To Kill a Mockingbird Chapter 1-8 Questions

6) Although Atticus did not want his children in court, he defends Jem's right to know what has happened. Explain, in your own words, Atticus's reasons for this

What can the reader infer from Jem’s reaction to Atticus’ request for him to get the wrapping paper out of the pantry?

This quote shows that even when the Radley’s aren’t trying to hurt anybody, they still do. This shows the reader that all around the Radley’s are a terrible family that everybody is afraid of and too scared to confront them.

Jem’s relationship with Scout changes as he matures in the story. He goes from a fellow conspirator and playmate for his sister to her protector, resembling Atticus more and more with every chapter. In chapter 4, they are playing a game enacting what they perceive Boo Radley to be like. Atticus interrupts the game and inquires whether the game was about the Radley’s or not. Jem lies, saying no in response. In page 40, Scout yells in confusion and Jem remarks, “Shut up! He’s gone in the living room; he can hear us in there.” This shows his mischievous behaviour and the fact that he is still

In addition to his curiosity of the children, Boo also demonstrates acts of kindness and concern towards Jem and Scout. This is evident through two scenarios that occur; one involving Jem and the other involving Scout. When Jem leaves the Radley property after retrieving his pants that were stuck the fence, he realizes that the pants were mended and folded, as if someone was waiting upon his arrival. “When I went back, they were folded across the fence… like they were expecting me [...] like somebody could tell what I was gonna do. Can’t anybody tell what I’m gonna do lest they know me, can they, Scout?” (78). Jem’s realization of the situation signifies that Boo Radley does in fact pay attention to the children and wanted to do something nice for them. By mending Jem’s pants and folding them neatly for him, Boo had shown a kindness that they had not seen before. Boo had also shown his concern for the children on the night of the fire, when Miss Maudie's house was erupt in flames. The children were waiting outside for their father, and Boo realized that they must have been cold, so he went and put a blanket around Scout. Scout had not noticed this until she was back at home, when Jem suggested that Boo had put the blanket around her. “‘Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.’ ‘Thank who?’ I asked. ‘Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you’” (96).

In part one, Jem and Scout are terrified of Boo Radley because of stories they have heard. They have never actually seen or talked to him and yet they are still children and believe most of the things they hear. The stories about Boo eating cats and squirrels are enough to scare them out of their shoes. The children love to play the game they made called “Boo Radley” which always

Before, Jem would always be Scout’s playmate but now he tells her to “stop pestering him” and that she should start “bein’ a girl and acting right”. Jem now likes to be kept alone and feels as if Scout is a lot more childish than he had realized.

Throughout chapters 1-8 of To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee uses the tree with the knot-hole to impact Jem’s coming of age experience. She explains that Jem and Scout find gifts like: gum, coins, twine, and other things in the knot-hole of the tree, which represent articles that help Jem come of age. It has been previously presumed that it is most likely Boo Radley leaving these gifts for Jem and Scout. Because of Boo’s reputation this is hard to believe, but it shows that Boo is not as he seems to be. As proof, Lee quotes Jem asking Scout “‘You reckon we oughta write a letter to whoever’s leaving us these things?’” (Lee 81). This shows that Boo himself is different than he used to be as a kid, he is trying to be friendly towards Jem and Scout. It also shows that Jem is thankful for the gifts and that his impression of Boo is gradually changing. Similarly, Boo’s actions help to disprove the negative rumors about him. To further

Scout, Jem, and Dill work many summers to try to get Boo to come out of the Radley house for the first time in many years. Jem had been told many things about Boo in his short years in Maycomb, and he tells his sister Scout about the ‘monster’, saying, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (chap. 1). Jem’s ideas about Boo are very biased toward rumors that can be heard around Maycomb. This shows how Maycomb’s people often judge before they know, seeing as no one has seen Boo Radley in over twenty years and people are prejudiced to believing the unknown is always bad. Prejudice and rumors can often not be trusted and Boo Radley is no exception. After Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and half the town rushes outside to watch it burn, Atticus tells Scout, “someday you should thank him for covering you up” then Scout asks, “Thank Who?” And gets a response from Atticus, “Boo Radley. You were too busy looking at the fire, you didn’t even notice when he put the blanket around you” (chap. 8). Boo Radley is not really a bad person, he

Jem initially acts childish but starts to think and act like an adult to decisions where he previously would take the immature route. Jem demonstrates his child-like thinking with his vivid imagination. Jem’s imagination has distorted his image of Boo Radley a neighbor with a mysterious past Jem fictitiously describes Boo as a person

After Jem, Dill and I almost got shot on the Radley’s porch. Jem got stuck at the fence. His pants seemed to be stuck on one of the wires. He had no choice but to kick off his pants if he didn’t want to get caught. We all knew if we didn’t get to where all the neighbors where standing they would have of suspected us. So we ran over to where they were. Mr. Nathan was standing inside his gate with a shotgun. Atticus was standing beside Miss Maudie and Miss Stephanie Crawford. It was getting dark so we all had to go back in our houses and go to bed. I heard a squeak from Jem’s bed. “Jem, what are you doing”. “I am going back to the fence to get my pant before someone else finds them” Jem stated. I knew there was no use in arguing because it would

Firstly, Jem possesses amazing determination. In this intriguing novel, Jem’s determination pulls him through his life, through his childhood, the court case and the huge aftermath of court case. Jem, Dill and Scout devised methods of causing Mr. Arthur to show his face. Though none of them proved to be successful, the three constantly continued to think up ideas that would enable them to

Boo was extremely misunderstood. In chapter one, we find out that the entire neighborhood is afraid of Radley and his family. Everyone has made up stories about The Radleys. According to their neighbor, Miss Stephanie Crawford, he stabbed his dad with some scissors. In multiple chapters, Scout mentions that people have said that Boo eats wild animals. In chapter four, they mention that he bit off his mother’s fingers because he could not find any cats or squirrels to eat. Due to these stories about Boo, people wanted to kill him. Boo also never left his house. Scout’s brother Jem thought that Boo never left his house because his dad had him chained to the bed. While talking about misunderstanding people, Atticus hints at Boo and Walter Ewell. He tells her,

As Scout and Jem walk home from the pageant they got attacked by Mr. Ewell. They screamed for help and the only person that heard them was Arthur (Boo) Radley. So he ran out to rescue their lives. This is the first time Mr.Radley left his house and the first time Scout saw him. To most people it was a mystery how Mr. Radley looked. When he was at Scout’s house he went to the farthest corner and the people there acted as if Mr. Radley was invisible.

With nothing else to do, we decided to investigate. Jem ran into Atticus’s room and he asked, “Can me an’ Jem go out to play?”. “Alright just be back in time for supper.” voiced Atticus as he coddled one of his books. Quickly running outside we realized that the man would have vanished by now, but luckily enough Jem spied him just as he turned the corner at the boundary of our street and continued down the avenue. Our eyes glanced at each other, the sun was baking on our skin. Running out the door and down the steps, we raced towards the corner. We blew past the Radley place and ran to the corner. Stopping just before turning the corner, as we saw the inexplicable shadow of the man stopped and facing the opposite way, Jem peeked around it. When Jem turned his head back, his face was a bloodless white, and looked as if he had seen a