hroughout history there has been a constant battle between whether something is a public good or a private good. There have been many situations in which the public good has been seen as private; the private good seen as public. To Kill a Mockingbird is an excellent example of a novel filled with these situations. The novel shows us many times that the private good, is turned into public good; and public good seen as private good. A moment in the novel when the public good and private good are in conflict is when Miss Caroline offers Walter a quarter for lunch not knowing his situation. Most people knew of his situation, but Miss Caroline thought that he would be able to pay her back. This causes Scout to say, “The Cunninghams never took anything
