5H GSAW Chapter 16

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 5

GSAW Chapter 16

Summary

Jean Louise goes to look for her father at his office and finds Hank instead. He takes her out for coffee at a drugstore, and she furiously tells him that she doesn’t love him anymore. She explains that she saw him and Atticus at the citizens’ council meeting. Hank responds that their motives for being at the meeting were not the same as the motives of the other men; they were simply trying to keep an eye on the political discourse in Maycomb. Hank argues that Atticus once attended a Ku Klux Klan meeting just so he could know who the other members of the organization were. Conforming to your community in order to be of service to it, Hank says, is a necessity.

Jean Louise can’t understand this, Hank says, because her Finch family name has accorded her the privilege of being accepted even when she doesn’t conform. Hank, when he doesn’t conform, is dismissed as trash. Jean Louise denies her privilege, but Hank says she is blind to it.

Outside the drugstore, Hank asks what Jean Louise expects him to do, and she says she expects him to stand up for his beliefs by staying out of the citizens’ council no matter what it costs him. She calls him a hypocrite, declaring that she can’t live with a hypocrite. At that moment Atticus appears and dryly asks why she can’t live with hypocrites. He is smiling.

Short questions

Who is Scout complaining about during her coffee with henry?

1. Hester
2. Atticus
3. Uncle Jack
4. Aunt Alexandra

"Jean Louise, you can't mean what you're saying!" What is Jean Louise telling Henry during coffee?

What is the purpose of the Citizen Council according to Henry?

Why did Atticus join the Ku Klux Klan?

What does Henry mean with: ' I'm only trying to make you see beyond men's acts to their motives'.

1. These men smile in your face, but would talk behind your back.
2. Don't judge a book by its colours.

"So I'm a Finch, so what?" What does it mean to be a Finch?

1. Then you are a coward.
2. You are mean.
3. You are a racist.
4. You are priviliged.

Henry: "What do you expect from me?"
Jean Louise: " ..."

Questions to discuss

Examine Hank’s repeated use of “pet names” for Jean Louise. What names does he call her? What do these names suggest
about his attitude towards her?

On page 232, Hank recites a list of the things he wants, to which Jean Louise replies, “In that order, I suppose!” What has Jean
Louise realized about Hank’s priorities?

Jean Louise tells Hank that he’s scared of Maycomb. Do you agree that fear is motivating Hank’s actions, or do you think
there is something else?