Chapter 12

• When Jem is twelve, he does not want to spend that much time anymore with Scout and demands her to start acting like a girl
• Scout is upset about that and hopes that the arrival of Dill in the summer will change Jem‘s attitude
• yet, Dill won‘t be able to come to Maycomb that year; he writes a letter saying that he has a new father and that he will stay with his family
• Atticus has to travel to the state capital every day for two weeks since the state legislature is called into session
• the children visit a colored church on a sunday with Calpurnia
• however, one member of the church called Lula disagrees with Calpurnia bringing white children to church
• the church in general though is welcoming and Reverend Sykes explains that everyone there does know Atticus
• the poverty of the black community is shown through the lack of hymnals and the amount of dyslexic parishioners
• during service, Reverend Sykes collects money for Helen, the wife of Tom Robinson, since she can‘t find work due to her husband having been accused of rape
• Scout learns that it has been Bob Ewell who accused Tom Robinson and is shocked that someone would believe something that a Ewell said
• returning home, Aunt Alexandra is waiting for them

Chapter 13

• Aunt Alexandra is supposed to stay with the children in order to bring in a feminine touch
• she is invited to other ladies in town for having coffee and cake
• being very proud of her own family heritage, she often gossips about and judges the other families in Maycomb
• Jem and Scout are not proud enough of their family in Alexandra‘s opinion
• she demands that Atticus give them a lecture on their ancestry but Scout only starts to cry

Function

• Dill as representative of childhood has vanished which shows the transcendence from childhood into the adult world
• introduction of black community through visiting their church
  
  • very welcoming, positive, close-knit community, strong devotion
  • yet poverty-stricken (no paint on the building, hymnals are too expensive, illiteracy)
  • crucial moment in the storyline: black community comes into light when Tom Robinson‘s is accused of rape
  • benevolent and solidly united black community harshly contradicts the racism that Maycomb‘s white people show
• theme of prejudice: townspeople are more willing to believe the word of someone from the lowest class (Bob Ewell) than of a decent black man
• Calpurnia as a mediator between two worlds
  
  • double life: Finches‘ house and black community
  • shift is made obvious through her change in language (dialect shows when she is in church whereas she speaks proper and precise English at the Finches‘ house
  • shift in language represents the gap between black and white Maycomb inhabitants
• Aunt Alexandra - now taking over the household - clashes with Calpurnia whom she considers unnecessary and also with Scout who doesn‘t care about the implementation of Southern womanhood
• although Alexandra might be injust and unfit for parenting, she still demonstrates that she cares about her family