To Kill a Mockingbird

The night before summer ends and the school year begins, Dill and Jem decide to look in the Radley window. When Scout protests, Jem taunts her, saying she’s “gettin’ more like a girl every day!” (58). Reluctantly, Scout comes along.

The three children sneak through the yard. Scout and Jem lift Dill up to peek through a window. All Dill sees is “a little teeny light off somewhere” (59) before Scout sees the ominous shadow of Nathan Radley approaching. The children escape through a gate by the schoolyard as a gunshot rings out. Jem’s pants get caught on gate; he’s so afraid he runs off without them.

The neighborhood gathers, curious about the shot. Miss Stephanie, the neighborhood gossip, claims that Nathan Radley “shot at a Negro in his collard patch” (61). Atticus notices Jem’s lack of pants; Dill lies and says that he won the pants playing strip poker. Atticus is skeptical and advises Jem to settle the matter with Dill on his own.

Averse to the idea of being punished by Atticus, who “ain’t ever whipped me since I can remember” (63), Jem ventures back to the Radley yard to retrieve his pants. Scout nervously listens for Atticus and watches for Jem’s white shirt bobbing homeward in the dark. 

A few days after the Radley gunshot incident, Jem tells Scout what happened when he returned for his pants. He says that he found the pants mended and neatly folded over the gate, like someone was expecting him.

Scout and Jem begin to find more items in the tree knothole, including twine, two soap figures carved into likenesses of Jem and Scout, more gum (which they chew freely), a tarnished spelling medal, and a pocket watch. They write a thank you letter and leave it in the hole. The next day, the children witness Nathan Radley patching the hole with cement. He claims he is doing this because the tree is dying.

When the children inquire with Atticus about the health of the tree, he says it is not in fact dying. However, when they explain that they saw Mr. Radley patching the hole with cement, Atticus muses, “Well maybe it is. I’m sure Mr. Radley knows more about his trees than we do” (71).

Maycomb experiences a strangely cold winter that includes a light snowfall. The children build a snowman with snow they borrow from Miss Maudie’s yard. At first, they build the snowman in the likeness of Miss Stephanie, then morph the snowman’s characteristics to resemble Mr. Avery, another neighbor. Atticus tells them the snowman looks too much like Mr. Avery and disguises their caricature by placing Miss Maudie’s sunhat on its head.

That night, they wake to Miss Maudie’s house burning down. Atticus tells them to wait by the safety of the Radley house. Members of neighborhood rescue Maudie’s furniture, but her house burns to the ground.

In the midst of the chaos, Scout doesn’t notice Boo Radley place a blanket over her shoulders. When Atticus asks about the blanket, Jem tells him about the gifts in the tree and the mended pants on the fence. Atticus hopes they’ll find some way to thank Boo in the future, implying it would be unwise to thank Boo directly.

The next morning, Miss Maudie is oddly cheerful despite the loss of her house. She claims she’ll now have more room for flowers in her yard.