Mrs. Merriweather Quotes

They put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they had no sense of family – I knew that’d distress Aunty – they subjected children to terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and earworms, they chewed up and spat out the bark of a tree into a communal pot and then got drunk on it.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. Mrs. Merriweather reports to the ladies of the missionary circle about plight of the non-Christian Mruna people in Africa, said to live in terrible squalor. They women are offended by how the families are treated. This is ironical, considering how badly these women treat black people in their own community.

“Oh child, those poor Mrunas,” she said, and was off. Few other questions would be necessary.
Mrs. Merriweather’s large brown eyes always filled with tears when she considered the oppressed. “Living in that jungle with nobody but J. Grimes Everett,” she said. “Not a white person’ll go near ’em but that saintly J. Grimes Everett.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. Mrs. Merriweather feels sorry for the “oppressed” people of Africa, whom she is full of compassion for. Yet she cares little about the fate of Tom Robinson and snaps at and is condescending towards the black servents.

“There’s one thing I truly believe, Gertrude,” she continued, “but some people just don’t see it my way. If we just let them know we forgive ’em, that we’ve forgotten it, then this whole thing’ll blow over.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. Mrs. Merriweather is referring here to the black community, and their upset reaction to Tom Robinson’s trial. The injustice of Tom’s Robinson’s treatment does nothing to alter her racist attitudes. Described as “the most devout lady in Maycomb” she is also one of its greatest hypocrites.

“Gertrude, I tell you there’s nothing more distracting than a sulky darky. Their mouths go down to here. Just ruins your day to have one of them in the kitchen.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. The black people of Maycomb are upset over the outcome of Tom Robinson’s trial. Here Mrs. Merriweather uses a racial slur to Mrs. Farrow about her black maid Sophy at Aunt Alexandra’s missionary circle. Women like her don’t care that Tom Robinson is wrongly convicted and have no sympathy for the black community. Yet she hypocritically laments about the awful conditions of a tribe in Africa, promising cash and support for the missionary who is trying to Christianize them.

“Folks in this town who think they’re doing right, I mean. 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. That’s all they did. Might’ve looked like the right thing to do at the time, I’m sure I don’t know.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. Mrs. Merriweather indirectly criticizes Atticus here for his decision to defend black man Tom Robinson and insist that he have a fair trial in a southern town that doesn’t believe in equal rights for black people. A devout Methodist who leads the local mission group, Mrs. Merriweather is in reality an intolerent, judgemental and nasty woman.

“His food doesn’t stick going down, does it?”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. Miss Maudie says this sarcastically to Mrs Merriweather in defense of Atticus during Aunt Alexandra’s missionary tea. Mrs Merriweather has been subtly criticizing Atticus for being misguided in defending black man Tom Robinson. She is a hypocrite in that she criticizes Atticus without naming him, in his own house, while eating the food and refreshments he rovided for the tea party. Miss Maudie, never afraid and courageously speaking her mind, lets her know she strongly disagrees with her.

“Hypocrites, Mrs. Perkins, born hypocrites,” Mrs. Merriweather was saying. “At least we don’t have that sin on our shoulders down here. People up there set ’em free, but you don’t see ’em settin’ at the table with ’em. At least we don’t have the deceit to say to ’em yes you’re as good as we are but stay away from us. Down here we just say you live your way and we’ll live ours.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. Mrs. Merriweather brands Northerners hypocrites because they freed slaves, and yet don’t want to sit with them. She particularly singles out First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for her visit to Birmingham in support of equal rights for blacks. But Merriweather, who believes that blacks are inferior to whites and treats them that way, is one of the biggest hypocrites in town.

I learned more about the poor Mrunas’ social life from listening to Mrs. Merriweather: they had so little sense of family that the whole tribe was one big family. A child had as many fathers as there were men in the community, as many mothers as there were women. J. Grimes Everett was doing his utmost to change this state of affairs, and desperately needed our prayers.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 27. Scout reveals what she has learned about African Mruna family life from listening to the white middleclass ladies at their missionary tea meeting. Doesn’t paint a pretty picture. But they’re rather judgemental ladies full of small southern town prejudices.
Close