document_title: The Ten Commandments (1956 film)

question_text: who played the king in the ten commandments

text: The Ten Commandments (1956 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Pharaoh Rameses I of Egypt orders the death of all firstborn Hebrew males. Yoshebel saves her infant son by setting him adrift in a basket on the Nile. Bithiah, the Pharaoh's daughter, finds the basket and decides to adopt the boy even though her servant, Memnet, recognizes the child is Hebrew. Bithiah names the baby Moses.

text: Prince Moses grows up to become a successful general, winning a war with Ethiopia and establishing an alliance. Moses and princess Nefretiri fall in love, but she must marry the next Pharaoh. While working on the building of a city for Pharaoh Sethi's jubilee, Moses meets the stonecutter Joshua, who tells him of the Hebrew God. Moses saves an elderly woman from being crushed, and he reprimands the taskmaster and overseer Baka. Moses does not know that the woman is his biological mother, Yoshebel.

text: Moses reforms the treatment of slaves on the project, but Prince Rameses, Moses's adoptive brother, charges him with planning an insurrection. Moses says he is making his workers more productive. Rameses wonders if Moses is the man the Hebrews are calling the Deliverer.

text: Nefretiri learns from Memnet that Moses is the son of Hebrew slaves. She kills Memnet but reveals the story to Moses only after he finds the piece of Levite cloth he was wrapped in as a baby, which Memnet had kept. Moses follows Bithiah to Yoshebel's house where he meets his birth mother and family.

text: Moses learns more about the slaves by working with them. Nefretiri urges him to return to the palace so he may help his people when he becomes pharaoh, to which he agrees after he completes a final task. Moses saves Joshua from death by choking Baka to death while also breaking the latter's neck in the process, telling Joshua that he too is Hebrew. The confession is witnessed by the overseer Dathan. Dathan tells Rameses, who then arrests Moses. Moses explains that he is not the Deliverer, but would free the slaves if he could. Rameses is declared the next Pharaoh. Rameses banishes Moses to the desert.

text: Moses makes his way across the desert to a well in Midian. After defending seven sisters from Amalekites, Moses is housed with the girls' father Jethro, a Bedouin sheik, who worships the God of Abraham. Moses marries Jethro's eldest daughter Sephora.

text: Moses finds Joshua, who has escaped hard labor. Moses sees the burning bush on the summit of Mount Sinai and hears the voice of God. Moses returns to Egypt to free the Hebrews.

text: Moses comes before Rameses, now pharaoh, to win the slaves' freedom, turning his staff into a cobra. Jannes performs the same trick with his staves, but Moses's snake is superior. Rameses prohibits straw from being provided to the Hebrews to make their bricks. Nefretiri rescues Moses from being stoned to death by the Hebrews. He tells her he is married.

text: Egypt is visited by plagues. Moses turns the river Nile to blood at a festival of Khnum and brings burning hail down upon Pharaoh's palace. Moses warns him the next plague to fall upon Egypt will be summoned by Pharaoh himself. Enraged at the plagues, Rameses orders all first-born Hebrews to die. Instead, a cloud of death kills all the firstborn of Egypt, including the child of Rameses and Nefretiri. Angrily, Pharaoh exiles the Hebrews, which begins the Exodus from Egypt.

text: Rameses takes his army and pursues the Hebrews to the Red Sea. Moses uses God's help to stop the Egyptians with a pillar of fire. Moses parts the Red Sea and the Hebrews struggle toward the other side. Moses releases the walls of water, drowning the Egyptian army. Rameses returns empty-handed to Nefretiri, telling her, "His god is God".

text: Moses again ascends the mountain with Joshua. Impatiently, Dathan urges the Hebrews to construct a golden calf idol as a gift for Rameses. A wild and decadent orgy is held by most of the Hebrews.

text: Moses sees the Ten Commandments created by God in two stone tablets. Moses descends from the mountain to the sight of decadence. He throws the tablets at the golden calf, which explodes, killing the wicked revelers.

text: Forty years later, an elderly Moses leads the Hebrews to Canaan. He names Joshua as leader, and walks alone out of Israel.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Charlton Heston as Moses and the voice of God at the Burning Bush

Fraser Heston as The Infant Moses

Yul Brynner as Rameses II
Anne Baxter as Nefretiri
Edward G. Robinson as Dathan
Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora
Debra Paget as Lilia
John Derek as Joshua
Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi
Nina Foch as Bithiah
Martha Scott as Yochabel
Judith Anderson as Memnet
Vincent Price as Baka
John Carradine as Aaron
Olive Deering as Miriam
Douglass Dumbrille as Jannes
Frank de Kova as Abiram
Henry Wilcoxon as Pentaur
Eduard Franz as Jethro
Donald Curtis as Mered
Lawrence Dobkin as Caleb
H. B. Warner as Amminadab
Julia Faye as Elisheba
Lisa Mitchell as Jethro's daughter (Lulua)
Noelle Williams as Jethro's daughter
Joanna Merlin as Jethro's daughter
Pat Richard as Jethro's daughter
Joyce Vanderveen as Jethro's daughter
Diane Hall as Jethro's daughter
John Miljan as The Blind One
Francis J. McDonald as Simon
Ian Keith as Rameses I
Paul De Rolf as Eleazar
Woodrow Strode as King of Ethiopia
Tommy Duran as Gershom
Eugene Mazzola as Rameses' Son, Amun
Ramsay Hill as Korah
Joan Woodbury as Korah's Wife
Esther Brown as Princess Tharbis
Babette Bain as Little Miriam[13]

text: Production[edit]

text: Writing[edit]

text: The final shooting script was written by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse L. Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss, and Fredric M. Frank.[14] It also contained material from the books Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Pillar of Fire by Joseph Holt Ingraham, and On Eagle's Wings by Arthur Eustace Southon.[15] Henry Noerdlinger, the film's researcher, consulted ancient historical texts such as the Midrash Rabbah, Philo's Life of Moses, and the writings of Josephus and Eusebius in order to "fill in" the missing years of Moses' life,[15] and as the film's last opening title card states, "the Holy Scriptures."

text: Casting[edit]

text: Charlton Heston, who had previously worked with DeMille in The Greatest Show on Earth, won the part of Moses after he impressed DeMille (at his audition) with his knowledge of ancient Egypt. Interestingly enough, William Boyd, DeMille's first choice to be auditioned to be Moses in the film, refused the part. Heston was also chosen to be the voice of God in the form of a burning bush, toned down to a softer and lower register.[citation needed]

text: Heston's newborn son, Fraser (born February 12, 1955), was cast by DeMille (on the suggestion of Henry Wilcoxon, who said to him "The timing's just right. If it's a boy, who better to play the Baby Moses?") as soon as Heston announced to DeMille that his wife Lydia was pregnant.[16] Fraser Heston was three months old during filming.[17]

text: The part of Nefretiri, the Egyptian throne princess, was considered "the most sought after role of the year" in 1954.[18] Ann Blyth, Vanessa Brown, Joan Evans, Rhonda Fleming, Coleen Gray, Jane Griffiths, Audrey Hepburn, Jean Marie, Vivien Leigh, Jane Russell, and Joan Taylor were considered for the part.[19] DeMille liked Audrey Hepburn but dismissed her because of her figure, which was considered too slim for the character's Egyptian gowns.[20] Anne Baxter (who was considered for the part of Moses' wife) was cast in the role.[21]

text: Judith Ames, Anne Bancroft, Anne Baxter, Shirley Booth, Diane Brewster, Peggie Castle, June Clayworth, Linda Darnell, Laura Elliot, Rhonda Fleming, Rita Gam, Grace Kelly, Jacqueline Green, Barbara Hale, Allison Hayes, Frances Lansing, Patricia Neal, Marie Palmer, Jean Peters, Ruth Roman, Barbara Rush, and Elizabeth Sellers were considered for the part of Sephora.[22] Grace Kelly, DeMille's first choice, was unavailable.[22] DeMille was "very much impressed" with Yvonne De Carlo's performance as a "saintly type of woman" in MGM's Sombrero.[23][24] He "sensed in her a depth, an emotional power, a womanly strength which the part of Sephora needed and which she gave it."[25] Sephora is the Douay–Rheims version of the name of Zipporah.[26]

text: Merle Oberon and Claudette Colbert were considered for the role of Bithiah before DeMille chose Jayne Meadows (who declined) and finally cast Nina Foch, on the suggestion of Henry Wilcoxon, who had worked with her in Scaramouche.[27]

text: For the role of Memnet, Flora Robson was considered and Bette Davis was interviewed (DeMille's casting journal also notes Marjorie Rambeau and Marie Windsor)[28] but DeMille chose Judith Anderson after screening Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca.[27]

text: Henry Wilcoxon's wife Joan Woodbury was cast as Korah's wife in the Golden Calf sequence.[29]

text: DeMille was reluctant to cast anyone who had appeared in 20th Century Fox's The Egyptian,[30] a rival production at the time.[31] Several exceptions to this are the casting of John Carradine and Mimi Gibson (in credited supporting roles) and Michael Ansara and Peter Coe (in uncredited minor roles), who appeared in both films.

