Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (16 page)

After her experiences on the first day of school learning more about the Cunninghams and various other peculiarities in the Maycomb community, Scout engages Atticus in an extended discussion about another Maycomb clan, the Ewells, and their avoidance of truancy laws and hunting restrictions (
TKAM
33–35). “Sometimes it's better to bend the law a little in special cases,” highlights Atticus as he explains the unorthodox arrangements that Maycomb authorities have uneasily and tacitly worked out with the Ewells. Unlike the Cunningham clan, the Ewells have not accepted community standards. Destitute and reliant on community handouts, the Ewells represent the Downcast, not Everyman. Perhaps out of pity for their lower-class status and their negative reputations in the community, the truancy officer has agreed to look the other way, as long as the Ewell children attend school one day a year. As Atticus explains it, the town leaders have agreed the Ewell children are not likely to gain any benefit from school whatsoever, so it would be “silly” to force them to attend school.

Although this explanation may seem flippant, Atticus goes on to explain his analysis for determining whether or not to rigorously enforce the truancy law in the case of the Ewells. While his statement that it would be “silly” to insist on school attendance suggests a gut feeling and may appear somewhat arbitrary or ad hoc, his rationale is in fact logical and thorough. Atticus considers the children involved—their way of living, their nature, their lack of interest in education, and their alcoholic father. Therefore, Atticus condones bending the law in this case based on an intimate and deep knowledge of the Ewells and the Maycomb community as a whole. He tries to envision what it would be like to force the Ewells to attend school. He weighs the public and governmental effort that would be required to get the Ewells to conform to regular school attendance, considering not only the likely response of the Ewells but also the disruption it would cause in the classroom. Lee's depiction of Burris Ewell on the first day of school makes it clear that schooling would be wasted on him, and that enforced rules in this case would be perhaps pointless—even worthless.

Likewise, the town authorities, recognizing that the Ewell children would probably starve otherwise, permit Bob Ewell to hunt and trap out of season. While Atticus concedes that hunting and trapping out of season is against the law and morally wrong, he also understands that denying food to hungry children would be a greater evil. Once again Atticus employs his deep knowledge of the community in reasoning that bending the law in this instance is correct. In his estimation, Maycomb landowners, who essentially have had their game stolen by Ewell, would not begrudge the Ewell children an occasional meal. Atticus balances these opposing principles—property rights, law, community order, and majority rule on the one hand, and child welfare, grace, and compassion on the other—and supports bending the law rather than enforcing rigid legal rules. To Atticus, bending the law is more than simply not enforcing the strict letter of the law; it means looking to the spirit of the laws and upholding the moral purpose they serve. It is this higher purpose that makes the pursuit worthwhile, that vindicates the somewhat gritty and uneasy process that bending the law might involve.

A few pages later, Atticus draws a distinction between bending the law and making a compromise. When Atticus agrees to continue reading with Scout, he makes a compromise with her—an “agreement reached by mutual concessions” (
TKAM
34). In Scout's case, the rigid legal rules apply—she must go to school, unlike the Ewells. But Atticus agrees to continue to teach reading to Scout despite her teacher's request that he desist. In return, Scout agrees to continue to attend classes regardless of her feeling that they are not only unnecessary but restrictive and demeaning as well.

In this episode, Lee again suggests that bending the law is a higher task than mere arrangements among disputing parties. Bending the law is primarily a moral task. It involves searching for the “higher law” or the higher purpose that is involved. It considers the greater good for society and the individual before deciding what is “right.” In a sense, bending the law is relativistic—it considers the relative values of competing propositions and rejects an automatic and rigid application of firm rules in every case. It is clear that Atticus always chooses to uphold a higher purpose. Yet while demonstrating that bending the law involves making moral choices, Lee also asserts that those choices depend on far more than the personal preferences of an individual. Thus by his choice to do good for society and individuals, Atticus offers an indication that he wants the law to do the same.

