- malevolentadjectiveChapter 1 →
Having or showing a strong desire to harm others; deeply wicked or threatening in nature. Here it describes the frightening, evil quality people imagined the hidden neighbor to have.
“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him.”
- phantomnounChapter 1 →
A ghost or ghostlike figure that people believe exists but cannot be seen or proven real. Used here to describe the mysterious, unseen neighbor as if he were a supernatural presence.
“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him.”
- broad viewphraseChapter 1 →
Looking at something from a wide, general perspective rather than focusing on small details. Scout uses it to mean considering the whole long background of a situation.
“I said if he wanted to take a broad view of the thing, it really began with Andrew Jackson.”
- scrip stampsnounChapter 2 →
Government-issued vouchers given to very poor families during the Depression so they could obtain food or goods without using cash. Accepting them was seen as charity.
“The Cunninghams never took anything they can't pay back — no church baskets and no scrip stamps.”
- comp'nynounChapter 3 →
A dialect spelling of 'company,' meaning a guest or visitor who deserves respect and hospitality. Calpurnia uses it to insist that anyone in the house must be treated with courtesy.
- high and mightyphraseChapter 3 →
Acting as though you are better or more important than other people; behaving in an arrogant, superior way. Used here as a rebuke for Scout's snobbish attitude toward a guest.
“don't you let me catch you remarkin' on their ways like you was so high and mighty!”
- quicknounChapter 3 →
The tender, living skin beneath the fingernails. Saying dirt was 'black deep into the quick' means it was ground in all the way to the most sensitive part of the finger.
“his fingernails were black deep into the quick.”
- Indian-headsnounChapter 4 →
Old United States pennies minted before 1909 that bore the image of a Native American head on one side. Children considered them rare and lucky to find.
“Jem said the Indian-heads were real lucky. He said so because they were so old; 1906 was on one of them.”
- breechesnounChapter 6 →
Trousers or pants, especially a loose or old-fashioned pair. Used here as a casual, regional word for the pants Jem had to retrieve from the Radley fence.
“When I went back for my breeches—they were all in a tangle when I was gettin' out, I couldn't get 'em loose.”
- perpetratedverbChapter 8 →
Carried out or committed an act, usually one that is wrong or offensive. Here it is used humorously to accuse the children of creating a snowman that mocks a neighbor.
“You've perpetrated a near libel here in the front yard. We've done it this way in Maycomb for years and years.”
- libelnounChapter 8 →
A false and damaging public statement or representation about a real person. Used here in a joking way to say the snowman unfairly caricatures a real neighbor.
“You've perpetrated a near libel here in the front yard. We've done it this way in Maycomb for years and years.”
- lickedadjectiveChapter 9 →
Beaten or defeated before even starting; having no realistic chance of winning. Atticus uses it to mean the case was lost from the beginning due to racial prejudice.
“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.”
- corncribsnounChapter 10 →
Slatted wooden bins or small structures used on farms to store dried ears of corn. Mentioned to show that mockingbirds cause no damage to farmers' stored crops.
- camellianounChapter 11 →
A flowering shrub that produces large, showy blooms, often white or pink. Mrs. Dubose prized her camellia bushes, which Jem destroys in a fit of rage.
- double lifephraseChapter 12 →
Living two separate, distinct existences — one known to those around you and one kept private. Scout realizes Calpurnia has a full identity and language outside the Finch household.
“That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me.”
- noveladjectiveChapter 12 →
New and unfamiliar; something not encountered or thought of before. Scout uses it to say the idea of Calpurnia having a separate life was a completely fresh, surprising concept.
“The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages.”
- preoccupationnounChapter 13 →
An obsessive or constant focus on one particular idea or concern, to the point where it dominates your thinking. Scout cannot understand why her aunt thinks so much about family bloodlines.
“I never understood her preoccupation with heredity.”
- hereditynounChapter 13 →
The passing of traits, qualities, or social standing from parents to children through family bloodlines. Aunt Alexandra believes a family's worth is determined by its inherited characteristics.
“I never understood her preoccupation with heredity.”
- Fine FolksphraseChapter 13 →
A term used in Maycomb for people considered to be of high social quality or good breeding. Scout and Aunt Alexandra disagree sharply about what actually makes someone 'fine.'
“I had received the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion that...”
- penitentiarynounChapter 13 →
A prison. Used here as a vivid metaphor to describe how the stiff, formal clothes and expected behavior of girlhood feel like a confining, inescapable trap to Scout.
“I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me.”
- starchedadjectiveChapter 13 →
Stiffened with a laundry starch so that fabric stands rigid and uncomfortable. Scout uses it to make her pink dress feel like the hard walls of a prison cell.
“I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me.”
To Kill a MockingbirdNovel by Harper Lee