text: For the Large Crowd shots, at least 14,000 extras and 15,000 animals were used while filming this movie.[32]

text: Art direction[edit]

text: Commentary for the film's DVD edition chronicles the historical research done by DeMille and associates. Katherine Orrison says that many details of Moses' life left out of the Bible are present in the Quran, which was sometimes used as a source. She also presents some coincidences in production. The man who designed Moses' distinctive rust-white-and-black-striped robe used those colors because they looked impressive, and only later discovered that these are the actual colors of the Tribe of Levi. Arnold Friberg would later state that he was the one who designed Moses' costume. As a gift, after the production, DeMille gave Moses' robe to Friberg, who had it in his possession until his death in 2010. Moses' robe as worn by Charlton Heston was hand-woven by Dorothea Hulse, one of the world's finest weavers. She also created costumes for The Robe, as well as textiles and costume fabrics for Samson and Delilah, David and Bathsheba, and others.

text: Jesse Lasky Jr., a co-writer on The Ten Commandments, described how DeMille would customarily spread out prints of paintings by Lawrence Alma-Tadema to inform his set designers on the look he wanted to achieve. Arnold Friberg, in addition to designing sets and costumes, also contributed the manner in which Moses ordained Joshua to his mission at the end of the film: by the laying on of hands, placing his hands on Joshua's head. Friberg, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, demonstrated the LDS manner of performing such ordinations, and DeMille liked it.

text: Pharaoh is usually shown wearing the red-and-white crown of Upper and Lower Egypt or the nemes royal headdress. For his pursuit of the Israelites, he wears the blue Khepresh helmet-crown, which the pharaohs wore for battle.

text: Sets, costumes and props from the film The Egyptian were bought and re-used for The Ten Commandments. As the events in The Egyptian take place 70 years before the reign of Rameses II, an unintentional sense of continuity was created.

text: An Egyptian wall painting was also the source for the lively dance performed by a circle of young women at Seti's birthday gala. Their movements and costumes are based on art from the Tomb of the Sixth Dynasty Grand Vizier Mehu.[33] Some of the film's cast members, such as Baxter, Paget, Derek, and Foch, wore brown contact lenses, at the behest of DeMille, in order to conceal their light-colored eyes which were considered inadequate for their roles.[34] Paget once said that, "If it hadn't been for the lenses I wouldn't have got the part."[34] However, she also said that the lenses were "awful to work in because the kleig lights heat them up".[34] When DeMille cast Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, she was worried about having to wear these contact lenses; she also believed that her gray eyes were her best feature.[35] She asked DeMille to make an exception for her. He agreed, expressing the idea that De Carlo's role was special, and that Moses was to fall in love with her.[35]

text: Special effects[edit]

text: The special photographic effects in The Ten Commandments were created by John P. Fulton, A.S.C. (who received an Academy Award for his effects in the film), head of the special effects department at Paramount Pictures, assisted by Paul Lerpae, A.S.C. in Optical Photography (blue screen "travelling matte" composites) and Farciot Edouart, A.S.C., in Process Photography (rear projection effects).[36] Fulton’s effects included the building of Sethi’s Jubilee treasure city, the Burning Bush, the fiery hail from a cloudless sky, the Angel of Death, the composites of the Exodus, the Pillar of Fire, the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the tour de force, the parting of the Red Sea.[37] The parting of the Red Sea was considered the most difficult special effect ever performed up to that time.[37] This effect took about six months of VistaVision filming, and combined scenes shot on the shores of the Red Sea in Egypt, with scenes filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood of a huge water tank split by a U-shaped trough, into which approximately 360,000 gallons of water were released from the sides, as well as the filming of a giant waterfall also built on the Paramount backlot to create the effect of the walls of the parted sea out of the turbulent backwash.[38] All of the multiple elements of the shot were then combined in Paul Lerpae's optical printer, and matte paintings of rocks by Jan Domela concealed the matte lines between the real elements and the special effects elements.[39] Unlike the technique used by ILM for Raiders of the Lost Ark and Poltergeist of injecting poster paints into a glass tank containing a salt water inversion layer, the cloud effects for The Ten Commandments were formed with white Britt smoke filmed against a translucent sky backing, and colors were added optically.[40] Striking portraits of Charlton Heston as Moses and three women in front of menacing clouds were photographed by Wallace Kelly, A.S.C. in Farciot Edouart’s process (rear projection) department, in what are still considered unforgettable scenes.[40] DeMille used these scenes to break up the montage, framing his subjects like a Renaissance master.[40] An abundance of blue screen spillage or "bleeding" can be seen, particularly at the top of the superimposed walls of water, but rather than detracting from the shot, this (unintentionally) gives the scene an eerie yet spectacular appearance. The parting of the Red Sea sequence is considered by many to be one of the greatest special effects of all time.[41]

text: DeMille was reluctant to discuss technical details of how the film was made, especially the optical tricks used in the parting of the Red Sea. It was eventually revealed that footage of the Red Sea was spliced with film footage (run in reverse) of water pouring from large U-shaped trip-tanks set up in the studio backlot.[42][43][44]

text: Music[edit]

text: The score for The Ten Commandments was composed and conducted by Elmer Bernstein. Initially, DeMille hired Bernstein, then a relatively unknown film composer, to write and record only the diegetic music required for the film's dance sequences and other onscreen musical passages, with the intention of employing frequent collaborator Victor Young to write the score proper. However, Young turned down the assignment due to his own failing health, causing DeMille to hire Bernstein to write the underscore as well.[45]

text: In total, Bernstein composed two and a half hours of music for the film, writing for a full symphony orchestra augmented with various ethnic and unusual instruments such as the shofar, the tiple, and the theremin. The score is written in a highly Romantic style, featuring unique musical leitmotifs for the film's characters (God, Moses, Rameses, Nefretiri, etc.) used in a manner inspired, at DeMille's direction, by the opera scores of Richard Wagner.[45] Bernstein recorded both the diegetic music and the score at the Paramount Studios Recording Stage in sessions spread from April 1955 to August 1956.[46]

text: A double-LP monaural soundtrack album was released in 1957 by Dot Records, utilizing excerpts from the original film recordings. A stereo version of the 1957 album was released in 1960 containing new recordings conducted by Bernstein, as the original film recordings, while recorded in three-channel stereo, were not properly balanced for an LP stereo release, as the intent at the time of recording had been to mix the film masters to mono for the film soundtrack itself; this recording was later issued on CD by MCA Classics in 1989. For the film's tenth anniversary, United Artists Records released a second stereo re-recording in 1966, also conducted by Bernstein and employing different orchestral arrangements unique to this release.[47]

text: For the film's 60th anniversary, Intrada Records released a six-CD album of the score in 2016. The Intrada release contains the complete two and a half hour score as originally recorded by Bernstein, with much of it remixed in true stereo for the first time. In addition, the 2016 release contains all the diegetic music recorded for the film, the original 1957 Dot album (in mono), the 1960 Dot album (in stereo), and the 1966 United Artists album, as well a 12-minute recording of Bernstein auditioning his thematic ideas for DeMille on the piano.

text: Release[edit]

text: Cecil B. DeMille promoted the film by placing Ten Commandment monuments as a publicity stunt for the film in cities across the United States.[48] The Ten Commandments premiered at New York City's Criterion Theatre on November 8, 1956.[49] Among those who attended the premiere were Cecil B. DeMille and his daughter Cecilia DeMille Harper, Charlton Heston and his wife Lydia Clarke, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo and her husband Bob Morgan, Martha Scott and her husband and son, John Wayne and his wife Pilar Pallete, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and Barney Balaban. It played on a roadshow basis with reserved seating until mid-1958, when it finally entered general release.[50] It was re-released in 1966 and 1972, and one more time in 1989. The 1972 and 1989 re-issues included 70mm and 35mm prints that reframed the picture's aspect ratio to 2.20:1 and 2.35:1, respectively, cropping the top and bottom of the picture's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.[51] The Ten Commandments was released on DVD on March 30, 1999; March 9, 2004, as a Special Collector's Edition; and March 29, 2011, as a Special edition and Standard edition.[52]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Ten Commandments was the highest-grossing film of 1956 and the second most successful film of the decade. By April 1957, the film had earned an unprecedented $10 million from engagements at just eighty theaters, averaging about $1 million per week, with more than seven million people paying to watch it.[50] During its initial release, it earned theater rentals (the distributor's share of the box office gross) of $31.3 million in North America and $23.9 million from the foreign markets, for a total of $55.2 million (equating to approximately $122.7 million in ticket sales).[3] It was hugely profitable for its era, earning a net profit of $18,500,000,[53] against a production budget of $13.27 million (the most a film had cost up to that point).[2]