Application of the higher law, therefore, involves more than choosing one set of moral values over another set of moral values. It requires individuals to search for the highest and best purpose in each decision. At the same time, one must acknowledge that bending the law may not create the perfect solution for every case. The motive for bending the law must never be arbitrary, self-centered, biased, or discretionary. Instead, it should be painstaking, humble, and full of effort. It is primarily a craft, like building a fine musical instrument or conducting careful surgery of the brain. In short, Lee suggests that bending the law requires the use of a scalpel, not an old, blunt kitchen knife. Lee's text acknowledges that both have great power: a kitchen knife can kill racists like Bob Ewell, but by wielding a scalpel to attempt to excise the tumor of racism, Atticus proves more successful in achieving a long-lasting resolution of a severe societal problem.

As the novel progresses, Lee continues her explication of the higher moral purpose. Another example occurs when Atticus is called to shoot a rabid dog (
TKAM
109); normally one doesn't shoot other people's dogs, any more than one hunts out of season, but Atticus is called upon to shoot Harry Johnson's dog Tim (the “pet of Maycomb”) in order to protect the community from danger. Here is a case where it is not only permissible but essential to bend the law to protect the common good and ensure safety. Lee's emphasis on the popularity of Tim Johnson and the dramatic necessity of shooting him in order to save the community from a greater danger also serves as a metaphor that illustrates the community's prevailing prejudice and the necessity of removing the danger posed by institutionalized racism. The episode parallels the larger problem that Maycomb and Atticus must face head-on later in the novel.

In addition, this episode highlights the eagle eyes of Atticus Finch (eyes that earn him the nickname of “One-Shot Finch”), in contrast to the dull, colorless eyes of the elder Radley (which, as noted earlier, suggest his rigidity and tyranny). Atticus shoots Tim Johnson dead in the forehead, slightly to the right (
TKAM
110), even after his glasses fall to the ground. He then grinds the broken lens to a powder, emphasizing they are not necessary to him. By submitting to the local sheriff's insistence that he be the one to shoot when the first shot would be the only shot, Atticus demonstrates a deadly aim that instantly eradicates the danger posed by the rabid dog. In a similar manner, he submits to Judge Taylor's insistence that he be the one to defend Tom Robinson, and he demonstrates his clear vision of the necessity of eradicating the evil stain that threatens to harm the community. Although Atticus does not succeed in convincing the jury to acquit Robinson, he helps some in the community to see, albeit with blurred vision, the evil caused by rampant racism. Moreover, Atticus can evision with hope a future of racial justice.

Following the shooting, Atticus makes it clear in another encounter that the quality of courage needed to fight for the higher moral purpose involves more than the skilled use of a weapon. The story of Mrs. Dubose's battle with morphine addiction culminates in the message from Atticus that courage is not a man with a gun in his hand but “when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (
TKAM
128). Mrs. Dubose dies of cancer, but she wins her battle with morphine and dies “beholden to nothing and nobody” (
TKAM
128). Her higher purpose is freedom from the customary but addictive medical treatment the doctor provided to ease her pain. Wanting to end her dependence on the narcotics he provides, Mrs. Dubose chooses to reject the assumption that the medication is required and asserts her freedom. Indeed, the customary medical treatment she had received is parallel to the customary treatment of African Americans in Maycomb by the white majority: it may be routine, taken for granted, and ingrained, but such “required behavior” is addictive and damaging all the same. In another metaphorical interpretation, Mrs. Dubose's determination to end her addiction serves as a symbolic inspiration to Atticus and others to end the addiction to racism that plagues Maycomb society. The freedom Mrs. Dubose seeks, and the courage it takes for her to achieve that status, exemplifies another facet of the moral quest for the higher purpose that the novel espouses.

