To Kill a Mockingbird

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1960

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-20

Chapters 21-24

Chapters 25-28

Chapters 29-31

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Vocabulary

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

Chapters 29-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 29 Summary

Scout relates her version of the evening’s events, describing what she heard and witnessed through the confusion of her mangled ham costume. When they examine the costume, Tate remarks that it probably saved her life, noting the deep slash marks along the wire.

Scout tells them that a man carried Jem to safety. She then sees their rescuer in the corner of the room. She realizes that the man is none other than Boo Radley.

Chapter 30 Summary

Boo sits with Scout on the porch swing while Heck Tate and Atticus discuss who should be charged with the murder of Bob Ewell. Atticus seems to think Jem committed the murder; Tate seems to understand immediately that Bob Ewell was killed by Boo Radley.

Tate decides to declare the death an accident, claiming that Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He says it would be a sin to spread the word about what Boo did. Atticus thanks Boo for saving the lives of his children.

Chapter 31 Summary

Scout leads Boo to Jem’s room, where Boo strokes Jem’s hair to bid him goodnight. She then walks Boo Radley back to his house and remarks, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (321). She then expresses her wide-ranging emotions to Atticus, saying that she used to be afraid of Boo only to discover, upon meeting him, “he was real nice.” Atticus responds, “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them” (323).

Chapters 29-31 Analysis

Heck Tate recognizes the innate danger in exposing Boo Radley as the killer of Bob Ewell, even if it was—in its own way—a “great service” (317) to the Maycomb community. He refers to the injustice of Tom Robinson’s death—"there’s a black boy dead for no reason” (317)—reminding Atticus that Tom Robinson was tried, convicted, and effectively murdered simply for being kind. As a similarly harmless “mockingbird,” Boo’s kindness could be received with equal misunderstanding and hateful violence by Maycomb’s suspicious residents.

Scout, meanwhile, has finally received her wish to see and greet Boo Radley. She does so warmly, and walks back to his home with a strong sense of gratitude and empathy. Having at last seen Boo face-to-face, she realizes, “he was real nice” (323). Thus, she comes to fully understand Atticus’s advice to “climb into [someone’s] skin and walk around in it” (33).