text: By the time of its withdrawal from distribution at the end of 1960, The Ten Commandments had overtaken Gone with the Wind at the box office in the North American territory,[54] and mounted a serious challenge in the global market—the worldwide takings for Gone with the Wind were reported to stand at $59 million at the time.[55] Gone with the Wind would be re-released the following year as part of the American Civil War Centennial, and reasserted its supremacy at the box office by reclaiming the US record.[54] Also at this time, Ben-Hur—another biblical epic starring Charlton Heston released at the end of 1959—would go on to eclipse The Ten Commandments at the box office.[3][56] A 1966 reissue earned $6,000,000,[57] and further re-releases brought the total American theater rentals to $43 million,[58][59] equivalent to gross ticket sales of $89 million at the box office.[51] Globally, it ultimately collected $90,066,230 in revenues up to 1979.[60]

text: It remains one of the most popular films ever made. Adjusted for inflation, it has earned a box office gross equivalent to $2 billion at 2011 prices, according to Guinness World Records; only Gone with the Wind (1939), Avatar (2009), Star Wars (1977), Titanic (1997), The Sound of Music (1965), and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) have generated higher grosses in constant dollars.[61]

text: Critical response[edit]

text:
As Mr. DeMille presents it in this three-hour-and-thirty-nine-minute film, which is by far the largest and most expensive that he has ever made, it is a moving story of the spirit of freedom rising in a man, under the divine inspiration of his Maker. And, as such, it strikes a ringing note today.

Bosley Crowther for The New York Times[62]

tag: div

text: The Ten Commandments received generally positive reviews after its release, although some reviewers noted its divergence from the biblical text. Bosley Crowther for The New York Times was among those who lauded DeMille's work, acknowledging that "in its remarkable settings and décor, including an overwhelming facade of the Egyptian city from which the Exodus begins, and in the glowing Technicolor in which the picture is filmed—Mr. DeMille has worked photographic wonders."[62] Variety described the "scenes of the greatness that was Egypt, and Hebrews by the thousands under the whip of the taskmasters" as "striking," and believed that the film "hits the peak of beauty with a sequence that is unelaborate, this being the Passover supper wherein Moses is shown with his family while the shadow of death falls on Egyptian first-borns."[63]

text: The film's cast was also complimented. Variety called Charlton Heston an "adaptable performer" who, as Moses, reveals "inner glow as he is called by God to remove the chains of slavery that hold his people."[63] It considered Yul Brynner "expert" as Rameses, too.[63] Anne Baxter's performance as Nefretiri was criticized by Variety as leaning "close to old-school siren histrionics,"[63] but Crowther believed that it, along with Brynner's, is "unquestionably apt and complementary to a lusty and melodramatic romance."[62] The performances of Yvonne De Carlo and John Derek were acclaimed by Crowther as "notably good."[62] He also commended the film's "large cast of characters" as "very good, from Sir Cedric Hardwicke as a droll and urbane Pharaoh to Edward G. Robinson as a treacherous overlord."[62]

text: Leonard Maltin, a contemporary film critic, gave the film four out of four stars and described it as "vivid storytelling at its best... parting of the Red Sea, writing of the holy tablets are unforgettable highlights."[64]

text: Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected 33 reviews and gave the film a rating of 94% "Certified fresh" approval rating, with an average rating of 7.5/10 and the site's consensus stating: "Bombastic and occasionally silly but extravagantly entertaining, Cecil B. DeMille's all-star spectacular is a muscular retelling of the great Bible story."[65]

text: Camille Paglia has called The Ten Commandments one of the ten greatest films of all time.[66]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: The Ten Commandments won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects (John P. Fulton).[67] It was also nominated for Best Color Art Direction (art directors Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, and Albert Nozaki and set decorators Sam Comer and Ray Moyer), Best Color Cinematography (Loyal Griggs), Best Color Costume Design (Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins, and Arnold Friberg), Best Film Editing (Anne Bauchens), Best Motion Picture (Cecil B. DeMille) and Best Sound Recording (Paramount Studio Sound Department and sound director Loren L. Ryder).[67] Paramount submitted the names of Yvonne De Carlo, John Derek, and Debra Paget for the supporting player categories (even though they received star billing in the film) at the 29th Academy Awards,[68] but the actors did not receive nominations.

text: Charlton Heston's performance as Moses was ranked as the 4th Best Performance by a Male Star of 1956 by The Film Daily's Filmdom's Famous Five Poll.[69] Heston was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama[70] and later won the Fotograma de Plata Award for Best Foreign Performer in 1959.[71]

text: Yul Brynner won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his performance as Rameses.[72]

text: Cecil B. DeMille won many special awards for the film. He received, among others, the Los Angeles Examiner Award,[73] the Boxoffice Blue Ribbon Award for the Best Picture of the Month (January 1957),[74] the Photoplay Achievement Award,[73] and The Christian Herald's Reader's Award for the Picture of the Year (1957).[73]

text: The Maryland State Council of the American Jewish Congress awarded the Stephen S. Wise Medallion to DeMille for "most inspiring film of the year."[73][75] Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, and Martha Scott also received awards for their acting.[75][76][77]

text: The film was also included in several of the annual top ten film lists, such as those featured in The Film Daily and Photoplay.[73]

text: The American Film Institute included the film as #10 in the epic film category in AFI's 10 Top 10, #79 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers, and named Moses as the #43 hero in AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains.

text: Popularity[edit]

text: Critics have argued that considerable liberties were taken with the biblical story of Exodus, compromising the film's claim to authenticity, but neither this nor its nearly four-hour length has had any effect on its popularity. In fact, many of the supposed inaccuracies were actually adopted by DeMille from extra-biblical ancient sources, such as Josephus, the Sepher ha-Yashar, and the Chronicle of Moses. Moses's career in Ethiopia, for instance, is based on ancient midrashim.[78] For decades, a showing of The Ten Commandments was a popular fundraiser among revivalist Christian Churches, while the film was equally treasured by film buffs for DeMille's "cast of thousands" approach and the heroic but antiquated early-talkie-type acting.

text: Home media[edit]

text: The Ten Commandments has been released on DVD in the United States on four occasions: the first edition (Widescreen Collection) was released on March 30, 1999 as a two-disc set,[79] the second edition (Special Collector's Edition) was released on March 9, 2004, as a two-disc set with commentary by Katherine Orrison,[80] the third edition (50th Anniversary Collection) was released on March 21, 2006 as a three-disc set with the 1923 version and special features,[81] and the fourth edition (55th Anniversary Edition) was released on DVD again in a two-disc set on March 29, 2011, and for the first time on Blu-ray in a two-disc set and a six-disc limited edition gift set with the 1923 version and DVD copies.[82] In 2012, the limited edition gift set won the Home Media Award for Best Packaging (Paramount Pictures and JohnsByrne).[83]

text: Television broadcast[edit]

text: With the exception of 1999,[84] The Ten Commandments has been broadcast annually on the ABC network since 1973, traditionally during the Passover and Easter holidays. Since 2006 the network has typically aired The Ten Commandments on the Saturday night prior to Easter, with the broadcast starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific Time Zones and 6:00 p.m. Central and Mountain. The film is the only pre-scheduled ABC Saturday Movie of the Week of the year.

text: Unlike many lengthy films of the day, which were usually broken up into separate airings over at least two nights, ABC elected to show The Ten Commandments in one night and has done so every year it has carried the film, with one exception; in 1997, ABC elected to split the movie in two and aired half of it in its normal Easter Sunday slot, which that year was March 30, with the second half airing on Monday, March 31 as counterprogramming to the other networks' offerings, which included CBS' coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game.[85]

text: The length of the film combined with the necessary advertisement breaks has caused its broadcast window to vary over the years, and today, ABC's total run time for The Ten Commandments stands at four hours and forty-four minutes. This requires the network to overrun into the 11:00 pm (10:00 pm CT/MT) timeslot that belongs to the local affiliates, thus delaying their late local news and any other programming the station may air in the overnight hours (with some stations forgoing a late newscast entirely and giving personnel the evening off). When the film has aired on Easter Sunday, affiliates are given the ability to tape delay the showing an hour ahead to 8 p.m. ET/PT to keep their schedules in line for early evening, though at the cost of delaying their local newscasts to 12:45 a.m. (11:45 p.m. CT/MT).

text: In 2010, the film was broadcast in high definition for the first time, which allowed the television audience to see it in its original VistaVision aspect ratio. In 2015, for the first time in several years, the network undertook a one-off airing of the film on Easter Sunday night, which fell on April 5.[86]

text:
Year
Airdate
Rating
Share
Rating/Share
(18–49)
Viewers
(millions)
Rank
(timeslot)
Rank
(night)