In addition to Mrs. Dubose, Lee uses still other characters to highlight the search for a higher moral purpose and to illuminate how bending the law serves to promote a better society. For example, Calpurnia seems to represent the stern taskmaster with a wide, hard hand and a tyrannical presence (
TKAM
6). But while the tyrannical Mr. Radley's eyes are dull and colorless, Calpurnia's eyes suffer from nearsightedness, and she squints constantly. Calpurnia's squinting may be her way to ascertain what is actually going on in the Finch household among her charges, but it may also be symbolic of a larger quest. Calpurnia is a seeker; she squints to learn things, narrowing the scope of her vision to see more clearly. Described as one of four literate members of the First Purchase African M.E. Church, Calpurnia uses her squinting vision to foster close reading and to create unusual discoveries. Significantly, Calpurnia's reading ability is acquired from reading Blackstone's
Commentaries on the Laws of England
, an influential eighteenth-century treatise on the development of the common law in England and in the American colonies.

“Common law” is distinguished from statutory law passed by elected legislatures; the common law is the collective decisions of judges over the centuries, which are often referred to as “precedent,” used to resolve subsequent cases involving similar disputes. Lee attended law school at the University of Alabama in the 1940s, when Blackstone was still revered as a source of wise legal rules, and she studied literature in England, the source of the common law. Thus, it is clearly possible that Lee's references to Blackstone and the common law, particularly in connection with Calpurnia, who is seemingly always squinting and searching with nearsighted eyes, may suggest and even accentuate the novel's approach to legal reform. Lee knew that common law was developed through a painstaking application of precedent with care and wisdom. In such situations, the law develops slowly and incrementally, always pushing and thrusting toward a more perfect whole, always working toward discovery of the most consistent, righteous, and socially beneficent purpose, purposes that are deemed consistent with past principles. In much the same way, the optimism Atticus demonstrates after Tom Robinson's trial is based on making progress over time, realizing that perfection in the law may not be accomplished immediately. Atticus is not discouraged or deflated by the unfair verdict. This is precisely because he realizes how slowly real change is attained. Bending the law a little bit, striving to be flexible, considering other people's viewpoints, and offering mercy and accepting it are all necessary steps before any real, long-lasting legal change can occur.

In addition to her unusual connection with the searching and slowly developing common law, Calpurnia, like Atticus, has an uncommon fortitude and humility. The altercation that occurs between Calpurnia and Lula in front of First Purchase, when Calpurnia brings Scout and Jem to church on Sunday, dramatically reveals the contrast between her searching, steady, wise, compassionate, and open-minded approach and Lula's bitter, separatist, and closed-minded outlook. While Lula argues that whites and African Americans should worship at separate churches and tries to capitalize on Calpurnia's status as a mere servant at the Finch household in order to denigrate Calpurnia's vision of hosting the Finch children at her church as her “company,” Calpurnia (although flustered by Lula's abrasive manner) clearly wins the argument about different churches with her short defense: “It's the same God” (
TKAM
136). It's clear that Lee uses this scene to emphasize that color barriers will only be broken down by steady and persistent effort to seek a remedy for wrongdoing even in the face of strident, separatist opposition from both races—whites as well as African Americans—who want to remain separate out of anger, fear of change, and self-importance. Lee shows that society and whole communities are required to bend in order for changes in the law to succeed.

Moreover, Calpurnia, like Atticus, exemplifies wise thinking and well-developed analyses of her opinions. One instance of this occurs when Calpurnia helps Scout understand why she speaks differently at the Finch household when talking with the children than the way she speaks at First Purchase when talking with fellow African Americans. Calpurnia makes several points regarding her speech choice: (1) different conversation fits different settings; (2) certain ways of speaking might be taken as condescending; (3) restraint in conversation is ladylike and modest; (4) it's not necessary to show all your knowledge; (5) it's difficult to force change on others; and (6) people need to want to change themselves (
TKAM
143). Indeed, Lee seems to suggest here that changing the law, particularly in connection with race relations, depends on people wanting to change their opinions and expectations. Thus, throughout the novel, Lee emphasizes the need for individuals to change first in order to make larger social change possible. Furthermore, in order for people to change, they must first
want
to change. The novel emphasizes that embracing change must begin with the recognition of a
need
to change.