Jiminy Cricket: A cricket, a curse, and a conscience. The term “Jiminy Cricket” was once used as a replacement to eschew profanity, thereby keeping a good conscience. Considering this, the name was used to portray the role of a wooden boy’s conscience in Pinocchio, a prominent cartoon with a strong moral: the importance of decisions. When someone struggles to make a decision, they hesitate. Hesitation in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, portrays a consistent pattern of a person’s conscience, repeatedly changing the outcome of a decision through the absorption of new information and reconsideration of obsolete thought processes. Lee presents this position with how adults hesitate because of youth, character’s wariness of not overstepping, and fear of injury.

To be able to experience growth and development, a person must be aware of their surroundings, specifically the children within them. As Scout approaches Mr. Cunningham outside the jail, she has a one way conversation with him in hopes of reaching him and somehow resolving an adult conflict. She tries to talk about his son and his entailment “in a last ditch effort to make him feel at home.” (Lee 175). Her objective is to converse with him on a personal level in order to make him recognize this new situation around him. As she talks, he feels uncomfortable and hesitates, stopping her from pursuing the group’s goal, coaxing Tom Robinson out of the jail. This hesitation implies that his way of thinking is changing, from business to personal. At this moment, Atticus is conflicted with his decisions as well. He is not certain whether to continue to attempt to persuade the children to go back home or allow Scout to try a different approach. He assimilates the fact that Mr. Cunningham feels uncomfortable and acknowledges that his children are capable of more and more everyday. “Atticus’s mouth, even, was half open,” which he has described as, “uncouth” (176) suggesting that even he is shocked at the rather audacious approach that Scout takes. His hesitation shows the readers that he is slowly changing his way of thinking towards his children, resulting in his conscience telling him to let Scout handle the situation. 

A person's fear of overstepping may be overcome when someone else is there to provide guidance. Atticus’s conscience struggles to decide if Scout could handle a scary story after a rather eventful day. Originally, he thinks that his children are weakened because of the life threatening incident, and will have major difficulty with moving forward. “Atticus opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again,” (323) and in that brief moment of hesitation, he focuses on new information that Scout provides: the fact that she is, allegedly, not scared. His reasoning changes to having confidence in Scout, allowing her to go to bed with the affirmation that she is brave enough to handle scary situations. This fear of overstepping can occur physically as well. After Jem injured his arm, Boo comes to visit him in his room. “Boo’s hand came up, but he let it drop to his side,” (320), he is diffident and anxious that Jem may wake up when he touches him and place him in a difficult position. As Scout encourages him, he hesitates once more, taking his time to decide whether he should trust her assurances. As a social recluse it is more difficult to change his mind but eventually he gives in and pats Jem’s hair. Even though this does not mean he will immediately feel more comfortable socializing, this is a fairly important development in the path towards a possible change, slightly altering the way he thinks about social situations.

When a person has a fear of injuring themself, they may hesitate in the face of danger. This is shown when Jem and Scout are walking back from the Halloween parade. Jem tells Scout to be quiet numerous times so he can prove that nothing is nearby after having heard something in the dark. He hesitates to inform Scout of his suspicions because he does not want to cause her to panic. However, during his pauses, he comes to the realization that something dangerous may be lurking and slowly contemplates if letting Scout know would be beneficial. As he becomes more certain, he takes this new information that changes his way of thinking to worry that they may be in great jeopardy, and he confirms his fear of injury by screaming, “Run, Scout! Run! Run!” (301). Another example of hesitation when someone has a fear of injury takes place during Tom Robinson’s court case. Mayella is conflicted between her dad and justice for both her and Tom. When Atticus asks, “is he good to you,” referring to her dad, she replies with, “He does tollable, ‘cept when–” (209). She pauses before finishing her sentence, glancing at her father and hesitating to continue. This happens again when Atticus asks if her father has ever abused her. Mayella’s thinking oscillates between telling the truth and lying for the sake of her own safety. If she decides to tell the truth, there will still only be a slim chance that Tom can win the case. As a result, she would be forced to head back home to an abusive father who would suffer no consequences. Even though she still denies the abuse, her hesitation towards that decision shows that she had considered the idea that she might be safe from harm if she spoke out about her relationship with her father. This new information and new hope shows that Atticus may have an opportunity to transform law as they know it, which is a big first step towards justice for all people and for growth and change in the obsolete ways of law. 

Harper Lee enforces the idea that new information being absorbed can lead to changes in old ways of thinking by creating a pattern of hesitation. Although the development of ways of thinking may not come instantly, hesitation gives readers intimations of signs of growth and progress. When a person ponders the possibility of something, it brings them one step closer to the actual change being made. This idea shows how easily the world can change and be influenced by the smallest amount of new knowledge.