2007
4-07-2007
TBA
7.87
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA

2008
3-22-2008
4.7
9
2.3/7
7.91
1
1

2009
4-11-2009
4.2
8
1.7/6
6.81
1
1

2010[87]
4-03-2010
TBA
TBA
1.4/5
5.88
2
3

2011[88]
4-23-2011
1.6/5
7.05
1
1

2012[89]
4-07-2012
6.90
TBA
TBA

2013[90]
3-30-2013
1.2/4
5.90
2
2

2014[91]
4-19-2014
1.0/4
5.87
1
1

2015[92]
4-05-2015
1.4/5
6.80
TBA
TBA

2016[93]
3-26-2016
0.8/3
5.42
2
2

2017[94]
4-15-2017
5.18
1
1

2018[95]
3-31-2018
0.6/3
4.75
1
1


document_title: Brain size

question_text: what is the approximate volume of the brain

root

text: Brain size

text: Humans[edit]

text: Studies on human brain size, largely based on participants of European ancestry, tend to find an average adult brain volume of 1260 cubic centimeters (cm3) for men and 1130 cm3 for women. There is, however, substantial variation between individuals;[1] one study of 46 adults, aged 22–49 years and of mainly European descent, found an average brain volume of 1273.6 cm3 for men, with a range of 1052.9 to 1498.5 cm3, and 1131.1 cm3 for women, with a range of 974.9 to 1398.1 cm3.[2]

tag: p

text: The right cerebral hemisphere is typically larger than the left, whereas the cerebellar hemispheres are typically closer in size. The adult human brain weighs on average about 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).[3] The average weight is about 1370 g in men and about 1200 g in women.[4]

text: Changes over time[edit]

text: Brain size has increased considerably over the course of humans' recent evolutionary history. Homo erectus, a relative of humans, had a brain size of 1,100 cm3. Homo floresiensis, with a brain size of 380 cm3.[5] Neanderthals had a slightly larger brain than modern humans,[6] perhaps due to larger visual systems.[7]

text: Some studies suggest that the average brain size has been decreasing over the past 28,000 years.[8][9] Others suggest that the cranial capacity for males is unchanged, but that the cranial capacity of females has increased.[10]

text: Biogeographic variation[edit]

text: Average cranial capacity in humans varies significantly depending on geographic ancestry in humans, in the range of 1,200 to 1,450 cm3 between populations. Larger cranial volume is associated with climatic region, the largest averages being found in populations of Siberia and the Arctic. For this reason, Beals et al. (1984) proposed that the primary reason for the variation is climatic adaptation, favoring large round heads in colder climates because they conserve heat and slender heads in warm climates closer to the equator (see Bergmann's rule and Allen's rule).[11]

text: Changes over the lifespan[edit]

text: A baby's brain at birth averages 369 cm3 and increases during the first year of life to about 961 cm3, after which the growth rate declines. Brain volume peaks at the age of 40 years, after which it begins to decline by 5% per decade, speeding up at around 70 years.[12] Total cerebral and gray matter volumes peak between 10 and 20 years (earlier in girls than in boys) of age, whereas white matter and ventricular volumes increase. There is a general pattern in which neural development peaks in childhood and declines in adolescence, a process known as synaptic pruning. Overall white matter volume does not appear to decline with age, although there is variation among brain regions.[13]

text: Sex[edit]

text: The average brain weight in adult males is 1,345 grams; in adult females, 1,222 grams.[14] Males have been found to have, on average, greater cerebral, cerebellar, and cerebral cortical lobar volumes, except possibly left parietal.[15]

text: When covaried for intracranial volume, height, and weight, one study found that women have a higher percentage of gray matter, whereas men have a higher percentage of white matter and cerebrospinal fluid. There was high variability among individuals, however.[16] Yaki (2011) found no statistically significant gender differences in the gray matter ratio for most ages in a sample of 758 women and 702 men aged 20–69.[17]

text: Consistent with findings in adults, average cerebral volume is approximately 10% larger in boys than in girls. However, such differences should not be construed as imparting any sort of functional advantage or disadvantage; gross structural measures may not reflect functionally relevant factors such as neuronal connectivity and receptor density. Moreover, brain volumes, even in narrowly defined groups (e.g. children of the same age), may vary by as much as 50%.[18] Young girls have, on average, larger hippocampi, whereas young boys have larger amygdalas.[16]

text: Significant dynamic changes in brain structure take place throughout adulthood, with substantial variation between individuals. In later decades, men show greater volume loss in whole brain volume and in the frontal lobes, and temporal lobes, whereas in women there is increased volume loss in the hippocampi and parietal lobes.[16] Men show a steeper decline in global gray matter volume, although in both sexes it varies by region with some areas exhibiting little or no age effect.

text: Race[edit]

text: In the 19th century, American anthropologist Samuel George Morton reported that whites had the greatest average cranial capacity, followed, in descending order, by Native Americans and blacks. Stephen Jay Gould argued in 1978[19] and in his subsequent book the Mismeasure of Man that Morton unconsciously misrepresented his data and that when it was properly interpreted, it showed no significant racial differences in cranial capacity. This claim was criticized in a 2011 paper, which concluded that Morton did not manipulate his results, unconsciously or otherwise.[20] This paper has, in turn, been criticized for making unwarranted conclusions as to whether Gould's claims of bias were correct or not.[21][22]

text: J. Philippe Rushton published multiple studies in the 1980s to 2000s claiming that average brain size was lowest in blacks (Negroids) and highest in East Asians (Mongoloids), with whites (Caucasoids) in between the two.[23] His work in this area has been criticized for relying on flawed studies, for failing to consider explanations other than genetics for the observed differences, and for ignoring other studies with contradictory conclusions.[24][25] Nathan Brody has also argued that the evidence regarding racial differences in brain size is not conclusive, and that, even if one accepts it, this difference does not support a genetic hypothesis regarding racial differences in intelligence.[26] Critics of the hereditarian position also note that the difference in mean brain size between blacks and whites is smaller than 1 standard deviation and is insufficient to explain the vast majority of the black-white IQ gap.[27]

text: Genetic contribution[edit]

text: Adult twin studies indicate that heritability of overall brain size in adulthood is high (between 66% and 97%). Infant brain volumes are also highly heritable, with heritability of total brain volume in neonates of around .8-.9.[28]

text: Heritability varies regionally within the brain, with high heritabilities of frontal lobe volumes (90-95%), moderate estimates in the hippocampi (40-69%), and environmental factors influencing several medial brain areas[citation needed]. In addition, lateral ventricle volume appears to be mainly explained by environmental factors, suggesting such factors also play a role in the surrounding brain tissue.

text: Early studies yielded suggestive candidate genes.[29][30] Much larger genome-wide studies have now yielded highly replicable associations for at least 8 genes linked to cortical and subcortical brain volume in a study of over 32,000 humans.[31]

text: Intelligence[edit]

text: Studies demonstrate a correlation between brain size and intelligence, with larger brains predicting higher intelligence. It is however not clear if the correlation is causal.[32] The majority of MRI studies report moderate correlations around 0.3 to 0.4 between brain volume and intelligence.[33][34] In healthy adults, the correlation of total brain volume and IQ is ~ 0.4 [35] The correlation appears to be related to the known small correlation of height with intelligence, which can be explained almost entirely by greater brain volume.[36]

text: Studies have sought particular regions that are more correlated with IQ than whole-brain volume. While consistent associations are observed within the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes, the hippocampus, and the cerebellum, unique variation in these regions account for a relatively small amount of variance in IQ.[34][37] The search for specific brain regions that correlate highly with cognitive measures designed to be specific has not yielded clear results.[2]

text: There may be sex differences in the volume-IQ association. Some evidence suggests that while IQ correlates equally with frontal lobe volume, it may correlate more with parietal lobe volumes in men and with Broca's area in women, corresponding to spatial versus language specializations.[16]

text: Small studies have attempted to link brain volume with functional measures such as P300 auditory evoked potentials but finding no association.[38][39] Studies attempting to related sibling differences in IQ to differences in brain volume are hampered by relatively small sample sizes and the noisy nature of such difference scores, yielding weak evidence for cross-trait cross-sib correlations.[32]

text: Other animals[edit]

text: The largest brains are those of sperm whales, weighing about 8 kg (18 lb), and killer whales, weighing about 12–15 lb (5.4–6.8 kg). An elephant's brain weighs just over 5 kg (11 lb) and a bottlenose dolphin's 1.5 to 1.7 kg (3.3 to 3.7 lb).

text: Brain size tends to vary according to body size. The relationship is not proportional, however; the brain-to-body mass ratio varies. The largest ratio found is in the shrew.[40] Averaging brain weight across all orders of mammals, it follows a power law, with an exponent of about 0.75.[41] This power law formula applies to the "average" brain of mammals taken as a whole, but each family (cats, rodents, primates, etc.) departs from it to some degree, in a way that generally reflects the overall "sophistication" of behavior.[42] Primates, for a given body size, have brains 5 to 10 times as large as the formula predicts. Predators tend to have relatively larger brains than the animals they prey on; placental mammals (the great majority) have relatively larger brains than marsupials such as the opossum.

