One afternoon in August, Aunt Alexandra organizes a tea party for her missionary circle. Scout, dressed in a frock, helps Calpurnia bring in the tea, and Alexandra urges Scout to spend the afternoon with the women. Scout then listens to the missionary circle discuss how their own black servants had behaved badly since Tom Robinson's conviction, when the missionary circle first discussed the plight of the destitute Mrunas, a benighted African tribe being converted to Christianity. Miss Maudie puts an end to their conversation with ice-cold remarks. Atticus, who appears out of nowhere, summons Alexandra to the kitchen. Tom Robinson attempted to run and was shot seventeen times before being arrested, he informs her, Scout, Calpurnia, and Miss Maudie. He takes Calpurnia with him to inform the Robinson family of Tom's death. Miss Maudie responds to Alexandra's question on how the community can allow Atticus to wreck himself in pursuit of justice, "How can the town allow Atticus to demolish himself in pursuit of justice?" Maudie says that the community trusts him to do the right thing. They return to the missionary circle with Scout, ostensibly oblivious to the fact that anything is wrong.
Nadine Gordimer believes that the riots and anger in Africa is causing a huge trouble, and that the nation has seen better days. She expresses this in her writing by showing how the once ethereal gardens became metal prison grounds, and multiple citizens were left on the street to rot.
