Go Set a Watchman: Part 6, Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

Jean Louise goes back to Mr. Cunningham’s ice cream shop, and he gives her a free scoop for recognizing him, as he had promised. She eats her ice cream and tries to make sense of the conversation she just had with Uncle Jack. Jean Louise looks around at the gravel lot and imagines where her old house and the trees used to be.

Jean Louise starts to reminisce, and she remembers when she was back in grammar school and invited to her first dance. Jem and Hank were both seniors, and Jem was in love with a girl from a nearby town. Hank invites Jean Louise to the dance, and so she buys a fancy white dress. She also buys a pair of “false bosoms” for herself to fill out the dress, despite Calpurnia’s discouragement.

Jean Louise then realizes in a panic that she doesn’t know how to dance. Atticus suggests she ask Uncle Jack, and he comes over and gives her a quick lesson. Jean Louise gets dressed up and Hank comes to pick her up. Calpurnia wants to sew the false bosoms into Jean Louise’s dress, but Jean Louise assures her that she’ll be fine. Uncle Jack gets frustrated with how late they all are, and Jean Louise is surprised to see that Hank brought her a flower corsage. They finally drive off—Hank and Jean Louise in Jem’s car, and Jem in Atticus’s car, to go pick up his date in the next town.

Jean Louise and Hank arrive at their high school gymnasium and everyone is impressed by Jean Louise’s dress. Hank dances with her and she has a good time. Later, as they are dancing, Hank suddenly stares at her and then leads her outside into the dark. Jean Louise realizes that one of her false bosoms has fallen out of her dress. She starts crying, worried that everyone saw and is making fun of her.

Hank assures Jean Louise that no one saw, but she insists on being taken home. Finally Hank just pulls out the false bosoms and throws them as hard as he can off into the night. Hank says she looks better without them, and they go back in and dance more. When Hank drops Jean Louise off afterward, he kisses her lightly. She runs inside and immediately asks Atticus if he thinks Hank is too old for her.

The next morning the school principal, a humorless man named Mr. Tuffett, calls an assembly. All the students gather, and he delivers a speech about the importance of respecting our soldiers. Everyone is confused. He says that he knows who is responsible for defiling the honor of the soldiers, and that the guilty party should confess to him that day. Finally Mr. Tuffett leads them outside and points to the billboard listing the names of the Maycomb students who are now at war. Hanging over the words are Jean Louise’s false bosoms.

Jean Louise is torn about whether she should confess or not, and how to explain that this was an accident. Hank offers to confess instead, but Jean Louise gets angry at him for trying to “protect” her. Finally Hank gets an idea, and he borrows Jem’s car and drives off. Later that day Hank finds Jean Louise and tells her to submit a confession in writing to Mr. Tuffett. Jean Louise does so, worried about what will happen.

Jean Louise goes to submit her confession and finds Mr. Tuffett angry to receive it. She then sees that he has already received a hundred other confessions, signed by almost every girl in the school, all of them worded the same as Jean Louise’s. Mr. Tuffett angrily dismisses her. That night she congratulates Hank—who forged all the other confessions—and he says he got the idea from Atticus, whom he had driven off to consult.

Jean Louise returns suddenly to the present, feeling disillusioned and disconnected from all of the people in her memories. She knows that these people are her family and Maycomb is her home, but at the same time she doesn’t belong to them at all—she feels like just “a stranger at a cocktail party.”