text: When the mammalian brain increases in size, not all parts increase at the same rate.[43] In particular, the larger the brain of a species, the greater the fraction taken up by the cortex. Thus, in the species with the largest brains, most of their volume is filled with cortex: this applies not only to humans, but also to animals such as dolphins, whales or elephants.

text: Not all investigators are happy with the amount of attention that has been paid to brain size. Roth and Dicke, for example, have argued that factors other than size are more highly correlated with intelligence, such as the number of cortical neurons and the speed of their connections.[44] Moreover, they point out that intelligence depends not just on the amount of brain tissue, but on the details of how it is structured. It is also well known that crows, ravens, and grey parrots are quite intelligent even though they have small brains.

text: Cranial capacity[edit]

text: Cranial capacity is a measure of the volume of the interior of the cranium (also called the braincase or brainpan or skull) of those vertebrates who have both a cranium and a brain. The volume of the cranium is used as a rough indicator of the size of the brain, although due to the thickness of the membranes that surround the brain, brain volume is less than cranial capacity. Cranial Capacity is often tested by filling the cranial cavity with particulate material (as mustard seed or small shot) and measuring the volume of the latter. However, this method of measuring cranial capacity must be validated in each species to know whether it is an accurate representation of the braincase.[45][46]

text: Knowledge of the volume of the cranial cavity can be important information for the study of different populations with various differences like geographical, racial, or ethnic origin. Other things, such as nutrition, can also affect cranial capacity.[47]

text: The volume of the human braincase has increased as humans have evolved (see Homininae), starting from about 600 cm3 in Homo habilis up to 1740 cm3 in Homo neanderthalensis, which was the hominid with the biggest brain size.[48][49]

text: In an attempt to use cranial capacity as an objective indicator of brain size, the encephalization quotient (EQ) was developed in 1973 by Harry Jerison. It compares the size of the brain of the specimen to the expected brain size of animals with roughly the same weight.[50] This way a more objective judgement can be made on the cranial capacity of an individual animal. A large scientific collection of brain endocasts and measurements of cranial capacity has been compiled by Holloway et al. (2005).[51]

text: Examples of cranial capacity

text: Apes

text:
Orangutans: 275–500 cm3 (16.8–30.5 cu in)
Chimpanzees: 275–500 cm3 (16.8–30.5 cu in)
Gorillas: 340–752 cm3 (20.7–45.9 cu in)

tag: ul

text: Hominins[citation needed]

text:
Australopithecus afarensis: 445.8 cm3 (27.20 cu in)
Australopithecus africanus: 491.2 cm3 (29.97 cu in)
Homo habilis: 610.3 cm3 (37.24 cu in)
Homo erectus: 1,092.9 cm3 (66.69 cu in)
Homo erectus soloensis: 1,155.8 cm3 (70.53 cu in)
Homo heidelbergensis: 1,262.8 cm3 (77.06 cu in)
Homo neanderthalensis: 1,427.2 cm3 (87.09 cu in)
Homo sapiens: 1,496.5 cm3 (91.32 cu in)

text: Modern Humans[52][53]

text:
Individual range, without cephalic disorder: 900–2,100 cm3 (55–128 cu in)
Global group means range: 1,085–1,581 cm3 (66.2–96.5 cu in)
Average: 1,353 cm3 (82.6 cu in)


document_title: List of To Kill a Mockingbird characters

question_text: name of black man in to kill a mockingbird

text: Primary characters[edit]

text: Atticus Finch[edit]

text: Atticus Finch is the middle-aged father of Jem and Scout Finch. He is a lawyer and was once known as "the deadliest shot in Maycomb County". Although he was a good shot, he does not like to mention the fact as he does not like the thought of having an advantage over people. He appears to support racial equality and was appointed to represent Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. The town disapproves of him defending Tom especially when he makes clear his intent to defend Tom Robinson to the best of his abilities. He is portrayed by Gregory Peck in the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: "Scout" Finch[edit]

text: Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is the narrator and To Kill a Mockingbird is told by an adult Scout who often comments on how she could not understand something at the time but now can appreciate it. She gets in trouble with her teacher Miss Caroline because Miss Caroline expects Scout to learn reading and writing her way. She is a tomboy and spends the most of her time with her brother Jem and best friend Dill. To Jem’s advice to pretend to be a lady and start sewing or something, she answers ‘Hell no.’ The rare hints the narrator gives us about her grown-up life reveal that she ultimately hasn’t changed herself for others.[2]

text: She matures from age 6 to age 9 as the novel progresses but remains naive and idealistic, despite an increased understanding of human nature and racism in her town. At the beginning of the book, Scout is confused by some of the words and names she hears people directing towards her father, such as "nigger-lover". Being only six, Scout does not know how to handle such situations so she tries to resolve her problems by fighting, or by talking to Atticus about what she has heard. By the end of the book, Scout realizes that racism does exist and comes to terms with its presence in her town. Scout also learns how to deal with others, including the Finch family housekeeper, Calpurnia, and her aunt, Alexandra. Scout is the only one of the novel's primary three children (Dill, Jem, and herself) to see and speak to Boo Radley during the course of the novel and realize that he is harmless, despite her initial fear of him. She also stops a mob that is trying to lynch Tom Robinson by talking to the mob leader, Mr. Cunningham, about inviting his son, Walter, over for dinner. Mr. Cunningham then tells the other mob members to get back in their cars and leave them alone. The members listen, and Scout unintentionally saves Tom Robinson's life. She is portrayed by Mary Badham in the film adaption of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: Notable quote: "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." [3]

text: "Jem" Finch[edit]

text: Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch is Atticus' son and Scout's older brother by four years. Jem matures greatly throughout the course of the novel, much more affected by events than Scout seems to be. Being four years Scout's senior, Jem is seen to have a greater understanding of - and therefore greater difficulty in navigating - the obstacles thrown their way. Jem is seen explaining many things to Scout throughout the novel. Bob Ewell breaks Jem's arm, subsequently resulting in it being shorter than it had been, in an attempt to protect his sister. He is portrayed by Phillip Alford in the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: Dill Harris[edit]

text: Charles Baker "Dill" Harris is a short, smart boy who visits Maycomb every summer from Meridian, Mississippi, and stays with his Aunt Rachel (Aunt Stephanie in the film). Dill is the best friend of both Jem and Scout, and his goal throughout the novel is to get Boo Radley to come out of his house. The children concoct many plans to lure Boo Radley out of his house for a few summers until Atticus tells them to stop. In chapter 5 of the novel, Dill promises to marry Scout and they become "engaged". One night Dill runs away from his home in Meridian, arriving in Maycomb County where he hides under Scout's bed. When she finds Dill, he tells both Scout and Atticus that he was chained to a wall in his father's basement; later, he confesses he actually ran away because he felt he was being replaced by his stepfather. Before Dill returned to Meridian after the summer, he went swimming with Jem at the Barker's Eddy creek. Scout, unfortunately, was unable to participate, because both boys were swimming naked.

text: Unlike Scout and Jem, Dill lacks the security of family support. He is unwanted and unloved by his mother and stepfather: "They do get on a lot better without me, I cannot help them any." As Francis (a cousin of Jem and Scout) says, "He hasn't got a home, he just gets passed around from relative to relative." Dill maintains he has no father; he doesn't know where his father might live, or if he will ever come back. He is played by John Megna in the film adaption of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: This character is believed to be based on author Truman Capote, a childhood friend of Harper Lee.[citation needed]

text: Calpurnia[edit]

text: Calpurnia, nicknamed Cal, is the Finch family's African-American housekeeper, whom the children love and Atticus deeply respects (he remarks in her defense that she "never indulged [the children] like most colored nurses"). She is highly regarded by Atticus. She is an important figure in Scout's life, providing discipline, instruction, and love. She also fills the maternal role for the children after their mother's death. Calpurnia is a mother herself and raised her son, Zeebo, to adulthood. Calpurnia is one of the few black characters in the novel who is able to read and write, and it is she who taught Scout to write. She learned how to read from Miss Maudie's aunt, Miss Buford, who taught her how to read out of Blackstone's Commentaries, a book given to her. Aunt Alexandra despised Calpurnia because Alexandra believed that Calpurnia was not a "maternal figure" for Jem and Scout, especially for Scout.

text: Calpurnia is a member of the First Purchase M.E. African Church in Maycomb. While Scout always hears her speak proper English, she is surprised to learn that Calpurnia does not do so at church, especially with the uneducated members of the congregation.

text: While everyone in the novel is filtered through Scout’s perception, Calpurnia in particular appears for a long time more as Scout’s idea of her than as a real person. At the beginning of the novel, Scout appears to think of Calpurnia as the wicked stepmother to Scout’s own Cinderella. However, towards the end of the book, Scout views Calpurnia as someone she can look up to, and realizes Calpurnia has only protected her over the years. She is played by Estelle Evans in the film.

