Editor's Choice
What is the purpose of the Tutti and Frutti Barber story in To Kill a Mockingbird?
Quick answer:
The Tutti and Frutti Barber story in To Kill a Mockingbird serves multiple purposes: it explains why Maycomb has a Halloween festival instead of traditional trick-or-treating, provides comic relief, and is crucial for advancing the plot. The incident with their furniture being moved by children leads the community to organize a Halloween pageant, setting the stage for Jem and Scout's night-time walk home and subsequent attack by Bob Ewell, which is pivotal to the climax where Boo Radley saves them.
As was mentioned in the previous post, Harper Lee tells the humorous story of Mrs. Tutti and Frutti Barber to explain why Maycomb is having a Halloween festival. Their story also offers comic relief before the suspenseful attack. It is significant to the plot of the story that Jem and Scout walk alone to a given destination so that Bob Ewell has an opportunity to attack them. The Maycomb Halloween festival becomes integral to the plot of the story because Harper Lee needed to justify why the community chose to celebrate Halloween in a non-traditional manner. The harmless prank that involved Mrs. Tutti and Frutti Barber's furniture being moved to their basement is the reason the ladies of Maycomb decided to have a Halloween festival. During the Halloween festival, Scout participates in a pageant where she accidentally walks onto the stage at the wrong time. Following the Halloween festival, Jem...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
and Scout are attacked by Bob Ewell. Fortunately,Boo Radley intervenes and saves their lives.
The Miss Tutti and Frutti Barber episode is mainly used as comic relief and as a way for Harper Lee to explain why there is a Halloween pageant and not the normal trick-or-treating taking place in Maycomb. The two spinster sisters are known for being a little eccentric (hence the nicknames Tutti and Frutti) compared to other people in Maycomb. They are not born and bred “Maycomb-ites” (Maycombians?) but moved to Maycomb from northern Alabama. They are best known for building a cellar in their house and having to chase the neighborhood children out of it. The Halloween before the pageant, children snuck into their house and put all of their furniture in the basement. The Barber sisters blamed a traveling fur salesman, a “Syrian”, for doing it. Heck Tate brings in the bloodhounds to find the culprits and sees that all the neighborhood children are wearing their shoes to not give off a scent for the bloodhounds.
Tutti and Frutti are just examples of a couple of outsiders who are considered “different” by the population. They are there for our comic enjoyment and to give us another glimpse of life in Maycomb.
The story of two sisters, Miss Tutti and Miss Frutti Barber, was used to explain why the Halloween festivities were being held at the school this year. Everything changed after the incident involving the sisters:
Until then, Halloween in Maycomb was a completely unorganized affair. Each child did what he wanted to do, with assistance from other children if there was anything to be moved, such as placing a light buggy on top of the livery stable. But parents thought things went too far last year, when the peace of Miss Tutti and Miss Frutti was shattered (Chapter 27).
The previous year, some mischievous local children snuck into the house of the Barber sisters on Halloween. The sisters were both deaf, so they did not hear when the children walked around the downstairs of their house and moved all the furniture down to the cellar. The children thought it was a delightful Halloween prank. The sisters later awoke to discover their furniture was missing. It took some time before they realized it was hidden in their own cellar. This trouble caused by the children motivated some local Maycomb ladies to plan an organized event to keep the young people busy on Halloween night.