
pre-school
• Teaching Scout about
becoming a woman
• Caring, mother figure
• Loyal servant whose family
were once Finch slaves
• Church
• Comfort
• More??
• Tom
• Injury already makes him
a weakened figure
• Hard working and honest
– will take manual work
Jonathan Peel JLS 2015
despite injury
• Well spoken and
respectful
• Strong sense of injustice
• Church
• Focus of readers’ pity and
sense of injustice
Compared to…
• The Ewells
• Liars and drunkards
• No part in society and shunned by all “respectable” townsfolk

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

BOB:
Violent, hints of Mayella: no
physical and mother figure,
sexual abuse, no looks after siblings,
respect in passionate, weak,
courthouse, dishonest,
might is right, uneducated,
uneducated, lazy, unaware of
immoral morality
So, in Paragraph 1
• I would establish a clear purpose in the depiction of the two as
members of low status community who show moral rectitude
and are forces for “good”.

• You can find the evidence!

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

Theme 2: Justice
• Scout and Jem often feel Calpurnia is being unjust, only to
discover the purpose of her chastisement at a later stage
• Tom represents NATURAL JUSTICE as opposed to the JUSTICE
of the court.

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

Calpurnia hands out
justice to “little” Scout
fairly (find examples)
and without attempts
to soften the moral
education she is giving
Tom is convicted “justly”
with no breach of any law
or established practice.
However there is a clear
failing of “natural justice”
in that everyone knows
him to have been
innocent.
Extend Justice as an idea.
• BOB seeks “justice” for his daughter
• In doing so he exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of the social
system of Maycomb.

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

• This hypocrisy is further shown in the “tea party” scene when
the ladies discuss “Christian” attitudes whilst displaying
hideous racism, with Calpurnia in the room. Her silence and
decorum is a stark contrast to the behaviour of the ladies.
Hypocrisy leads to comparison
• At the trial, you have a chance to compared directly the
manners of Ewell and Robinson.
• Remember that since the whites are the higher status group
simply because of their colour, Lee needs to use Robinson to
highlight this injustice.

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

• Look closely at BOB and TOM in this scene…
The trial – close analysis of language
to establish Lee’s intention
BOB
• “that’s m’name Cap’n”
• Jokes (“well, if I ain’t I can’t
do nothing about it now…”)
• Negative emotive language:
“I seen that black nigger
yonder ruttin’ on my
Mayella”
• Leaves witness stand early
• “looked up complacently…”
• Colloquial language lacks
respect for courthouse.
TOM
• Seen as weak and in need of
protection “he guided his arm
to the bible and his rubber-like
left hand…”
Jonathan Peel JLS 2015
• “Yes Suh, no suh”
• “no ma’am, there ain’t no
charge”
• “Tom denied it three times…
with no hint of whining”
• “He seemed to be a
respectable negro”
• “I felt right sorry for her…”
Inequality
• Tom is attacked in court for daring to “pity” a white girl
• After court, black community give gifts in kind as a sign of
respect. This links to the behaviour of the Cunninghams (good
“white trash”) as highlighted in part 1

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

• Calpurnia is more complex
• Half servant/half female role model
• Aunt Alexandra wants to get rid of her as a bad influence.
• Atticus relies on her – note tea party – it is Calpurnia he takes
with him to break the news about TR death.
• Calpurnia is in an ambivalent position – she will never be the
equal of her employer, despite her position in the house and
whilst Atticus obviously respects her, she is always a servant and
behaves as such…
Calpurnia as indicator of
difference
• Church scene
• Used to highlight the moral goodness of the black community
and the sense that there is goodness within all people
regardless of rank or breeding (Zeebo)
• She shows pride in the children’s appearance

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

• She is threatened by Lula on arrival, but we see the
community gathering round and supporting her, regardless of
the intrusion of whites into this community – genuinely
Christian outlook perhaps?
• Highlights the fact that poor education does not equate with
poor morals or actions.
• Continues education of the children – practical education.
Wrap it up
• Conclude by revisiting key ideas and focusing on question.

• “Lee intends to highlight ignorance and intolerance. Her two

Jonathan Peel JLS 2015

black protagonists help to do this by the contrast with the
“white trash” and the clear exposure of white hypocrisy. They
are vital characters if the message of social injustice is to be
successfully conveyed.”