text: Arthur “Boo” Radley[edit]

text: Arthur "Boo" Radley is a recluse in To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: Maycomb children believe he is a horrible person, due to the rumors spread about him and a trial he underwent as a teenager. It is implied during the story that Boo is a very lonely man who attempts to reach out to Jem and Scout for love and friendship, such as leaving them small gifts and figures in a tree knothole. Scout finally meets him at the very end of the book, when he saves the children's lives from Bob Ewell. Scout describes him as being sickly white, with a thin mouth, thin and feathery hair, and grey eyes, almost as if he were blind. During the same night, when Boo whispers to Scout to walk him back to the Radley house, Scout takes a moment to picture what it would be like to be Boo Radley. While standing on his porch, she realizes his "exile" inside his house is really not that lonely.

text: Boo Radley's heroics in protecting the children from Bob Ewell are covered up by Atticus, Sheriff Tate, and Scout. This can be read as a wise refusal of fame. As Tate notes, if word got out that Boo killed Ewell, Boo would be inundated with gifts and visits, calamitous for him due to his reclusive personality. The precocious Scout recognizes the danger: renown would "kill the mockingbird". Boo Radley is a ghost who haunts the book yet manifests himself at just the right moments in just the right way. He is, arguably, the most potent character in the whole book and as such, inspires the other key characters to save him when he needs saving.

text: After the Tom Robinson trial, Jem and Scout have a different understanding of Boo Radley. “Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time… it's because he wants to stay inside." (23.117) Having seen a sample of the horrible things their fellow townspeople can do, choosing to stay out of the mess of humanity doesn’t seem like such a strange choice.[4]

text: When Boo finally does come out, he has a good reason: Bob Ewell is trying to murder the Finch children. No one sees what happens in the scuffle, but at the end of it, Ewell is dead and Boo carries an unconscious Jem to the Finch house. Finally faced with Boo, Scout doesn’t recognize him at first, but suddenly realizes who he is. Boo Radley is played by Robert Duvall in the film.

text: Judge John Taylor[edit]

text: Judge John Taylor is a white-haired old man with a reputation for running his court in an informal fashion and an enjoyment of singing and dipping tobacco. He is unimportant to the children until he presides over the Tom Robinson trial, in which he shows great distaste for the Ewells and great respect for Atticus. Because of the judge's sympathies for Tom, Bob Ewell breaks into the judge's house while the judge's wife is at church. After the trial, Miss Maudie points out to the children that the judge had tried to help Tom by appointing Atticus to the case instead of Maxwell Green, the new, untried lawyer who usually received court-appointed cases. Judge Taylor knew that Atticus was the only man who would stand a chance at acquitting Tom, or at least would be able to keep the jury thinking for more than just a few minutes. By doing this, Judge Taylor was not giving in or supporting racism. He is portrayed in the film by Paul Fix.

text: Miss Maudie Atkinson[edit]

text: Miss Maude "Maudie" Atkinson lives across the street from the Finch family. She had known the Finches for many years, having been brought up on the Buford place, which was near the Finches' ancestral home, Finch's Landing. She is described as a woman of about 50 who enjoys baking and gardening; her cakes are especially held in high regard. However, she is frequently harassed by devout "Foot-Washing Baptists", who tell her that her enjoyment of gardening is a sin. The Foot-Washing Baptists also believe that women are a sin as well. Miss Maudie befriends Scout and Jem and tells them stories about Atticus as a boy. It is strongly implied that she and Atticus have a more than platonic relationship. Also, she is one of the few adults that Jem and Scout hold in high regard and respect. She does not act condescendingly towards them, even though they are young children. During the course of the novel, her house burns down; however, she shows remarkable courage throughout this (even saying that she wanted to burn it down herself to make more room for her flowers). She is not prejudiced, though she talks caustically to Miss Stephanie Crawford, unlike many of her Southern neighbors, and teaches Scout important lessons about racism and human nature. It is important to note that Miss Maudie fully explains that "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird", whereas Atticus Finch initially brings up the subject but doesn't go into depth. When Jem gets older, and doesn't want to be bothered by Scout, Miss Maudie keeps her from getting angry. Maudie is played by Rosemary Murphy in the film. She is a very kind and sweet innocent friendly neighbor.

text: Bob Ewell[edit]

text: Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell is the main antagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird. He has a daughter named Mayella and a younger son named Burris, as well as six other unnamed children. He is an alcoholic, poaching game to feed his family because he spends whatever money they legally gain via government "relief checks" on alcohol. It is implied, and evidence suggests, that he was the one who abused his daughter Mayella, not Tom Robinson (the African American man accused of doing so). Although most everybody in town knows that the Ewells are a disgrace and not to be trusted, it is made clear that Tom Robinson was convicted because he is a Negro whose accuser is white. Upon hearing of Tom's death, Bob is absolutely gleeful, gloating about his success. After being humiliated at the trial, however, he goes on a quest for revenge, becoming increasingly violent. He begins by spitting in Atticus' face, followed by a failed attempt to break into the home of Judge Taylor, then finally menacing Helen, the poor widow of Tom Robinson. Ewell later attempts to murder Jem and Scout Finch with a knife to complete his revenge. Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout and it is believed that he kills Ewell with the knife. Heck Tate, the sheriff, puts in the official report that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife and died after lying under a tree for 45 minutes. Ewell is played by James Anderson in the film.

text: Mayella Ewell[edit]

text: Mayella Violet Ewell, 19, is the oldest of the eight Ewell children. Before the trial, Mayella is noted for growing red geraniums outside her otherwise dirty home in order to bring some beauty into her life. Due to her family's living situation, Mayella has no opportunity for human contact or love. She eventually gets so desperate that she attempts to seduce a black man, Tom Robinson, by saving up nickels to send her siblings to go get ice cream so that Mayella can be alone with Tom. Her father sees this through a window and in punishment he beats her. Ewell then finds the sheriff, Heck Tate, and tells him that his daughter has been raped and beaten by Tom. At the trial, Atticus points out that only the right side of Mayella's face is injured, suggesting a left-handed assailant; Tom's left arm is mangled and useless, but Bob Ewell is left-handed. When Atticus asks her if she has any friends, she becomes confused because she does not know what a friend is. During her testimony she is confused by Atticus' polite speech and thinks that his use of "Miss Mayella" is meant to mock her. She testifies against Tom Robinson. Mayella is played by Collin Wilcox in the film.

text: Tom Robinson[edit]

text: Thomas "Tom" Robinson is an African-American who is put on trial for the rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Atticus is assigned to defend him, and stands up to a lynch mob intent on exacting their own justice against him before the trial begins. Tom's left arm is crippled and useless, the result of an accident with a cotton gin when he was a child. Atticus uses this fact as the cornerstone of his defense strategy, pointing out that the nature of Mayella's facial injuries strongly suggest a left-handed assailant. Tom testifies that he had frequently helped Mayella with household chores because he felt sorry for her and the family's difficult life - a statement that shocks the all-white, male jury. Despite Atticus' skilled defense, the jury's racial prejudices lead them to find Tom guilty. Atticus plans to appeal the verdict, but before he can do so, Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape the prison where he is being held. Tom Robinson is played by Brock Peters.

text: Aunt Alexandra[edit]

text: Alexandra Hancock (née Finch) is Atticus' and Jack's sister, married to James "Uncle Jimmy" Hancock. She has a son named Henry and a very spoiled grandson named Francis. Around the middle of the book, Aunt Alexandra decides to leave her husband at Finch's Landing, the Finch family homestead to come stay with the Finches. Aunt Alexandra doesn't consider the black Calpurnia to be a very good motherly figure for Jem and Scout; she disapproves of Scout being a tomboy and wants to make Scout into a southern belle (encouraging her to act more 'lady like').[5] This is the cause of many conflicts between Scout and Alexandra throughout the course of the novel. However, as the trial progresses, Scout comes to see how much her aunt cares for her father and what a strong woman she is. This is especially evidenced by a tea party when Scout is horrified by the racism displayed, and her aunt and Miss Maudie help her deal with her feelings. By the end of the book, it's clear that Alexandra cares very much for her niece and nephew, though she and Scout will probably never really get along.

text: Minor characters[edit]

text: Jack Finch[edit]

text: John Hale "Jack" Finch is Atticus' and Alexandra's younger brother. (He is about 40, which is 10 years younger than Atticus.) Jack smells like alcohol and something sweet, and is said that he and Alexandra have similar features. Jack is a childless doctor who can always make Scout and Jem laugh, and they adore him. He and Miss Maudie are close to the same age; he frequently teases her with marriage proposals, which she always declines. Jack also has a pet cat named Rose Aylmer, who is mentioned during the Christmas visit.

