Discussion Topic
Oldest Lawyer Trick in To Kill a Mockingbird
Summary:
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the "oldest lawyer trick on record" refers to Atticus Finch's method of using leading questions to reveal the truth from Jem. When Atticus catches Jem and the other children attempting to communicate with Boo Radley, he quickly questions Jem, causing him to inadvertently admit to playing a game that mocks Boo's life. This technique of confusing someone into confessing is what Atticus humorously calls the oldest lawyer's trick.
What is the "oldest lawyer trick on record" mentioned in chapter 5 of To Kill a Mockingbird?
Towards the end of chapter 5, Atticus returns home from work unexpectedly and catches Jem attempting to place a letter attached to the end of a fishing pole in the Radley's window sill. Atticus proceeds to chastise Jem and the children for continually bothering Boo Radley. After Atticus questions Jem's decision to intrude on Boo's privacy, he chastises the children for putting Boo's life on display by playing the "asinine game" in the front yard for everyone to see. Earlier, Atticus had caught Jem and the children playing the Boo Radley game in the front yard, and Jem denied that their game had anything to do with Boo. Atticus uses the "oldest lawyer’s trick on record" by assuming Jem was playing a game involving Boo and rapidly questioning his son, which essentially tricks Jem into revealing the truth about their game. Jem responds by telling Atticus,
We weren’t...
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makin' fun of him, we weren’t laughin’ at him . . . we were just (Lee, 50).
Atticus essentially catches Jem in a lie by asking him a series of leading questions in quick succession, which is the oldest lawyer trick on record. Jem is caught off guard and admits to something he denied earlier.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, how is Jem tricked by the oldest lawyer's trick?
Short answer: By getting Jem to admit to certain actions regarding Boo, Atticus backs Jem into the proverbial corner regarding his other intentions.
What occurs in Chapter 5 of To Kill a Mockingbird is foreshadowed at the end of Chapter 4 as Jem equivocates in response to Dill's asking Jem if they could continue their play at acting out Boo Radley's life after Atticus catches Jem with the scissors,
"I don't know. Atticus didn't say we couldn't--"
"Jem," I said, "I think Atticus knows it anyway."
"No he doesn't . If he did he'd say he did."I was not so sure, but Jem told me I was being a girl.
Then, in the next chapter Jem still maintains that Atticus has not specifically forbidden them to dramatize Boo's life:
...that Atticus hadn't said we couldn't, therefore we could; and if Atticus ever said we couldn't, Jem had thought of a way around it: he would simply change the names of the characters and then we couldn't be accused of playing anything.
However, Atticus the lawyer beats Jem's artifice. For, when he returns home in order to retrieve a file he has left behind (this file may have been intentionally left at home), He catches the children in the act of trying to leave a note for Boo Radley as Dill finds himself ringing his bell meant to summon Boo directly in the face of Atticus, who tells him to stop his ringing and scold Jem about "tormenting" Boo Radley. Further, he orders Jem to not play any game or ridicule anybody in their neighborhood. Jem protests,
"We weren't makin' fun of him, we weren't laughin' at him...we were just--"
But Atticus finishes Jem's sentence, "putting his life's history on display for the edification of the neighborhood." But, in his denying all else, Jem has so much as admitted to what he has done. By tricking Jem with his scolding, Atticus has caused Jem to concede the only action left, that he was exposing Boo. This is the "oldest lawyer's trick on record."
In To Kill a Mockingbird, what is "the oldest lawyer's trick" Atticus mentions?
Ironically, Chapter 5 of To Kill a Mockingbird opens with Jem's equivocations, a ploy which he again uses unsuccessfully at the end of the chapter with his father after he is caught trying to leave a note for Boo Radley. For, Scout narrates that her nagging at Jem to leave Boo alone has slowed down Jem's plots because Atticus does not approve; however, Jem maintains
...that Atticus hadn't said we couldn't, therefore we could; and if Atticus ever said we couldn't, Jem had thought of a way around it: he would simply change the names of the characters and then we couldn't be accused of playing anything.
Then, after Dill persuades Jem to place a note on Radley's window sill, the boys are suprised by the appearance of Atticus who has returned home to retrieve a file he has left in the house. He scolds his son about "tormenting" Boo Radley telling him also to not play any games or make fun of anybody in their neighborhood. When his father says this, Jem protests,
"We weren't makin' fun of him, we weren't laughin' at him...we were just--"
And Atticus finishes Jem's sentence, "putting his life's history on display for the edification of the neighborhood." For, by denying all else, Jem has so much as admitted to what he has done. By tricking Jem with his scolding, Atticus has caused Jem to concede the only action left, that he was exposing Boo. This is the "oldest lawyer's trick on record."