# to kill a mockingbird **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130 "2010-03-03T15:30:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/41 "2010-03-07T10:42:22Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > Aside: My wife and I recently listened to the audio tape, and the story seemed twice as long with a bunch of extraneous stuff beyond the story we recall reading! For example, late in the audio book, the bit of Scout being a ham in a school play and Halloween? Also, late in the audio, Scout’s brother’s teacher makes a mention about the Holocaust? …Also, Scout (I believe) being punished and must go read to some old lady? We don’t recall any of this! Could there be an abridged version out there, or what? > > Do other SDopers recall this? The only thing I remember from the school scenes is some mention of the Dewey Decimal system, but then I haven’t read the book since I was in school myself, and that’s over thirty years ago. I remember the other bits though. How could you forget the ham costume? It’s part of the big dramatic scene at the end of the book, isn’t it? And in the film? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/42 "2010-03-07T11:10:09Z")
After cutting the tops off Mrs Dubois’ flowers in a fit of pique, Jem is sent by Atticus (as a form of punishment) to read to Mrs Dubois every afternoon. The first day, the session lasts for 1/2 hour or so. The next day it lasts longer, and the days after longer again, but the reading sessions are always ended by Mrs Dubois lapsing into a slumber…Jem can then make his getaway! Mrs Dubois is a morphine addict, and uses Jem and his reading as a way to help her get through the withdrawal process. On the last day of his reading program, the _clock-alarm_ rings and Mrs Dubois (or her maid Jessie, I can’t recall now) tells Jem he is no longer needed. Atticus later tells Jem (after Mrs Dubois has died) that she had requested that she be beholden to no person or no thing when she passed…getting through her morphine addiction allowed her to die a free woman. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/43 "2010-03-07T11:28:47Z")
I can’t remember the name of the little boy who comes to visit a relative nearby during the summers. (Was it Dill?) He was based on a real child in Harper Lee’s life. The real child was Truman Capote. Atticus was based on Harper Lee’s father. She gave his watch to Gregory Peck. Gregory Peck’s grandchild is named Harper. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/44 "2010-03-07T13:32:41Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > I recently read the book and the Holocaust bit is in Scout’s class - the kids are asked to present on a current issue and one of the kids does a presentation on Hitler. Scout is confused because her teacher denounces the Holocaust but at the same time makes racist remarks regarding the Robinson trial. I seriously doubt if the Holocaust is mentioned in _To Kill a Mockingbird_. Harper Lee isn’t that sloppy a writer. The story takes place during the 1930s. The extermination camps were not begun until 1942. Persecution - yes, concentration camps - OK, sterilization of the mentally handicapped - well known, but the mass killing of the Jews would not be publicized until the death camps were overrun at war’s end. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/45 "2010-03-07T14:06:38Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I can’t remember the name of the little boy who comes to visit a relative nearby during the summers. (Was it Dill?) He was based on a real child in Harper Lee’s life. The real child was Truman Capote. > > Atticus was based on Harper Lee’s father. She gave his watch to Gregory Peck. Gregory Peck’s grandchild is named Harper. Dill it is. I have a granddaughter named Harper for her middle name. I keep campaigning to call her Scout but haven’t had much luck yet. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/46 "2010-03-07T14:21:15Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I seriously doubt if the Holocaust is mentioned in _To Kill a Mockingbird_. Harper Lee isn’t that sloppy a writer. The story takes place during the 1930s. The extermination camps were not begun until 1942. Persecution - yes, concentration camps - OK, sterilization of the mentally handicapped - well known, but the mass killing of the Jews would not be publicized until the death camps were overrun at war’s end. there was a recent thread on this subject, with a quotation of the relevant passage: [Questions about To Kill a Mockingbird](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=551387). Consensus in that thread was that was that the student making the report was referring to the persecution of Jews, mixed up with some reference to sterilization/eugenics. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/47 "2010-03-07T18:42:13Z")
Since this has become mainly a discussion of the book, rather than about the origin of the phrase, I am moving this to Cafe Society from GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/48 "2010-03-07T19:37:25Z")
As long as we’re imparting trivia (e.g. Robert Duvall), the woman doing the voiceover in the film as adult Scout is Kim Stanley. I too am astonished that anyone would forget the ham costume. It’s the climax of the novel (and adds a grimly funny note to it), and visualized adorably on screen by Mary Badham and her bare legs sticking out of that outfit, which appears to be made of plaster of paris and chicken-wire. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/49 "2010-03-07T23:12:26Z")
> [@choie](#): > > I too am astonished that anyone would forget the ham costume. It’s the climax of the novel (and adds a grimly funny note to it), and visualized adorably on screen by Mary Badham and her bare legs sticking out of that outfit, which appears to be made of plaster of paris and chicken-wire. Yep. The ham costume saved her life. After the school play, she couldn’t find her dress and had to wear the costume home, or else walk home in her underthings. Looking for the dress made Jem and Scout among the last to leave, so there were no others on the path back home. Bob Ewell tried to cut Scout’s throat with his knife but it only scraped against the wire in the ham costume. If she hadn’t been wearing it she’d have died. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/50 "2010-03-07T23:39:49Z")
Scout and Jem were the last to leave, with Scout remaining in her costume because Scout had humiliated herself in the patent. She fell asleep and missed her cue. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/51 "2010-03-08T03:11:37Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I seriously doubt if the Holocaust is mentioned in _To Kill a Mockingbird_. Harper Lee isn’t that sloppy a writer. The story takes place during the 1930s. The extermination camps were not begun until 1942. Persecution - yes, concentration camps - OK, sterilization of the mentally handicapped - well known, but the mass killing of the Jews would not be publicized until the death camps were overrun at war’s end. Sorry, I was being sloppy with the term. The presentation mentions persecution of the Jews but the term Holocaust isn’t used - I was just using the term (erronously) as shorthand for general persecution of the Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/52 "2010-03-08T03:33:11Z")
“Hey Boo.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/53 "2010-03-08T07:16:32Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > We don’t recall any of this! Could there be an abridged version out there, or what? Indeed there was a [Reader’s Digest condensed version](http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4149097), which is where I first read the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130/54 "2010-03-08T07:30:02Z")
Fun thread full of fond memories. A comment on Tom Robinson being a secondary mockingbird figure. This seems a reasonable idea to me considering that he was deemed to be helpful and not a harmful man. Yet, considering that Boo left little gifts for the children in the hollow tree, he seems to more completely fill the role of providing enjoyment to the protagonist(s.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird/531130.md?page=2)