text: Francis Hancock[edit]

text: Francis Hancock is the spoiled grandson of Aunt Alexandra. (The son of her son, Henry Hancock.) Every Christmas, Henry and his wife drop Francis at Finch's Landing, which is the only time Scout and Jem see him. Francis lives in Mobile, Alabama, and is a bit of a tattle-tale. He gets along well with Jem, but often spars with Scout. One Christmas, Francis calls Atticus a "n*****-lover," as well as insisting that he was ruining the family and the likes, which infuriates Scout and causes them to get into a fight. Francis lies about his role in it, telling Uncle Jack that Scout started it by calling him a "whore lady", and Jack therefore punishes Scout. However, she explains the full story and charitably persuades her uncle not to punish Francis about it, but to let Atticus think they had been fighting about something else (although Atticus later discovers the truth).

text: Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose[edit]

text: Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose is an elderly woman who lives near the Finches. She is hated by the children, who run by her house to avoid her. Scout describes Mrs. Dubose as "plain hell." A virulent racist, she calls Atticus a "nigger-lover" to his children's faces, and Jem flies into a rage and ravages Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes. As a punishment, Jem is required to read to Mrs. Dubose each day for a month. As Jem reads, she experiences a fit of drooling and twitching and does not seem to pay any attention to the words. When an alarm rings, Jem is allowed to leave for the day. She extends the punishment for one extra week and dies shortly after letting Jem go for the last time. Atticus informs him that Mrs. Dubose was terminally ill and had become addicted to morphine. By reading to her, Jem had distracted her so that she could break the addiction. In thanks, she leaves him a candy box with a camellia flower in it; Jem burns the box in anger, but is later seen by Scout admiring the flower. Atticus tells Jem that Mrs. Dubose was the bravest person he ever knew, and she was trying to teach Jem the importance of bravery and true courage to endure anything when the situation is hopeless, as in her morphine addiction.

text: Mr. Heck Tate[edit]

text: Mr. Heck Tate is a friend of Atticus and also the sheriff of Maycomb County. He believes in protecting the innocent although he doesn't usually show it. When Tom has been locked in jail and a lynch mob turns up to kill him, the sheriff refuses to hand Tom over, instead dispersing the crowd. At the end of the book, the two men argue over whether Jem or Boo Radley should be held responsible for the death of Bob Ewell. Heck eventually persuades Atticus to accept the theory that Ewell accidentally fell on his own knife, thus saving the harmless, reclusive Boo from the public exposure of a criminal trial.

text: Mr. Braxton Underwood[edit]

text: Mr. Braxton Bragg Underwood is a news reporter and a friend of Atticus. He owns and also publishes The Maycomb Tribune. Being a racist, he disagrees with Atticus on principle. He also has a strong belief in justice, as exemplified when he defends Atticus from the Cunningham mob by having his double barrel shotgun loaded and ready to shoot them. He also demonstrates some humanity when he publishes a scathing editorial comparing the killing of Tom Robinson (a cripple) to "the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children".

text: Mr. Horace Gilmer[edit]

text: Mr. Horace Gilmer is a lawyer from Abbottsville, and is the prosecuting attorney in the Tom Robinson case. Mr. Gilmer is between the ages of forty and sixty. Mr. Gilmer has a slight cast with one eye, which he uses to his advantage in trial. Mr. Gilmer appeared to be racist in his harsh cross-examination of Tom Robinson, but it is hinted at that he is in fact going easy on Tom. He and Atticus are not rivals and talk to each other during recesses during the case.

text: Dr. Scott Reynolds[edit]

text: Dr. Reynolds is the Maycomb doctor. He is well known to Scout and Jem. Scout says that he "had brought Jem and me into the world, had led us through every childhood disease known to man including the time Jem fell out of the tree house, and he had never lost our friendship. Dr. Reynolds said that if we were boil-prone things would have been different..." (ch. 28). He inspects Jem's broken arm and Scout's minor bruises after the attack from Bob Ewell under the tree.

text: Dolphus Raymond[edit]

text: Dolphus Raymond is a white landowner who is jaded by the hypocrisy of the white society and prefers to live among black folks. In fact, he has children with a black woman. Dolphus pretends he is an alcoholic so that the people of Maycomb will have an excuse for his behavior, but in fact he only drinks Coca Cola out of a paper bag to try to hide it. When Dill and Scout discover that he is not a drunk, they are amazed. He shows Scout how sometimes you can pretend to be someone you're not so people will be more understanding of you.

text: Link Deas[edit]

text: Link Deas owns cotton fields and a store in Maycomb who employs Tom and later Helen because she does not get accepted by any other employers in the county due to Tom Robinson's legal troubles. He announces to the court (in defense of Tom) at one point in the trial that he hadn't “had a speck o' trouble outta him” in the eight years Tom had been working for him, and gets sent out by Judge John Taylor for doing so. When Bob Ewell starts threatening Helen after the trial, Mr. Deas fiercely defends her and threatens to have Mr. Ewell arrested if he keeps bothering her. He is on Tom Robinson's side during the trial and remains loyal to the family afterward.

text: Miss Caroline Fisher[edit]

text: Miss Caroline Fisher is Scout's first grade teacher and is new to Maycomb, Alabama and its ways. She attempts to teach the first grade class using a new system which she learned from taking certain college courses (Jem mistakenly refers to it as the "Dewey Decimal System", which is really how library books are organized.). She is upset by Scout's advanced reading capabilities and believes that Scout is receiving lessons from Atticus. She feels as though Scout is trying to outsmart and mock her. In an effort to standardize the class, she forbids Scout from reading with her father. Atticus asks Scout to step into Miss Caroline's skin. However, he continues to allow Scout to read with him at night so long as she continues to go to school. Miss Caroline has good intentions but proves quite incompetent as a teacher. When Scout tells Miss Fisher that she shamed a student (Walter Cunningham, Jr.) by giving him lunch money, she raps Scout's palms with a ruler (a punishment unheard of in Maycomb). She is also very sensitive and gets emotionally hurt quite easily, as seen when she cries after Burris Ewell yells at her, "Report and be damned to ye! Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothin'! You ain't makin' me go nowhere, missus. You just remember that, you ain't makin' me go nowhere!" After the Burris Ewell incident, Miss Caroline is seldom seen and soon forgotten.

text: Reverend Sykes[edit]

text: Reverend Sykes is the reverend of the First Purchase M.E. African Church in Maycomb County. This is the church Tom Robinson attended. Reverend Sykes forces the congregation to donate 10 dollars for Tom Robinson's family since at the time, Tom's wife, Helen, was having trouble finding work. During the trial, when the courtroom was too packed for the children to find seats, Reverend Sykes lets the kids sit with him up in the colored balcony and even saves their seats for them.

text: Miss Stephanie Crawford[edit]

text: Stephanie Crawford is the neighborhood gossip who claimed that she saw Boo Radley from her bedroom standing outside of her cleaned window one night. Crawford is one of the first on the scene after a loud gunshot is heard behind the Radley house. Because she is the neighborhood gossip, it is unwise to think of anything that she says as true, because most of the time it is not true at all. She is a friend of Alexandra Hancock. She lets Miss Maudie live with her when Miss Maudie's house burns down, supposedly in order to steal Miss Maudie's Lane cake recipe. She is thrilled to pass on gossip to the kids about Boo Radley. She claimed to have witnessed Bob Ewell's threatening Atticus at the Post Office corner as she was returning from the local Jitney Jungle grocery store.

text: In the film she takes the place of Rachel Haverford and is now Dill's aunt.

text: Miss Rachel Haverford[edit]

text: Miss Rachel Haverford is Dill's aunt and the Finches' next door neighbor. She drank neat whiskey heavily after seeing a rattlesnake coiled in her closet, on her washing, when she hung her negligee up. Even though she can be very hard to deal with, she truly does love her nephew. Her family name, in the legends of Maycomb County, is synonymous with jackass. She is also a Southern Belle.

text: In the film, she is not a character and Miss Stephanie takes her place as Dill's aunt.

text: Helen Robinson[edit]

text: Helen Robinson is the wife of Tom Robinson. She is spoken about a few times. She has three children. Employed by Link Deas following the death of her husband, she is repeatedly harassed by Bob Ewell when traveling to work. Upon learning of this, Deas threatens Ewell, forcing him to stop. She is an example of how one person's actions can have an effect on a lot of people and she elucidates the hardships that surround the Tom Robinson case.

text: Nathan Radley[edit]

text: Nathan Radley is the brother of Arthur "Boo" Radley and another difficult character to understand in To Kill a Mockingbird. When the children try to catch a view of "Boo" late one night through a window, he shoots over their heads with a shotgun (albeit thinking he was aiming at a black person). Nathan also cements up the knothole in which Arthur leaves little gifts for the children. On the other hand, he helps Miss Maudie by saving some of her belongings when her house is on fire. He is more present than his brother, but equally mysterious.

