TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Chapters 6-11

CHAPTER 6 Spying on Boo

ADVENTURE AT NIGHT It is Dill’s last night in Maycomb before he returns home to Mississippi

The kids decide to spy on Boo Radley

Why do they wait until this night? No one could see them at night Atticus was involved in reading a book

It was easier to see into a dark house in the dark

If Boo killed them, they’d miss school instead of summer vacation

DANGER AWAITS Scout warns Jem and Dill that it is too dangerous

Jem’s reply (page 52) “I declare to the Lord you’re getting’ more like a girl every day!”

Scout takes this statement as an insult

They go to the Radley backyard. The gate is stuck so they spit on the hinges to prevent it from squeaking

The yard is full of chickens—this poses a problem as they could set off an alarm

BEHIND THE RADLEY HOUSE

There are two doors in the back and a window

Scout and Jem boost Dill up to look in the window. He can’t see anything

They go to the back step; it squeaks. They see a shadow of a man with a hat on

They run off and gun shots are fired over their heads

STUCK IN THE FENCE Jem’s pants get caught in the barbed wire fence. He ends up leaving them there

All the neighbors are out front. Nathan Radley (Boo’s older brother) is standing with his shot gun. He thinks he shot a Negro trying to steal collard greens from his garden

Jem has no pants on (Miss Rachel notices). Dill makes up a story that he won Jem’s pants in a game of strip poker

After everyone goes to bed, Jem gets up and goes back to get his pants

CHAPTER 7 Pants and Presents

JEM’S PANTS

School begins. Scout is now in second grade. Not much has changed

Jem relates what happened when he went back to get his pants They were mended, but like a child would have done.

They were folded over the fence like they were waiting for Jem to come and get them

Who fixed Jem’s pants?

PRESENTS IN THE TREE

Jem and Scout find more presents in the knot hole in the tree: a ball of twine (string), a package of gum, a spelling medal, 2 soap dolls that look like Jem and Scout and a pocket watch that does not work with a pocket knife attached

Who is leaving things in the knot hole for Jem and Scout?

Scout and Jem decide to write a thank you note

MESSAGE CENTER AVERTED

When they go to leave it in the knot hole, the knot hole is filled with cement

Nathan Radley plugged up the knot hole with cement

Nathan Radley says he is filling up the knot hole because the tree is dying.

When Jem asks Atticus he tells her it is not because the branches have new shoots

CHAPTER 8 Fire and Ice

SNOW IN MAYCOMB

Unusual occurrence in Alabama—it snows!

School is canceled and the kids make a snowman that looks like Mr. Avery (a large man who lives at Miss Maudie’s boarding house).

Atticus tells them to change it They make it into a woman

FIRE AT MISS MAUDIE’S

Miss Maudie’s house burns down that night

Atticus sends Jem and Scout to stand in front of the Radley house for safety

All the adults are helping out with the fire

A BLANKET FOR SCOUT

Someone put a blanket around Scout as she stood looking at the fire—who?

Atticus says “. . . looks like all of Maycomb was out tonight in one way or another. “ (72)

CHAPTER 9 Racial Slurs and Christmas

A TALK WITH ATTICUS

Scout fights with Cecil Jacobs at school because Cecil said Atticus defended Niggers (racial slur)

Atticus scolds Scout for fighting

He explains he is defending a Negro man named Tom Robinson

WORKING ON THE CASE

Most of the town believe that Atticus should put no effort into defending Tom Robinson

The case has been postponed until the summer Gives Atticus time to build a defense

Atticus is not prejudiced like the rest of the town

He tells Scout to back down from another fight with Cecil

CHRISTMAS

Christmas comes and Uncle Jack (Atticus’s brother, a doctor) comes to stay

Scout and Jem get air rifles for Christmas

The family goes to Finches Landing for Christmas

FINCHES LANDING

Aunt Alexandra (Atticus’s sister) and her husband Jimmy are running the family farm

Their grandson Francis (a snotty little boy) stays with them

Aunt Alexandra believes that Scout needs to act and dress like a girl

TELLING HER SIDE Francis calls Atticus a Nigger Lover

He and Scout get into a fight

Uncle Jack punishes Scout without getting the whole story.

She does get to tell her side once they get back to Maycomb.

Scout tells Uncle Jack he is unfair

Scout needs to learn to control her temper.

She is very proud

She has a strong love of family

TROUBLES AHEAD Atticus and Jack talk about the case

Atticus knows he is going to lose because of the racial prejudice that exists in the town.

It is a black man’s word against a white woman’s word

He knows the jury will be prejudiced

Atticus also knows the case will affect Scout and Jem

CHAPTER 10 “One-shot Finch”

BORING DAD

Children’s perspective of their father is presented in this chapter: Atticus is old (almost 50) He wears glasses He won’t play tackle football like the rest of the fathers

He works in an office (not exciting)

He doesn’t hunt or fish He doesn’t play poker He reads every night in the living room

SYMBOL AND THEME Atticus would not teach them to shoot their air rifles. He wants them to shoot at tin cans

He tells them they can shoot blue jays but not mockingbirds

Symbol: mockingbird

Theme: “It is a sin to kill a mockingbird”

Who are the mockingbirds in the novel?

THEME

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

Miss Maudie Atkinson

WHAT ATTICUS CAN DO

Miss Maudie tries to convince Scout that Atticus can do things:He can make a will airtight (unbreakable)

He is the best checkers player

He is the best jew’s harp player

WAITING FOR THE KILL

Incident with the rabid dog (Tim Johnson is the dog’s name) The dog is twitching and walking slowly down the road Calpurnia calls the neighbors and Atticus Atticus and Sheriff Tate arrive

ONE-SHOT FINCH

Sheriff Tate tells Atticus to shoot the dog

Atticus shoots the dog in one shot

The children learn Atticus’s nickname when he was young was “One-shot Finch”

This impresses Jem and Scout. Jem states he wants to be just like Atticus when he grows up.

CHAPTER 11 Mrs. Dubose

MRS. DUBOSE

Mrs. Dubose is the mean, old lady who lives on Jem and Scout’s street

She has a Negro housekeeper

She is very ill (dying)

She always taunts Jem and Scout Tells them they will never amount to anything

Atticus tells them to ignore her

TAUNTED BY MRS. DUBOSE

Jem gets money for his twelfth birthday and decides to go to town to spend it.

As they pass by Mrs. Dubose’s house, she tells them that “they’ll never amount to anything except waiting on tables”

She taunts them further by telling them Atticus is “lawin’ for niggers”; this shows her prejudice

TRASHING THE GARDEN

On the way home, Jem takes the baton he bought for Scout and trashes the camellias in her garden

Jem knows he will get in trouble for his actions

READING AS A PUNISHMENT

As his punishment, he must go daily (except Sunday) for two hours/day for a month to read to Mrs. Dubose

At first she pays attention, but as the days go by, she begins to pay less attention.

At the end, she is back to paying attention again

MORPHINE ADDICT

Mrs. Dubose finally dies

We learn she was a morphine addict and did not want to die addicted to the drug.

She was using the reading sessions to wean herself off the morphine

She wanted to die beholden to nothing or no one

FORGIVENESS

She sends Jem a boxed camellia to tell him she forgave him

Atticus considers her one of the bravest people he knows