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Chapter 2
You’re shamin’ him, Miss Caroline. Walter hasn’t got a quarter at home to bring you, and you can’t use any stovewood.
In Chapter 2, when newcomer Miss Caroline attempts to give Walter Cunningham a quarter to buy lunch, it’s clear Scout understands a truth her teacher does not. There’s a tacit understanding among those who are from Maycomb that Walter and the rest of his family are honest, hard-working people who are nonetheless quite poor. For this reason, Walter won’t be able to bring her a quarter the next day, as requested. And, as Scout explains, Miss Caroline has no use for firewood, so Walter can’t offer her anything in exchange, either. As a result, it falls on Scout to explain the unspoken differences in social class to her teacher, as well as the Cunninghams’ pride in not accepting anything they can’t pay back.
Chapter 3
There’s some folks who don’t eat like us,’ she whispered fiercely, ‘but you ain’t called on to contradict ’em at the table when they don’t. That boy’s yo’ comp’ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?’”
Scout may understand the Cunningham family better than Miss Caroline, but this doesn’t stop her from reacting with horror in Chapter 3 when Walter pours molasses over his meat and vegetables. Calpurnia brings Scout into the kitchen and scolds her, an important lesson for Scout in withholding judgment.
“‘Sometimes it’s better to bend the law a little in special cases. In your case, the law remains rigid. So to school you must go.’”
In Chapter 3, Scout is put off the idea of school after her experiences with Miss Caroline. She’s unjustly rebuked and punished for explaining the Cunningham family and revealing her advanced reading level, and Scout decides she’d rather not go. Atticus informs her she must, an early indication of the rigidity of the law, as well as Atticus’s awareness of its limitations.
“‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—’ ‘Sir?’ ‘—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’”
In one of the novel’s most famous passages, Atticus explains the power and necessity of empathy to Scout in Chapter 3, something she will attempt to put into practice throughout the story. Read more about this quote in Famous Quotes Explained, Quotes by Theme: Racial Prejudice, and Quotes by Character: Atticus.
