Transcript Braxton Bragg Underwood - Journey Through History

Owner, Editor, & Printer of the Maycomb Tribune
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

“Sole owner, editor, and printer” of the
Maycomb Tribune (147)


“He rarely gathered news; people brought it to
him. It was said that he made up every edition
of The Maycomb Tribune out of his own
head… This was believable” (148).
Lives above his office (150): Scout says that he
“covered the courthouse and jailhouse news
simply by looking out his upstairs window”
(150).

Spends his days working at the linotype
machine (147)

He drinks “from an ever-present gallon jug of
cherry wine (148).

Does not usually attend Church


On the Sunday before the trial, Scout notes
that “Even Mr. Underwood” was at church.
She goes on to say that “Mr. Underwood had
no use for any organization but The Maycomb
Tribune… Something must have been up to
haul Mr. Underwood out” (147-148).
Covers the trial of Tom Robinson
http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/Linotype
-Supersede-Typesetting9aug1890a.jpg
 Controversial
commander of the
Confederate Army in
Tennessee 1862-1863
 Also fought in the
Seminole War and
Mexican War
http://www.civilwar.org/historyclassroo
m/hc_bragg.htm
 Jeff Davis respected Bragg and appointed him
brigadier general when the Civil War broke out.
 Bragg’s troops reinforced Davis’ troops at the Battle of
Buena Vista during the Mexican War. Most American
regiments had retreated.
 Perhaps the incident mirrors Underwood’s covering
Atticus at the jail on the night the mob showed up?
 The Underwood
Typewriter Company made
the first modern
typewriter.
 The Underwood No. 5
typewriter was in
production from 1900 to
the mid-1930’s.
 Mr. Underwood is the local
newspaperman. She
names him for a writing
machine.
http://www.typewritermuseum.org/coll
ection/index.php3?machine=underwoo
d5&cat=kf
Brave
Prejudiced
Principled
 After the mob who had come to the jail to
take Tom Robinson leaves, Atticus tells Tom
that the mob will not bother him anymore.
Scout says that Mr. Underwood’s “voice cut
crisply through the night: ‘You’re damn
tootin’ they won’t.’” Scout observes that “Mr.
Underwood and his double-barreled
shotgun were leaning out his window above
the Maycomb Tribune office” (155).
http://www.johngoodenough.com/im
ages/cthulu/shotgun.JPG
 Underwood wrote an editorial in his
newspaper after Tom Robinson’s death
arguing that “it was a sin to kill cripples, be
they standing, sitting, or escaping” (241).
This viewpoint would have been unpopular
with the community.
 Atticus tells us that Mr. Underwood doesn’t like
Negroes and “won’t have one near him” (156).
 According to Atticus, “Everybody in Maycomb knows
it” (157)
 Irony: Despite his views on blacks, Mr. Underwood
was ready to defend Atticus and Tom Robinson the
night before the trial.
 Believes that mob violence is
wrong.
 After the mob leaves, he tells
Atticus, “’[h]ad you covered
all the time, Atticus. ‘”
 Believes that killing someone
who has a handicap is wrong,
regardless of the
circumstances.
 “He likened Tom’s death to
the senseless slaughter of
songbirds by hunters and
children” (241).
 A mockingbird is a symbol of
innocence.
http://www.bangitout.com/uploads/13450_mock
ingbird.jpg
Braxton Bragg: A Man of Irreconcilable Contradictions
The Civil War Preservation and Trust. March 7, 2009
<http://www.civilwar.org/historyclassroom/hc_bragg.
htm>
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Warner
Books, 1960.