In To Kill a Mockingbird, is the account the narrator provides believable? Are there incidents or observations in the book that seemed unusually...

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, one moment in which Scout as the adult narrator is evident, making Scout look very knowing for a young child, occurs in Chapter 24.In Chapter 24, Scout has acquiesced to join Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle for refreshments. According to Scout's narration, during refreshments, a couple of the members make very racist remarks. One remark that stands outis made by Mrs. Farrow, who indirectly insults...

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, one moment in which Scout as the adult narrator is evident, making Scout look very knowing for a young child, occurs in Chapter 24.

In Chapter 24, Scout has acquiesced to join Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle for refreshments. According to Scout's narration, during refreshments, a couple of the members make very racist remarks. One remark that stands out is made by Mrs. Farrow, who indirectly insults Atticus for having defended Tom Robinson:

I tell you there are some good but misguided people in this town ... Now far be it for 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. (Ch. 24)

In saying "stir 'em up," Mrs. Farrow is asserting that Atticus incited the African Americans in Maycomb to behave rebelliously.

Scout further narrates that Miss Maudie makes one brief, angry comment that is enough to shut Mrs. Farrow up. However, Scout further notes that she really hadn't been paying attention to anything that had been said:

I had lost the thread of conversation long ago, when they quit talking about Tom Robinson's wife, and had contented myself with thinking of Finch's Landing and the river. (Ch. 24)

If young Scout in actuality had not been paying attention, she would not have been able to dictate Mrs. Farrow's nor Miss Maudie's comments in such a way that that their full meaning is conveyed. Clearly, it is the adult Scout who narrated the conversation, and she did so based either on reminiscences she had about the conversation in later years with those who were present or based on points she wanted to convey about her society.