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In To Kill a Mockingbird, who is Mrs. Merriweather referring to as "good but misguided people"?
Quick answer:
Mrs. Merriweather is referring to Atticus Finch as one of the "good but misguided people" in To Kill a Mockingbird. She criticizes him indirectly for defending Tom Robinson, believing that his actions only serve to stir up trouble in the community. Her comments reflect her prejudice against African Americans and her disapproval of those who advocate for their equal treatment.
Mrs. Merriweather is actually referring to any citizens (particularly white) who help African-American citizens. She is specifically referring to the trial. According to her way of thinking, anyone who raises the hopes of African-Americans by supposing that they should get fair trials and be treated as equals with the whites is doing nothing but "stirring them up." By this she means, they are just antagonizing the black citizens by offering them false hope. Mrs. Merriweather adds:
Now far be it from me to say who, but some of ‘em in this town thought they were doing the right thing a while back, but all they did was stir ’em up.
This being said, Mrs. Merriweather is also referring to Atticus as one of those "good but misguided people" since he is the one who represented Tom Robinson and was Tom's best chance at the trial. Mrs. Merriweather is strikingly hypocritical....
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She claims to support better lives for the Mrunas but she doesn't support equality for the black citizens of Maycomb.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the missionary circle
meeting in Chapter 24 to expose the hypocrisies of
many Christians in Maycomb. She does so by having the ladies
at the meeting speak passionately about the needs of poor African tribes while
also slandering African Americans in their own hometown. Characters like Mrs.
Farrow speak of the prejudiced beliefs that all African Americans are immoral
and inferior. Since people like Mrs. Farrow hold such beliefs, the same people
also believe that Atticus made the wrong choice when he
decided to put his all into defending Tom Robinson. Hence, when Mrs.
Merriweather speaks of "good but misguided people," she is
speaking of Atticus.
In Mrs. Merriweather's view, Atticus is a good person because
he upholds his principles. In saying, "Might've looked like the right thing to
do at the time," she is saying that she acknowledges Atticus tried to uphold
his principles by doing what all good defense lawyers should do--defend a
client. However, she also feels he made the wrong decision
because the only thing his efforts accomplish was "stir 'em up," meaning make
the African-American community aware of and protest against the social
injustices heaped upon them. However, people like Mrs. Merriweather do not see
mistreatment as social injustices; instead, she sees African Americans as being
put in their rightful place of subordination. Therefore, she sees their
protests as being nothing more than sulking and
grumbling, as we see when she says, "[S]ulky ... dissatisfied ... I
tell you if my Sophy'd kept it up another day I'd have let her go" (Ch.
24).
Hence, in her speech in Chapter 24, Mrs. Merriweather is accusing
Atticus of having made a wrongful decision that led
to nothing but trouble in the town because the African Americans began sulking,
grumbling, and complaining about their treatment.