ToKillaMockingbird

1、To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee (1926-)The misery of that house began many years before Jem and I were born. The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb. They did not go to church, Maycomb's principal recreation, but worshipped at home; Mrs R

2、adley seldom if ever crossed the street for a mid-morning coffee break with her neighbours and certainly never joined a missionary circle. Mr Radley walked to town at eleven-thirty every morning and came back promptly at twelve, sometimes carrying a brown paper bag that the neighbourhood assumed con

3、tained the family groceries. I never knew how old Mr Bradley made his livingJemsaid he bought cotton ', a polite term for doing nothing but Mr Bradley and his wife had lived there with their two sons as long as anybody could remember.The shutters and doors of the Radley house were closed on Sund

4、ays, another thing alien to Maycomb's Ways: closed doors meant illness and cold weather only. Of all days Sunday was the day for formal afternoon visiting: ladies wore corsets, men wore coats, children wore shoes. But to climb the Radley front steps and call, He-y', of a Sunday afternoon was

5、 something their neighbours never did. The Radley house had no screen doors. I once asked Atticus if it ever had any; Atticus said yes, but before I was born.According to neighbourhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his teens he became acwuainted with some of the Cumminghams from Old Sar

6、um, an enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the northern part of the country, and they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb. They did little, but enough to be discussed by the town and publicly warned from three pulpits: they hung, around the barber-shop; they rode the bus to

7、 Abbotsville on Sundays and went to the picture show; they attended dances at the country's riverside gamblinghell, the Dew-Drop Inn and Fishing Camp; they experimented with stumphole whisky. Nobody in Maycomb had nerve enough to tell Mr Radley that his boy was in with the wrong crowd.One night

8、in an excessive spurt of high spirits, the boys backed around the square in a borrowed flivver, resisted arrest by Maycomb 's ancient beadle, Mr Conner, and locked him in the court-house. The Town decide something had to be done; Mr Conner said he knew who each and every one of them was, and he

9、was bound and determined they wouldn't get away with it, so theboys came before the probate judge on charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female. The judge asked Mr Conner why he included

10、 the last charge; Mr Conner said they cussed so loud he was sure every lady in Maycomb heard them. The judge decided to send the boys to the state industrial school, where boys were sometimes sent for no other reason than to provide them with food and decent shelter: it was no prison and it was no d

11、isgrace. Mr Bradley would see to it that Arthur gave no further trouble. Knowing that Mr Radley's word was his bond, the judge was gladto do so.The other boys attended the industrial school and received the best secondary education to be had in the state; one of them eventually worked his way th

12、rough engineering school at Auburn. The doors of the Radley house were closed on weekdays as well as Sundays, and Mr Radley 's boy was not seen again for fifteen years.But there came a day, barely within Jem 's memory, when Boo Bradley was heard from and was seen by several people, but not b

13、y Jem. He said Atticus never talked much about the Radleys: when Jem would question him Atticus s only answer was for him to mind his own business and let the Radleys mind theirs, they had a right to; but when it happened Jem said Atticus shook his head and said, Mm, mm, mm.'So Jem received most

14、 of his information from Miss Stephanie Crawford, a neighbourhood scold, who said she knew the whole thing. According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the living room cutting some items from the Maycomb Tribute to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. As Mr Radley passed by, Boo

15、drove the scissors into his parent's leg, pulledthem out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities.Mrs Radley ran screaming into the street that Arthur was killing them all, but when the sheriff arrived he found Boo still sitting in the living room, cutting up the Tribute. He was thir

16、ty-three years old then.Miss Stephanie said old Radley said no Radley was going to any asylum, when it was suggested that a season in Tuscaloosa might be helpful to Boo. Boo wasn t crazy, he was high-strung at times. It was all right to shut him up, Mr Radley conceded, but insisted that Boo not be c

17、harged with anything: he was not a criminal. The sheriff hadn't the heart to put him in jailalongside Negroes, so Boo was locked in the court-house basement,Boo s transition from the basement to back home was nebulous in Jem s Memory. Miss Stephanie Crawford said some of the town council told Ra

18、dley that if he didn't take Boo back,Boo would die of mould from the damp. Besides, Boo could not live for ever on the bounty of the country.Nobody knew what form of intimation Mr Radley employed to keep Boo out of sight, But Jem figured that Mr Radley kept him chained to bed most of the time. A

