Summary Chapter 20

• Mr. Dolphus Raymond drinks something from a paper bag and offers it to Dill who takes some sips, explaining to the worried Scout that it is just Coca-Cola and not alcohol
• Dolphus points out that he just pretends to be drunk in order to explain his lifestyle to other white people; in fact, he just prefers black people over white people
• Dill and Scout go back into the courtroom; Atticus is about to make a personal appeal to the jury
• he claims that there is no medical evidence that Mayella was raped, that the witnesses are more than unreliable and that Bob Ewell beat Mayella and not Tom because of his physical incapability to do so
• recounts his own version of what has happened: Mayella being lonely has lusted after a black man and concealed her shame over that by accusing Tom of rape
• Atticus asks the jury to abandon the belief that all black people consist of criminal energy and to doing the right and just thing by freeing Tom
• when Atticus has finished his plea, Calpurnia enters the courtroom

Summary Chapter 21

• Calpurnia gives Atticus a note that states that Jem and Scout have not been home since noon
• Mr. Underwood uncovers the confusion and says that the children are in the colored balcony
• Jem and Scout are asked to return home and have dinner although they want to listen to the verdict
• Calpurnia leaves with Jem, Scout and Dill and they have dinner, afterwards they return to the courtroom
• while the jury is in discussion, Jem feels confident that Atticus will win the case and Dill has fallen asleep
• after 11pm, the jury enters and exclaim that Tom Robinson is guilty of the verdict
• the attendees file out and the black people rise in a gesture of respect when Atticus leaves the courtroom

Summary Chapter 22

• Jem is crying in the night and damns the injustice of Tom‘s sentence
• the next day, the Finch‘s are given food from the black community of Maycomb
• Miss Stephanie tries to ask Jem and Scout about the trial, but Miss Maudie invites them to eat some cake and thus she rescues them
• Jem voices his worries about the now shattered illusions of Maycomb since he used to think that the inhabitants were the best people in the world
• Miss Maudie tries to comfort him, claiming that there are still good people (the judge who appointed Atticus to be Tom‘s defender and not a regular public defender; also, the fact that the jury took a long time to make a decision stands for the progress in race relations)
• after leaving Miss Maudie‘s place, Jem and Scout learn from Miss Stephanie that their father was harassed by Bob Ewell who spat on him and swore revenge

Function

• introduction of Mr. Dolphus Raymond
  
  • he does not fit in with the rest of Maycomb‘s white society
  • destroyed by hatred and prejudice, used to be a good man but is now hopeless due to the evil in the world
  • believes that the racist Maycomb is the real Maycomb
• Atticus‘s understanding of the world becomes evident
  
  • has seen and experienced evil but still believes in the goodness in the humans
  • even though Tom is found guilty by the jury, the morally immaculate people of Maycomb are still hopeful
• Jem‘s view of the world has shifted
  
  • Scout remains resilient and positive despite Tom‘s conviction
  • Jem does not believe in justice and law anymore
  • Jem as a mockingbird: he is stripped of his childish innocence and idealism because of the Ewells