To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 12 Summary

Jem’s hit the middle school years, and everyone knows what that means: he’s angsty, moody, prone to prolonged silences broken by angry outbursts, and thinks Scout should act like a girl.
Scout asks Atticus and Calpurnia what’s up with Jem and whether she can fix it by beating him up, but they say he’s just growing up and she should leave him alone.
Scout decides to hang out with Calpurnia till Dill arrives in Maycomb for the summer, but she gets a letter that Dill’s spending some quality time boat-building with his dad, and he’s not coming to Maycomb.
Scout misses Dill horribly – it’s not summer without him.
To make things worse, Atticus (who’s a member of the state legislature) gets called into a special session and is away for two weeks.
With Atticus away, Calpurnia doesn’t trust Jem and Scout to go to church by themselves (there was a past incident involving tying up one of their Sunday School classmates in the furnace room), and decides to take them with her to her church instead.
On Saturday night, Cal scrubs Scout down to her bare skin, and even looks in on an embarrassed Jem’s bath.
Calpurnia also makes sure that there’s not a thread out of place on the kids’ clothes.
When Jem asks her why she’s being so obsessive about their appearances, she says “I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after my children” (12.31).
On Sunday, they head over to First Purchase African M.E. Church outside of town.
When the Finch kids arrive with Calpurnia, all the men and women already there greet them with respect.
All, that is, except one – a tall woman named Lula who asks Calpurnia why she’s brought white children to the African-American church.
Jem and Scout feel that they’re not wanted, but the crowd, which for a moment seems menacing, drives off Lula and one says that they’re glad to have the Finches at their church.
They enter the church building, which seems plain and ill-equipped compared to their regular church.
Calpurnia insists on giving Jem and Scout a dime each for the collection, which allows them to keep the dimes Atticus had left them for that purpose.
Scout asks where the hymn-books are, and Cal says they don’t have any, but hushes Scout before she can ask any more questions.
The priest, Reverend Sykes, begins the service by welcoming the Finches, and then reads some announcements.
One of the announcements is that the day’s collection will go to Helen, Tom Robinson’s wife.
Zeebo leads the congregation in a hymn by reading out each line of the lyrics, which everyone else sings after him, surprising both Scout and Jem, who had never heard of such a thing before.
Reverend Sykes gives a sermon, which like that of the Finches’ usual preacher, focuses on “the Impurity of Women” (12.79).
Contrary to the Finches’ usual church experience, the Reverend names names as to who’s been sinning lately, and tells them individually to cut it out.
After the collection, Jem and Scout are again surprised when Reverend Sykes counts the collection money in front of everyone and then announces they don’t have enough – they need at least ten dollars to get Helen and her family through the week.
The Reverend goes so far as to lock the doors and hold the congregation hostage until they cough up enough cash.
Jem and Scout put in their dimes from Atticus.
Once the ten dollars is finally collected, the doors are opened and the service is over.
Jem and Scout chat with Reverend Sykes, and Scout tries to restrain her curiosity, but can’t help asking questions.
Scout asks the Reverend why Helen’s having difficulty finding work, but Calpurnia interrupts before he has a chance to answer.
Scout asks Calpurnia the same questions, and she says that because of what people say that Tom’s done, his family is being shunned.
Scout presses Calpurnia to tell her what Tom did, and Cal reluctantly tells her that Bob Ewell has accused him of raping Ewell’s daughter.
Scout remembers the Ewells’ reputation and wonders why anyone would listen to them, and then asks Calpurnia what rape is, but Cal says she should ask Atticus.
Jem asks why the congregation sings their hymns the way they do, instead of saving up for hymn-books.
Cal says that hymn-books wouldn’t do them much good – hardly any people in the church can read.
Cal’s one of the few literate ones, as Miss Maudie’s aunt, Miss Buford, taught her to read.
Jem and Scout ask Cal questions about herself, and learn that she’s older than Atticus though she doesn’t know her age exactly, or even her birthday – she just celebrates it on Christmas to make it easy to remember.
Cal grew up near Finches’ Landing, and moved to Maycomb with Atticus when he married.
Cal taught Zeebo to read as well, and we find out that Zeebo is her eldest son.
To teach her son she used the Bible and a book Miss Buford used to teach her – Blackstone’s Commentaries, a gift from the Finch kids’ grandfather.
Jem’s shocked that she’s learned and taught English out of such a difficult book as the Commentaries, and says that that must be why she doesn’t talk like the other African-Americans he knows.
Scout thinks with wonder that Calpurnia has a whole other life besides being their cook, much like a child realizing that teachers don’t sleep at school.
Jem asks why Cal talked differently at the African-American church than she does with white people, and she says that it makes more sense to fit in.
Scout asks if she can visit Calpurnia at her home some time, and Cal says yes.
They arrive home to find Aunt Alexandra installed on their front porch.

Chapter 13

Chapter 11