19、tticus said no, it wasn'tthat sort of thing, that there were other ways of making people into ghosts 10Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older tha

20、n the parents of our school contemporaries, and there was nothing Jem or I could say about him when our classmates said, My father-'Jem was football crazy. Atticus was never too tired to play keep-away, but when Jemwanted to tackle him Atticus would say:I''m too old for that, son.Our fat

21、her didn 't do anything. He worked in an office, not in a drugstore. Atticus did not drive a dump-truck for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone.Besides that, he wore glasses. He was nearly blind

22、 in his left eye, and said left eyes were the tribal curse of the Finches. Whenever he wanted to see something well, he turned his head and looked from his right eye.He did not do the things our schoolmates' father did: he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke. He s

23、at in the living-room and read.With these attributes, however, he would not remain as inconspicuous as we wished him too: that year, the school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom Robinson, none of which was complimentary. After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of c

24、owardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn 't fight any more, her daddy wouldn 't let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn t fight publicly for Atticus anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and nail. Francis Hancock, for example, knew that.When he gave us our air rifles Att

25、icus wouldn t teach us to shoot. Uncle Jack instructed us in the rudiments thereof; he said Atticus wasn t interested in guns. Atticus said to Jem one day, I“d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all thebluejays you want, if you can hit 'em,

26、but remember it 's a sin to kill a mockingbird .'That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.Your father's right," she said. Mockingbirds don 't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don t eat up peop

27、le s garden, don t nest in corncribs, they dont do one thingbut sing their hearts out for us. Thats why it s a sin to kill a mockingbird .19As Tom Robinson gave his testimony, it came to me that Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world. She was even lonelier than Boo Radley, wh

28、o had not been out of the house in twenty-five years. When Atticus asked had she any friends, she seemed not to know what he meant, then she thought, as he was making fun of her. She was as sad, I thought, as what Jem called a mixed child: white people wouldn t have anything to do with her because s

29、he lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn't have anything to do with her because she was white. She couldn 't live like Mr Dolphus Raymond, who preferred the company of Negroes, because she didn't own a riverbank and she wasn 't from a fine family. Nobody said,That's just their way,

30、9; about the Ewells.Maycomb gave them Christmas baskets, welfare money, and the back of its hand. Tom Robinson was probably the only person who was ever decent to her. But she said he took advantage of her, and when she stood up she looked at him as if he were dirt beneath her feet.Did you ever,'

31、; Atticus interrupted my meditations, at any time, go on the Ewell propertydid you ever set foot on the Ewell property without an express invitation from one of them?No such, Mr Finch, I never did. I wouldn 't do that, suh.'Atticus sometimes said that one way to tell whether a witness was ly

32、ing or telling the truth was to listen rather watch: I applied his test Tom denied it three times in one breath, but quietly, with no hint of whining in his voice, and I found myself believing him, in spite of his protesting too much. He seemed to be a respectable Negro, and a respectable Negro woul

33、d never go up into somebody's yard of his own volition.Tom, what happened to you on the evening of November twenty-first of last year? 'Below us, the spectators drew a collective breath and leaned forward. Behind us, the Negros did the same.Tom was a black-velvet Negro, not shiny, but soft b

34、lack velvet. The whites of his eyes shone in his face, and when he spoke we saw flashes of his teeth. If he had been whole, he would have been a fine specimen of a man.Mr Finch,' he said, 'was goin' home as usual that evenin", an when I passed the Ewell place Mis Mayella were on the

35、 porch, like she said she were. It seemed real quiet like, an I didn t quite know why. I was studyin why, just passin by, when she says for me to come there and help her a minute. Well, I went inside the fence an looked around for some kindlin to work on, but I didn't see none, and she says: Naw

36、, I got soemthin 'for you to do in the house. Th ' old door's off its hinges an 'fall's comin ' on pretty fast." I said: You got a screwdriver, Miss Mayella? ” She said she sho had. Well, I went up the steps an she motioned me to come inside. I said Miss Mayella, this do

37、or look all right. I pulled it back n forth and those hinges was all right. Then she shet the door in my face. Mr Finch, I was wonderin ' why it was so quiet like, an ' it come to me that there weren t a chile on the place, not a one of em, and I said Miss Mayella, where the chillum?Tom s bl

