Tips for Finding “Juicy” Quotes

1. Tips for Finding “Juicy” Quotes

2. Tip #1 • It probably isn’t “juicy” if you can easily paraphrase it. Look for quotations where the author’s words are powerful and unique.

3. Tip #2 • Dialogue between two characters is very difficult to use as a “juicy” quote. • Choose one character’s words if he/she says something meaningful in dialogue.

4. Tip #3 • Consider if your quote connects to a theme, or the broader meaning of the novel. • If not, your quote might be interesting, but not necessarily the best for including in an essay.

5. Chapter One • The people of Maycomb weave fantastic tales about Boo Radley, among them that he “dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch” (13). These rumors not only expand upon Boo’s outsider status in the town, they also cause him to be perceived as a freakish monster.

6. Chapter Four • When Dill, Jem, and Scout are looking for a new game to play, Dill brings up the notion that a “Hot Steam” is a menacing ghost-like presence. In response, Scout comments that it is “nigger-talk” (37). Her comment demonstrates the racist undertones of Maycomb. There seems to be two distinct racial worlds in the town, with little understanding between them.

7. Chapter Five • As Scout and Miss Maudie discuss some of Maycomb’s strictly religious citizens, Miss Maudie’s insight is that “a Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of” another (45). Her point is that, for some individuals, religion can be used as a source of harm and prejudice, much like alcohol can cause individuals to behave in hurtful ways towards others.

8. Chapter Eight • You try one now: • “Looks like all of Maycomb was out tonight, in one way or another” (71-72).

9. Chapter Ten • “Atticus said to Jem one day, ‘I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’” (90).