To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 10 Summary

Jem and Scout think their father is really old and can’t do anything interesting, or even play football, like the other kids’ fathers do.
Even though he’s really boring (they think), he still manages to give them trouble through his insistence on defending Tom Robinson, which their peers are gossiping about.
It doesn’t help that word has gotten around after Scout walked away from Cecil Jacobs that she wouldn’t fight anymore, though she makes an exception for family members like Francis Hancock – they’re fair game.
Atticus refuses to teach Scout and Jem how to shoot their shiny new air rifles, so Uncle Jack gives them a shooting lesson.
Atticus tells Jem that if he must shoot at birds, he should aim for the bluejays, but “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (10.7).
Scout talks to Miss Maudie about how their neighborhood is all old people, and Miss Maudie (while bristling at being called old), acknowledges that there aren’t any 20- or 30-somethings around to give Scout role models of young adulthood.
Scout complains that Atticus can’t do much of everything, and Miss Maudie tries to defend Atticus (he’s a checkers grand master! he can play the Jew’s Harp!), but Scout is not impressed.
Scout goes home and builds a barricade from which to aim at Miss Maudie’s butt across the street; Atticus finds her, and gets that it’s a joke, but tells her not to aim at people anyway.
Scout asks Calpurnia about her father’s talents, and the cook is convinced that he has them, but draws a blank when asked to provide specifics.
Jem is depressed when his father refuses to join in on the town’s Methodists vs. Baptists football game and he has to stand on the sideline watching Cecil Jacobs’s father making touchdowns for the opposing side (the Baptists).
One day Jem and Scout go off exploring to see if they find any of the local wildlife to kill with their air rifles when they see Tim Johnson, a dog who belongs to Mr. Harry Johnson.
The dog’s acting kind of strange, so they run home to tell Calpurnia.
Calpurnia at first tells them to deal with it themselves, but when she sees the dog for herself she dashes for the phone to tell Atticus that there’s a mad dog on the loose.
Then she talks to Miss Eula May, the town telephone operator, to tell her to let everyone else on the street know that they should stay out of the way of the rabid animal.
The Radleys don’t have a phone, so Calpurnia runs over to their place, bangs on their front door, and when no one answers, shouts, “Mad dog’s comin’!” (10.72).
As Calpurnia sprints back to the Finch house, Atticus and Mr. Heck Tate, the sheriff, arrive.
The street is eerily quiet and empty, as its residents watch the dog’s approach silently from their windows.
The dog finally gets within range of Heck Tate’s rifle, but he wants Atticus to make the shot, because if he misses the bullet will hit the Radley Place, and Mr. Tate knows he can’t shoot that well.
Atticus says he hasn’t shot a gun in thirty years, but reluctantly takes the weapon when Mr. Tate thrusts it on him.
Jem and Scout watch as their father walks out to the middle of the street, takes aim, fires, and kills the dog.
The neighborhood residents slowly emerge from their houses now that the danger has passed, and Miss Maudie calls Atticus “One-Shot Finch” (10.122).
Jem is shocked at his father’s display of skill.
Miss Maudie tells Jem and Scout that far from being the helpless old man they thought he was, Atticus “was the deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time” and his nickname was “Ol’ One-Shot” (10.137).
Scout and Jem wonder why they’ve never heard their father talk about his shooting skill, let alone actually use it.
Miss Maudie tells them that Atticus feels that his marksmanship is a God-given talent that gives him an unfair advantage over other living creatures, and that he shouldn’t use it unless he has to.
The dog’s body is taken away by a man named Zeebo.
Scout wants to brag to everyone at school about her father’s shooting skill, but Jem tells her not to, because he thinks Atticus wouldn’t want her to, since he’s never mentioned it before.
Jem says that he wouldn’t care if Atticus couldn’t do anything, because, as he says, “Atticus is a gentleman, just like me!” (10.152).

Chapter 11

Chapter 9