In Chapter 14 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout becomes overwhelmed with all of the people in her life who are telling her what to do. Aunt Alexandra has recently moved in with them, and it is difficult for Scout to mind this new woman who openly disapproves of her. To add salt to the wound, Jem attempts to tell her what to do in order to bring peace to the household. This doesn't...
In Chapter 14 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout becomes overwhelmed with all of the people in her life who are telling her what to do. Aunt Alexandra has recently moved in with them, and it is difficult for Scout to mind this new woman who openly disapproves of her. To add salt to the wound, Jem attempts to tell her what to do in order to bring peace to the household. This doesn't sit right with Scout because she sees Jem as her equal, not her superior. As a result, Scout provokes him into a fistfight that Atticus has to break up. Atticus asks the children who started the fight and Scout blames Jem because he was telling her what to do. She asks her father if she has to mind Jem from then on, too. Atticus makes the following compromise:
"Let's leave it at this: you mind Jem whenever he can make you. Fair enough?" (138).
This seems to satisfy Scout because it gives her some support for a time that Jem might tell her what to do in the future. In fact, Scout uses this during the Tom Robinson trial when Jem tells her to go home. Scout responds by saying the following:
"'You gotta make me first,' I said, remembering Atticus's blessed dictum. Jem scowled furiously at me . . ." (173).
Therefore, the compromise is that whenever Jem bosses Scout around, she doesn't have to obey him unless he can make her obey.
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