text: Jessie[edit]

text: Jessie is Mrs. Dubose's black nurse. She is the woman who shoos the children out when Mrs. Dubose has her fits, and she seems to care enormously for Mrs. Dubose. When Jem is forced to stay reading to Mrs. Dubose, Jessie kindly leads Jem and Scout to the door when Mrs. Dubose's alarm goes off. The rumors about Mrs. Dubose concealing a gun about her person involves Jessie; the book says "and even if Mrs. Dubose missed, her girl Jessie wouldn't".

text: Burris Ewell[edit]

text: Burris Ewell is a son of Bob Ewell and a younger sibling of Mayella Ewell as well as the first antagonist of the novel. Burris is described as being chiefly antagonistic of Little Chuck Little and his teacher Miss Caroline Fisher. He comes to the first day of school, but departs just as everyone else in his family does. Burris is also poor. He has live lice in his hair. Burris also scared his teacher Caroline Fisher. He behaves rudely when she tells him to go home, wash his hair, and come back clean the next day. He refuses, and a student explains to Miss Caroline that Ewell children don't attend school. All they do is show up for the first day, get marked down on the register, and then they miss the entire school year until the first day of the next year. His famous quote was, "Report and be damned to ye! Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothin'! You ain't makin' me go nowhere, missus. You just remember that, you ain't makin' me go nowhere!" As of Scout's first year of school (the first grade), Burris has repeated the first grade three times. Burris is also like his father and is very belligerent.

text: Lula[edit]

text: Lula is an African-American woman with a dislike for white people. She doesn't like the idea of Calpurnia bringing Atticus Finch's children, Jem and Scout, with her to church and tells her so but is overruled by the other congregants. According to James Zeebo, Calpurnia's son, Lula's said to be, "a troublemaker from way back, with fancy ideas and haughty ways." She's threatened with being "churched" (subjected to church discipline) by Reverend Sykes.

text: Mrs. Grace Merriweather[edit]

text: Mrs. Grace Merriweather is the producer of the play in which Scout plays as a ham. She tells Everett that "the ladies of the South Maycomb Alabama Methodist Episcopal Church are behind him one hundred percent." She is mostly known for her devotion to the church and is widely held as the most devout lady in Maycomb; however, like many of her peers, she is very hypocritical and loves to gossip with all the other women.

text: Walter Cunningham, Jr.[edit]

text: Walter Cunningham, Jr. is a child who is almost as old as Jem but is in Scout's class. He lives in a farm. He is too poor to even pay off a 25-cent debt because the Great Depression hit his poor family hard. Walter is not only too poor but also his family is too proud to take any money. He is invited over to the Finches' house once, after engaging in a fight with Scout, where he covers up all of his dinner with molasses, much to Scout's vocal dismay. This teaches Scout a lesson in humility and compassion.

text: Walter Cunningham, Sr.[edit]

text: Walter Cunningham, Sr. is Walter Cunningham Jr.'s father. He appears only twice, once at the beginning of the story when he has to pay off the debt to Atticus (Walter Cunningham Sr. was his client) by giving him firewood, vegetables and other supplies. He also leads the mob that comes to lynch Tom Robinson the night before the trial. Only when Scout talks to him about his son and how much he owes to Atticus does he reconsider and call off the mob. Scout innocently shames him because Scout reminds him of all the things that Atticus has done for him and for Maycomb County. After the verdict is given in the trial, Atticus tells Jem that one of the Cunninghams had changed his thoughts about Tom and pleaded that Tom was not guilty to the jury.

text: Little Chuck Little[edit]

text: Little Chuck Little is a student in Scout's first grade class who has the mindset of an adult. His real name is Charles. He is depicted as chiefly antagonistic of Burris Ewell. He is presented in the novel when Miss Caroline is frightened by Burris' lice. He warned Miss Caroline that if Burris wasn't released from class, he might try something that would put their classmates at risk. When Burris starts advancing on Little Chuck after his warning/veiled insult, Little Chuck's hand moved to his pocket (implying that he was going to pull out a knife) while saying, "Watch your step, Burris. I'd soon's kill you as look at you. Now go home." Scared by Little Chuck's bravery and his implied knife, Burris retreats. From this we see, through the narrative view of Scout, his gentlemanly attitude and how it calms Miss Caroline down. Little Chuck may be even more intelligent than originally meets the eye, as he easily could have been bluffing about the aforementioned implied knife to scare Burris into retreating.

text: Mr. Dick Avery[edit]

text: Mr. Dick Avery is an overweight neighbor who tells Jem and Scout that dramatic changes in the weather are caused by disobedient and misbehaving children. After it snows, they build a snowman that resembles him. Mr. Avery can also be seen in the story pushing a mattress out of a window when Miss Maudie's house catches fire. The kids, including Jem and Scout, always waited for him to do something interesting. For instance, Jem claims that one night he urinated from his front porch in an impressive arc.

text: Miss Gates[edit]

text: Miss Gates is a third grade teacher at Scout's school who insists that America isn't prejudiced like Hitler's Germany. Despite this, Scout has heard her say that the blacks need to be taught a lesson after Tom's trial.

text: Eula May[edit]

text: Eula May is Maycomb's most prominent telephone operator. She sends out public announcements, invitations, and activates the fire alarm. She announced the closing of schools when it snowed and announced the rabid dog that entered Maycomb. Also, Eula May knows everybody in the town because of her unique job.

text: Cecil Jacobs[edit]

text: Cecil Jacobs teases Scout and Jem at school. Scout almost gets into a fight with Cecil over the trial of Tom Robinson. Scout beats up Cecil Jacobs because he says Atticus is a "Nigger Lover." He gives a current event on Adolf Hitler and later frightens Scout and Jem on their way to the Halloween pageant. He and Scout then pair up at the carnival. At the Halloween pageant afterwards, Cecil was a cow. He hints that black people are not as good as white people while talking about Hitler during current events. He also tends to take jokes too far. However importantly he shows how prejudice is passed on from parent to child.

text: Tim Johnson[edit]

text: Tim Johnson is a dog belonging to Harry Johnson (a character in the book who is mentioned once but is never seen). He is infected by rabies in chapter 10 and goes mad, putting everyone in the town at risk. Atticus is forced to shoot Tim Johnson before he reaches the Radley House or attacks anyone. When Atticus shoots the dog, his excellent marksmanship is revealed to Scout and Jem (his nickname used to be One-Shot Finch). The dog's body is collected by Zeebo.

text: Simon Finch[edit]

text: Simon Finch is the founder of Finch's Landing. He is referred to in the first chapter of the book, being a direct ancestor of Atticus. He is a Cornish Methodist, and emigrated from England to avoid religious persecution, landing in Philadelphia before settling in Alabama. He was married, with one son, six daughters. He is also an apothecary.

text: Maxwell Green[edit]

text: Maxwell Green is the new lawyer in town. He is normally the judicially-assigned defense attorney but Judge Taylor assigned Tom Robinson's case to Atticus to give Tom Robinson a better chance.

text: Mr. X Billups[edit]

text: Mr. X Billups who is seen only once in the book, going to the trial, is described as a "funny man". X is his name, and not his initial. He was asked repeated times what his name was until he signed it. X was the name he had been given when he was born because his parents marked his birth certificate with an X instead of a name.

text: The Barber Sisters (Miss "Tutti" and Miss "Frutti")[edit]

text: The Barber Sisters (Miss Sarah, nicknamed "Tutti" and Miss Frances, nicknamed "Frutti") are maiden sisters who live in the only house in Maycomb with a cellar. They were originally from Clanton, Alabama; and are rumored to be Republicans. Besides their Yankee ways, both sisters are deaf (Tutti completely deaf; Frutti uses an ear trumpet), and had a Halloween prank pulled on them by some "wicked" schoolchildren (Scout claims she was not included) who put all of their furniture in their cellar.

text: Mrs. Gertrude Farrow[edit]

text: Mrs. Farrow is a lady in the missionary society who visits the Finch house occasionally.

text: Mr. Conner[edit]

text: Mr. Conner is mentioned early on in the book. He was locked in an outhouse by "Boo" Radley and his friends. After taking the teenagers to court, Mr. Conner accused them of "disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female." He added the last charge after claiming that the teens had "cussed so loud he was sure every lady in Maycomb heard them."

text: Zeebo[edit]

text: Zeebo is Calpurnia's eldest son. He is one of just four people in First Purchase Church who can read, so he is the vocal leader, leading hymns in the Negro First Purchase Church by "lining," reading a line of verse and having the congregation repeat it. Calpurnia taught Zeebo how to read. He is also the garbage man of Maycomb, and took away the dead rabid dog, Tim Johnson. When a fellow church member, a woman named Lula, tries to make the children feel bad for attending church with his mother, Zeebo welcomes Scout and Jem with open arms. He is kind but very quiet.