To Kill a Mockingbird
The black community in the novel – Chapter 12
 Jem and Scout are looked after by Calpurnia as their father is away.
 She stays at the house overnight to look after the children – her bed is campbed in the kitchen, befitting her status as a servant.
 She takes great personal pride in making sure that the children look their best
for their trip – anything less would reflect badly on her. It is also to fit in with
what the other members of the congregation expect – they may be poor but
they all dress smartly and take great care over their appearance when they go
to church.
‘I don’t want anyone sayin’ I don’t look after my children’
 The church forms the central part of the black community and their religion
is vital in their lives.
 The church itself was old and had been built using the first wages of the
freed slaves in the area. This is a powerful statement about the black
community – the money is not wasted or spent on their own houses, but used
to build a place to worship God, a kind of community house and a reminder
that the community is more important than the individual.
 It had to be built away from the centre of the town ‘outside the town limits’
presumably because the white community would not allow it to be built
anywhere else.
 The poor quality of the building land can be seen in the fact that the ground
of the cemetery is ‘brick-hard clay’ that becomes so solid in the hot weather
that bodies cannot be buried until the rain has softened it.
 The church itself sounds quite grand
‘the only church in Maycomb with a steeple and bell’
 It is a physical manifestation of the pride of the
community – the steeple and bell ensure that it can
be seen and heard from afar. None of the white
churches have a steeple or bell.
 Like most churches it made money from renting
out rooms in the week. The white men of the
community used it in the week for gambling. This
illustrates their lack of respect for the community
and the people who worship there. They wouldn’t be
able to gamble in their own Baptist or Methodist
churches.
 The sense of the poverty of the community can be seen clearly in the
graveyard beside the church. Only a few graves were marked with headstones.
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 The brightly coloured broken glass that surrounded some of the more modern
graves would give it an unusual and more vibrant air than the usual grey
tombstones found in the white cemetery. Even broken Coca-Cola bottles are
used around the graves.
 The graves seem to be well tended and the candles on the graves of young
children suggest that the graves are visited regularly.
 There is a reference to some of the graves having ‘lightning rods’ guarding
them. There are a couple of possible meanings here. Firstly they are simply
there to conduct any lightning strike away from the steeple. Secondly they
hint at keeping the restless souls beneath in check. This may be a hint at the
origins of the religion of the black community in Africa, where superstitious
beliefs would be prevalent.
 Lee’s description of the place includes the line:
‘It was a happy cemetary’
 This is a slightly oxymoronic phrase that tells the reader a lot about the
community of the church. Even in death the community finds room for
happiness and celebration for a good life.
 When the children arrive, it becomes clear that everyone in attendance at
church has taken as much care over their ablutions as Cal made them take:
‘The warm bittersweet smell of clean negro welcomed us’
 The use of the verb ‘welcomed’ is interesting and begins to set the tone for
the visit.
 There are signs of respect shown to the children as acknowledgement of
their arrival – men taking off their hats and the crowd parting to let them
pass.
 Most of the congregation seem accepting of their presence because they are
with Calpurnia, and also because they are Atticus’s children.
 Lee uses the visit to First Purchase to illustrate the racial tensions that
simmered just below the surface of people’s lives in Maycomb.
 Lula perhaps says what everyone else is thinking.
 Calpurnia behave in exactly the way Atticus would have done in the
circumstances because she is like him and wants to live in a world where
everyone is treated equally.
 She speaks differently when in her own community and uses language that the
children would find shocking – she uses the word ‘nigger’ to Lula – language
she, and Atticus would tell them off for saying.
 Lula is direct in her attack on Calpurnia and in some ways she has a point –
black children would definitely not be allowed to go to a white person’s
church yet the black community is being expected to allow Jem and Scout
into theirs – it is the double-standard that Lula is so against.
 The presence of the children does not dissuade Lula as she speaks to Cal in
front of them:
‘why you bringin’ white chillum to nigger church?’
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 Calpurnia’s defence is mocked by Lula:
‘Yeah and I reckon you’s comp’ny at the Finch house durin’ the week’
 Lula is sending up Cal because she has said that the children are her guests –
Lula reminds her that she is their servant.
 Cal is determined that she will take the children into church and responds
more angrily the second time Lula tries to stop her:
‘Stop right there nigger’
 She uses the same language as Lula and here her speech is used to identify
her as part of their community.
 Lula refers to Cal as ‘Miss Cal’ when she speaks, demonstrating that there is a
hierarch even in the black community.
 When Cal has faced down Lula the rest of the congregation are more
welcoming and friendly towards the children. Zeebo (Calpurnia’s eldest son)
makes sure they know that Lula is a trouble maker, adding an air of reality to
the community – they aren’t that different from the white church community.
 They are led to the front pew by Reverend Sykes – as a mark of their status
and importance.
 The church inside is very different to the one the children usually attend.
 The lack of ornamentation or decorative features clearly signifies that it
iswhat happens in the building that is important. It is
also an indication of the poverty of the congregation.
 The only picture in the church is this one called
‘The Light of the World’
 It also makes the white church seem very
superficial.
 The lack of hymn books tells the reader that the
vast majority of the community would not be able to
read.
 Cal insists that they use her money in the collection
rather than the money Atticus has left for them – a sign
of her self-pride.
 When Rev. Sykes introduces the children he
comments that all the community will know their father – it is because of his
work that he is known and respected.
 The collection from the service has been ear-marked for Helen Robinson – a
sign that the church helps out its own community financially – they all stick
together in times of hardship.
 Zeebo, the garbage collector, leads the congregation in their hymn-singing as
he is one of the only members of the congregation able to read.
 One of the biggest differences in the service is the sermon itself. The subject
was familiar to Jem and Scout, but they had never heard individuals named in
church before for the misdemeanours. This was a much more direct approach
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to religion than the children were used to and shows the community has rules
and punishes those who stray.
 The second feature of the service that is unusual for Jem and Scout is the
counting of the collection in front of the congregation, who are then
informed by Rev. Sykes that it is not enough. He even has the church doors
closed so that no one can leave until the ten dollars needed for Helen
Robinson has been raised. This is a sign of the leadership of Rev. Sykes and
the way he uses his role as a community leader to do good for people. It shows
the reader the practical way that the community work together but also the
high expectations of Rev. Sykes. His style of religion is direct and practical.
 He is fair in his insistence on the extra money – pointing out that members of
the congregation without children themselves can afford to give a little bit
extra.
 The episode in church leads the children, and therefore the reader to
confront some truths about the sort of life Cal lead. She had a husband,
children and grandchildren of her own, yet Jem and Scout knew virtually
nothing about her family. It was quite usual for black women to work as
servants in white households, bringing up their children whilst they left their
own children at home to be looked after by an older relative.
 Cal has to explain to the children that her speech fit in with the place she is
in and is another sign of her divided existence. She speaks more colloquially in
front of her own community so that she fits in with them.
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