To Kill a Mockingbird - useful quotes for chapter 1, 2 and 3

"Atticus was related by blood or marriage to nearly every family in the town." This shows that Atticus knows everyone in Maycomb.

"Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o' clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum." This shows that Maycomb is a place of habit and tradition.

Jem says: "Scout yonder's been readin' ever since she was born" This shows childhood naivity but also shows that Scout has been taught to read by Atticus. (THEME - education).

"Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom" This is talking about Boo Radley showing that the children make up their mind about people before knowing them properly, a lesson they learn later in the novel. (THEME - prejudice).

"The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb." This is an important idea in the novel as it is such a big thing at the end of the book when Boo 'comes out' of the Radley house.

"Miss Caroline told me to tell my father not to teach me any more" Miss Caroline is not happy that Atticus has been teaching Scout to read and write. (THEME - education)

"They never took anything off anybody" About the Cunninghams as they are poor.

Scout has a fight with Walter Cunningham but then Jem invites him home for lunch. This shows Scout's attitudes to other people at the beginning of the book. She says about Walter "But he's gone and drowned his dinner in his syrup."

"He was the filthiest human I had ever seen." About Burris Ewell. The child is obviously not looked after very well. "They come first day every year and then leave." This quote suggest this as well.

"My gloom had deepened to match the [Radley] house." Scout does not enjoy her first day at school.

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view." A very important quote in the book. (THEME - prejudice)

The Ewells "lived like animals"

Scout learns a lesson about compromise (Atticus will still read to Scout if she goes to school).