- This chapter begins Part VII.
- Jean Louise is upset that her father didn't even fight her fairly.
- She returns home to pack. Even though she scheduled ten more days with her family, she wants to leave.
- Aunt Alexandra tries to stop her, but Jean Louise yells at her too.
- She calls her "pompous" and "narrow-minded" (18.18).
- Aunt Alexandra cries, and Jean Louise apologizes. "I'm not much of a lady, Aunty, but you are" (18.22).
- Strangely, Alexandra turns this around to a compliment for Jean Louise, telling her, "You're mistaken, Jean Louise, if you think you're no lady" (18.23).
- Wow. We didn't saw that coming.
- As Jean Louise is packing the car, Dr. Finch, her uncle, arrives to stop her from leaving.
- Nothing can stop Jean Louise, though. She tells her uncle she's sick of her whole family, and tells him to leave her alone.
- So...he hits her.
- He backhands her so hard, she almost passes out. And she spits blood.
- What.
- When the dizziness goes away, Jean Louise lets her uncle lead her inside.
- After giving her some whiskey for the pain, he tells her that Atticus called him and told everything.
- He tries to explain Atticus's behavior.
- He says "every man's watchman is his conscience" (18.89) and that it was important for her to realize that her watchman is her own—not her father's.
- And it's painful to separate the two.
- Then he tells her she is very much like her father...except she's "a bigot and he's not" (18.107).
- Jean Louise says, "I beg your pardon?" (18.108), which is 1950s slang for "WTF?!"
- He explains that she's a bigot because she refuses to listen and give in to Atticus's racist opinions.
- Uhhh…
- They argue a bit, and Jean Louise calls both Uncle Jack and Atticus crazy.
- He tells Jean Louise that she's "color blind" (18.137), unable to see race. (He thinks that's a bad thing.)
- Don't worry, Uncle Jack. Jean Louise assures him she won't "run out and marry a Negro or something" (18.138).
- He tells her that interracial marriage isn't something they should be scared of.
- Not because it isn't scary, but because it'll never actually happen, so they shouldn't fear.
- (Aren't you glad you don't live in the 1950s, btw?)
- Uncle Jack finally suggests that Jean Louise move back to Maycomb. Maycomb needs her.
- Um, to argue with everyone? We're not sure what he's getting at.
- She says she can't live in a pace that doesn't agree with her.
- He says, "the time your friends need you is when they're wrong, Jean Louise" (18.169).
- Erm—is he on her side or not?
- They part ways, but not before Uncle Jack, apropos of nothing, reveals he was in love with Jean Louise's mother.
- Um, thanks for sharing?