5H GSAW Chapter 13

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 5

GSAW Chapter 13

Summary

Alexandra chides Jean Louise for going to visit Calpurnia, saying that no one in Maycomb goes to see black people anymore. She blames the racial tension on the NAACP, which she says has undone all the progress white folks have made in “civilizing” black folks. Jean Louise wonders whether everyone in her hometown has changed into a racist or whether it is she who has changed.

Jean Louise attends the Coffee held in her honor, where well-dressed women sit around talking about lives that hold no interest for Jean Louise. She overhears some women talking about the trial of Calpurnia’s grandson and that they haven’t had a “good nigger trial” in Maycomb in ten years. The women laugh about the stupidity of blacks; Jean Louise decides she must be losing her sense of humor.

When a woman named Hester starts prophesying an uprising of blacks, Jean Louise contradicts her. Hester believes in a conspiracy by blacks and Communists to intermarry blacks and whites until no more racial distinctions exist. The women ask Jean Louise how it is living in New York, where there are blacks all around her. Jean Louise says she doesn’t notice it, and the women say she must be blind.

Short questions

Why does Jean Louise 'tiptoe' in the house at the beginning of the chapter?

1. She doesn't want to join the Coffee.
2. She wants to hide away from Henry.
3. She wants to hide away from Atticus.
4. She has decided to go back to New York.

Aunt Alexandra: "Keeping a Nigger happy these days is like catering to a ...

1. God
2. King
3. lady
4. Hollywood actress

Questions to discuss 

Aunt Alexandra tells Jean Louise: "Nobody in Maycomb goes to see Negro's anymore, not after what they've been doing to us!" What does she mean?

How do the groupings of women at the Coffee reflect the limited roles that were acceptable to women those days?

Why does Jean Louise call the women at the Coffee 'magpies'?

Jean Louise retreats into her own head, thinking "I need a watchman to lead me around". What does that mean?