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In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, does Scout successfully "hold [her] head up and fists down?" And if so, how successful is she?

Yes. At the beginning of Chapter 9, Cecil Jacobs announces that Scout's daddy defends niggers while all their classmates are playing in the schoolyard. Scout is furious and tells Cecil to take it back while she clenches her fists. Scout mentions that Atticus had warned her about fighting and said she was way too big and old for such "childish things." Scout resists the temptation to hit Ceciland instead asks Jem what Cecil meant...

Yes. At the beginning of Chapter 9, Cecil Jacobs announces that Scout's daddy defends niggers while all their classmates are playing in the schoolyard. Scout is furious and tells Cecil to take it back while she clenches her fists. Scout mentions that Atticus had warned her about fighting and said she was way too big and old for such "childish things." Scout resists the temptation to hit Cecil and instead asks Jem what Cecil meant by saying Atticus defended niggers. Jem tells Scout to ask Atticus, and Atticus explains to Scout that he is defending a black man named Tom Robinson. Atticus urges Scout to try fighting with her head, and tells her not to let anyone get her "goat." The next day, Scout asks Cecil Jacobs if he is going to take back his comment about Atticus, and he says, "You gotta make me first!...My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an' that nigger oughta hang from the water-tank!" (Lee 102). Scout successfully keeps her cool and remembers what Atticus had told her. She drops her fists and walks away, while Cecil yells, "Scout's a cow---ward!" (Lee 102). Scout mentions that it was the first time in her life she had walked away from a fight. Letting Cecil Jacobs get away with making fun of Atticus and calling her a coward was an extremely difficult thing for her to let go. Scout felt that she would have let Atticus down by choosing to take a swing at Cecil, but is glad that she made the noble decision to walk away. Although Scout successfully controls her temper in the schoolyard, three weeks later she fights her cousin Francis Hancock after he calls Atticus a "nigger-lover."

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