Thursday, August 25, 2016

In To Kill a Mockingbird, when Atticus asks Scout about the blanket around her shoulders, what does Jem realize?

Since everyone in the neighborhood is preoccupied with the fire at Miss Maudie's house, Jem and Scout find themselves down the street and watching from afar, so as not to get in the way. This places them near the Radley house. As they watch all of the adults scramble to help Miss Maudie, neither Jem or Scout notice someone drape a blanket across Scout's shivering shoulders. It isn't until Atticus questions the blanket's presence that either of them question its appearance.


Since Jem has a few years of maturity on Scout, he makes the connection between their location, the neighborhood's preoccupation with the fire, and the blanket to understand that Boo Radley had emerged from hiding to give the blanket to Scout. Jem realizes that the distraction of the fire provided Boo another instance of making contact with himself and Scout. This is why he proceeds to tell Atticus about the gifts left in the tree in front of the Radley house and his newly mended pants that he left on the Radley property when they got caught in the Radleys' fence. 


With this connection, Jem is sure that Boo is the one to give Scout the blanket, as a majority of the neighborhood was busy tending the fire and no one else would have been nice enough to give Scout a blanket and leave without making his presence known. From this point, Jem views Boo as less of a freaky interest and more as a human being. 

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