Thursday, January 21, 2016

What is a memorable line/quote from chapters 7 and 8 of To Kill a Mockingbird?

In Chapter 7 and 8, Jem comes to understand Boo Radley but Scout is still wary of him.


One of the most memorable events from this chapter is the finding of the soap dolls.  Scout and Jem have been getting friendly with Boo Radley, but from a distance.  Boo leaves the soap dolls in the tree’s knothole for them to find.



I pulled out two small images carved in soap. One was the figure of a boy, the other wore a crude dress. Before I remembered that there was no such thing as hoo-dooing, I shrieked and threw them down. (Ch. 7)



Scout is still uncertain about Boo Radley.  As this chapter demonstrates, Jem is growing up and Scout is still in childhood.  Scout is afraid that the soap dolls are voodoo dolls at first.  However, the presence of the dolls is very touching.  It shows that Boo has been watching them and cares about them.


The children want to leave a thank you note in the hole, but when they go back to it someone has filled it with cement.  Nathan Radley is trying to prevent Boo from having further communication with the children.


When Scout finds a blanket on her shoulders during Miss Maudie’s fire, and doesn’t remember who put it there, Jem realizes that Boo Radley put the blanket there.  He gets upset, because he is afraid Atticus will report it to Nathan Radley and Boo will get in trouble.



“…Mr. Nathan put cement in that tree, Atticus, an‘ he did it to stop us findin’ things—he’s crazy, I reckon, like they say, but Atticus, I swear to God he ain’t ever harmed us, he ain’t ever hurt us…” (Ch. 8)



This quote demonstrates that Boo Radley is indeed a benevolent force.  It also shows that Jem is more mature than Scout.  Scout is afraid when she realizes that Boo put the blanket there.  There is plenty of evidence that Boo is a friend, but it takes Scout longer to connect the dots than Jem.

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