Chapter 9

Scout runs into trouble with both a classmate and a cousin when the two boys taunt her about her father, whom they call a "nigger lover." Atticus explains to Scout that he will be defending a black man named Tom Robinson.

Vocabulary All page numbers refer to the Warner Books Edition: December, 1982.

"...the beginning of last September had brought on sinking spells, dizziness, and mild gastric complaints (p. 79)."

"...the head of Miss Rachel's cook's son, who was afflicted with a tremendous ringworm (p. 79)."

" 'He made it sound like you were runnin' a still (p. 79).' "

"He wore a General Hood type beard of which he was inordinately vain (p. 80)."

" 'This time we aren't fighting the Yankees...(p. 81).'

"A flip of the coin revealed the uncompromising lineaments of Aunt Alexandra and Francis (p. 81)."

"The fact that Aunty was a good cook was some compensation for being forced to spend a religious holiday with Francis Hancock (p. 82)."

"...he enjoyed everything I disapproved of, and disliked my ingenuous diversions (p. 82)."

"Aunt Alexandra was Atticus's sister, but when Jem told me about changelings and siblings, I decided that she had been swapped at birth...(p. 82)."

"Had I ever harbored the mystical notions about mountains that seem to obsess lawyers and judges, Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest...(p. 82)."

"...we had to wait for a porter to hand him two long packages (p. 82)."

"...we were never wary of his sharp nose and chin (p. 82)."

"...and explain the use of any tongs he employed (p. 82).

"...he stood at his gate in his dressing-gown, smoking a hookah and delivering five minute sermons...(p. 82)."

"I was proceeding on the dim theory, aside from the innate attractiveness of such words, that if Atticus discovered I had picked them up at school he wouldn't make me go (p. 83)."

" 'not unless there's extreme provocation connected with 'em (p. 83).' "

"Finch's Landing consisted of three hundred and sixty-six steps down a high bluff and ending in a jetty (p. 84)."

"The internal arrangements of the Finch house were indicative of Simon's guilelessness and the absolute trust with which he regarded his offspring (p. 84)."

"...so Simon always knew the hours of his daughters' nocturnal comings and goings (p. 84)."

"There was a kitchen separate from the rest of the house, tacked onto it by a wooden catwalk...(p. 85)."

"...a widow's walk was on the roof...(p. 85)."

"...one Finch female, recently engaged, donned her complete trousseau to save it from raiders in the neighborhood; she became stuck in the door to the Daughter's Staircase but was doused with water and finally pushed through (p. 85)."

"Jem felt his age and gravitated to the adults...(p. 85)."

"Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire (p. 85)."

"Aunt Alexandra's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves...(p. 86)."

"Aunty had continued to isolate me long after Jem and Francis graduated to the big table (p. 86)."

"...I ate at home every day with no major mishaps (p. 86)."

"But her cooking made up for everything: three kinds of meat, summer vegetables from her pantry shelves; peach pickles, two kinds of cake and ambrosia constituted a modest Christmas dinner (p. 86)."

" '...but I'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family (p. 87).' "

" 'You still mad, Jean Louise?" he asked tentatively (p. 88)."

"Francis looked at me carefully, concluded that I had been sufficiently subdued, and crooned softly, 'Nigger-lover...(p. 88).' "

"My left impaired, I sailed in with my right...(p. 88)."

"Francis and I pointed at each other. 'Grandma,' he bawled...(p. 89).'"

"I was debating whether to stand there or run, and tarried in indecision a moment too long...(p. 89)."

" 'It was obstreperous, disorderly and abusive...(p. 90).' "

"Uncle Jack gallantly bowed me to the bathroom (p. 91)."

" 'Her use of bathroom invective leaves nothing to the imagination (p. 92)' "

"...but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults...(p. 92)."

" 'Before I'm through, I intend to jar the jury a bit...(p. 92).' "

Allusions All page numbers refer to the Warner Books Edition: December, 1982.

"Cousin Ike was Maycomb County's sole surviving Confederate veteran. He wore a General Hood type beard of which he was inordinately vain (p. 80)."

"The Missouri Compromise was what licked us...(p. 81)."

" '...now in 1864, when Stonewall Jackson came around by -I beg your pardon, young folks. Ol' Blue Light was in heaven then, God rest his saintly brow...(p. 81).' "

"Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest...(p. 82)."

"Uncle Jack plunged into another long tale about an old Prime Minister who sat in the House of Commons and blew feathers in the air...(p. 91)."

" 'No, I told her about Lord Melbourne (p. 92).' "

" 'Let the cup pass from you, eh (p. 93)?' "

Idioms All page numbers refer to the Warner Books Edition: December, 1982.

"I drew a bead on him (p. 81)."

" 'I merely bowed to the inevitable (p. 84).' "

"She hurt my feelings and set my teeth permanently on edge...(p. 86)."

"Say nothing, and as sure as eggs he will become curious and emerge (p. 88)."

"I waited, on tenterhooks, for Uncle Jack to tell Atticus my side of it (p. 91)."