Misunderstanding in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: Free Essay Writer

Misunderstanding in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Walter Cunningham arriving and presenting himself at the finch household poses some questions for Jem. Firstly she cannot understand the agricultural terms as Atticus and Walter discuss crops. â€Å"†¦but there’s another’n at the house now that’s field size.† Jem takes this as Walter saying that he has employed someone to help with the cutting and thus asks him if he paid with a bushel of potatoes. Jem’s mindset of the Cunningham’s not paying money but paying in whatever ways they can comes from Atticus’ advice in the previous pages. Jem’s amazement at how Atticus and Walter talked together like two men clearly comes from a misunderstanding of the Cunningham household. Her understanding of the Cunninghams are that they are not the sharpest tools in the shed. Her amazement is highlighted by the quote, â€Å"†¦he and Atticus talked together like two men, to the wonderment of Jem and me.† Again, later on in the extract, Jem does not understand that Walter is equally as human as she is. Once again Harper Lee presents the facts with a little innuendo which touches on discrimination which is basically the heart of the book. â€Å"He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham.† Another of Jem’s misunderstandings is the molasses incident. Again she cannot understand why Walter drenches his food in molasses. It probably will originate from Walter’s upbringing as a â€Å"farm boy†. Molasses was probably cheap as chips on the farm where financial difficulty was rife. The author however employs a skilful phrase used in the South of America when describing Jem’s amazement, â€Å"†¦what the sam hill he was doing.† Jem does however understand that Calpurnia is one coloured person who is educated. Jem realizes this by how good her grammar was during tranquility. Again there is a misunderstanding on Jem’s part. She generalizes by implies that most coloured folk are not educated. The author presents these facts in such a way that it touches a major theme of the book, misunderstanding. As Calpurnia sent Jem off with a smack, Jem remarked that she’ll go and drown herself in Barker’s Eddy. This stresses the fact that Jem does not understand the ways and means of discipline. The author presents Jem almost as a headstrong girl who just cannot accept that this coloured lady could tell her what to do and how to present herself. Once again Miss Caroline Fisher comes into play. Her strict accordance to the rules of the new teaching system does not allow Jem to read or write.