38、ack velvet skin had begun to shine, and he ran his hand over his face.'say where the chillum? ' he continued, an; she says she was laughin ', sort of she says they all gone to town to get ice creams. She says: took me a slap year to save seb'm nickels, but I done it. They all gone to

39、 town."'Tom 's discomfort was not from the humidity. What did you say then, Tom? ' asked Atticus.I said somethin 'like, why Miss Mayella, that 's right smart o 'you to treat em. An 'she said: You think so? "I don 't think she understood what I was thinkin &#

40、39; ' I-meant it was smart of her to save like that, an' nice of her to treat 'em.'(understand you, Tom. Go on, 'said Atticus.Well, I said I best be goin 'I couldn't do nothin 'for her, an 'she says oh yes I could, an 'I ask her what, and she says to just step

41、 on that chair yonder an ' get that box down from on top of the chiffarobe.Not the same chiffarobe you busted up? ' asked Atticus.The witness smiled. Naw, suh, another one. Most as tall as the room. So I done what she told me, an' I was just reachin' when the next thing I knows she s

42、h'd grabbed me round the legs, grabbed me round th legs, Mr Finch. She scared me so bad I hopped down an turned the chair over that was the only thing, only furniture, sturbed in that room, Mr Finch, when I left it. I swear fore God.What happened after you turned the chair over?'Tom Robinson

43、 had come to a dead stop. He glanced at Atticus, then at the jury, then at Mr Underwood sitting across the room.Tom, you 're sworn to tell the whole truth. Will you tell it? 'Tom ran his hand nervously over his mouth.What happened after that?"Answer the question, " said Judge Taylo

44、r. One-third of his cigar had vanished.Mr Finch, I got down offa that chair an ' turned around an' she sorta jumped on me.' Jumped on you? Violently?'No,suh,sheshe hugged me. She hugged me round the waist.'This time Judge Taylor 's gravel came down with a bang, and as it did

45、overhead lights went on in the court-room. Darkness had not come, but the afternoon sun had left the windows. Judge Taylor quickly restored order.Then what did she do?'The witness swallowed hard. She reached up an' kissed me ' side of th 'face. She says she never kissed a grown man b

46、efore an s she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do to her don't count. She says: Kiss me back, nigger. " I say: Miss Mayella, lemme outa here " an' tried to run but she got her back to the door an 'I 'da had to push her. I didn 't wanta harm her, Mr F

47、inch, an' I say lemme pass,“ but just when I say it Mr Ewell yonder hollered through th ' window.20Gentlemen, " he was saying, I shall be brief, but I would like to use my remaining time with you to remind you that this case is not a difficult one, it requires no minute sifting of compl

48、icated facts, but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant. To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. This case is as simple as black and white.The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom

49、Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this court-room is.h

50、ave nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend as far as to her putting a man's life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt.I say guilt, gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crim

51、e, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honoured code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white. She knew full well the enormity of her offence, but

52、because her desires were stronger than the code she was breaking, she persisted in breaking it. She persisted, and her subsequent reaction is something that all of us have known at one time or another. She did something every child has done she tried to put the evidence of her offence away from her.

53、 But in this case she was no child hiding stolen contraband: she struck out at her victim of necessity she must be removed from her presence, from this world. She must destroy the evidence of her offence.What was the evidence of her offence? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson awa

54、y from her. Tom Robinson was her daily reminder of what she did. What did she do? She tempted a Negro.She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before s

55、he broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.Her father saw it, and the defendant has testified as to his remarks. What did her father do? We don't know, but there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led almost exclusively with

56、 his left. We do know in part what Mr Ewell did: he did what any God-fearing, persevering, respectable white man would do under the circumstances-he swore out a warrant, no doubt signing it with his left hand, and Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken oath with the only good hand he possess

57、 his right hand.And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity tofeelsorry “ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people's. I need not remind you of their appearance and conduct on the stand with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County, h

58、ave presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court, in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption - that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to

59、be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their calibre.Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson's skin, a lie I do nothave to point out to you. Y ou know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some

60、 Negro men are not to be trusted around women - black and white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this court-room who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman with desire. 'Atticus paused and took out his handkerchief. Then he took off his glasses and wiped them, and we saw another first ': we had never seen him sweat - he was one of those men whose faces never perspired, but no