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In the book To Kill a Mockingbird a part of the plotline is an upcoming court trial of a black man. His defense attorney is a father of two who is talking about the future case with his young daughter. Most people in town are not pleased with him defending this man. He says to her:

This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience—Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.”

I don't understand what "go" means in this context. The only definition I could find that fits is:

(intransitive) To belong (somewhere).
Synonyms: belong, have a place
My shirts go on this side of the wardrobe.
This piece of the jigsaw goes on the other side. (Wiktionary)

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  • Your third paragraph asks about 'get'; it should be 'go/ goes'. Commented Dec 8, 2024 at 2:58
  • I think it's about 64 years too late to worry about spoilers for that book! Commented Dec 8, 2024 at 9:16
  • The mockingbird dies! Commented Dec 9, 2024 at 22:32

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Collins Dictionary sense 15 for go says

If something goes into something else, it is put in it as one of the parts or elements that form it.

In the OP’s quoted paragraph, the defense attorney was telling his daughter that taking up that case was crucial, as if his conscience or that of anyone in that situation would be incomplete without it.

go

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  • When you used "take up" in your answer while saying "was telling his daughter that taking up that case was crucial" did you mean it in this sense: accept an offer or challenge. "most residents took up the offer of refurbished equipment" Similar: accept say yes to agree to accede to adopt get Commented Dec 8, 2024 at 15:57
  • Also, is this the same sense of "go" in the common collocation "it goes to the very heart of..."? Commented Dec 8, 2024 at 16:03
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    Identical meaning. The two phrases are perfectly synonymous. One cannot claim to be a man of conscience yet fail to hecome involved in the matter. The situation, in going to the heart or essence, is so clear that there's no wafflng on the matter. As in the Talking Heads lyric, "a straight line exists between me and the good thing. I have seen that line and its direction is known to me." Commented Dec 9, 2024 at 1:47
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    @Static Bounce, yes, taking up that case means accepting it. Your understanding of go is right too. TimR explained it well. Commented Dec 9, 2024 at 5:28
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OP is correct in marking in bold the phrase - goes to the essence..
Essence = the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, which determines its character.

You can’t consider each word individually — doing so would lead to confusion. And you won’t be able to understand the phrase by looking at all the meanings of the verb - "go".
But your comment is correct - “goes to the essence” is a collocation, similar in meaning to “goes to the heart of” or “goes to the core of.”

So the sentence means:
He took the case and decided to help the man because of his conscience — it touched something deep and essential within him.

These examples will help you understand the meaning of the collocation:

Examples:

Like most things, the fastest way to understand something is to go to the essence - what Rumelt calls the kernel of strategy..
.
The mistake must go to the essence of why the contract was made by the parties..
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The BFOQ concerns a characteristic that goes to the essence of the business. In other words, the proper and necessary operation of the business depends on the discrimination based on that particular trait.

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  • go to + noun is an idiomatic phrase. Not a "collocation". Why say the OP is correct in marking the phrase?? Commented May 8 at 13:35
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    @Lambie Isn't it possible for an idiomatic phrase to also be a collocation ? A collocation is made up of two or more words that are commonly used together in English. Think of collocations as words that usually go together. Some of the most common collocations involve verb + noun collocations used in everyday situations. Commented May 8 at 19:11
  • Collocation is this kind of thing: dolls and kids collocates with toys. It means single words found along with another term in a type of text. Collocation does not refer to a single phrase on its own. Commented May 8 at 19:36

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