Old Mrs. Radley died that winter, but her death caused hardly a ripple—the neighborhood seldom saw her, except when she watered her cannas. Jem and I decided that Boo had got her at last, but when Atticus returned from the Radley house he said she died of natural causes, to our disappointment. “AsN him,” Jem whispered.

At the beginning of Chapter 8, Mrs. Radley dies, and the community hardly notices. Jem and Scout are both upset when they learn that Mrs. Radley died of natural causes.

Expert Answers The death of Mrs. Radley is important for two reasons. First of all, it reveals the distinct social and cultural hierarchy that exists in Maycomb. The Radleys are looked down upon by respectable society on account of their religion as “foot-washing” Baptists.

Expert Answers Actually, Jem and Scout were disappointed at the cause of old Mrs. Radley’s death because the children had assumed that Boo would one day try to harm her just as he had once injured his father when he stabbed the old man with a pair of scissors.

T/F Scout withstood Cecil’s name calling and felt noble about it. What words did Uncle Jack not want to hear from Scout? T/F Atticus, when he spoke of the prejudice (Maycomb’s usual disease) that makes reasonable people go stark raving mad when it comes to Negroes, knew Scout was eavesdropping.

They are afraid of Boo Radley, because he has been described as a scary monster. When they see a shadow, they assume the monster is coming to kill them. Scout is afraid, and although Dill and Jem don’t admit it they are too.

Jem cries at the end of chapter 7 of To Kill a Mockingbird because he realizes that Nathan Radley has blocked up the knothole of the tree to stop his brother from communicating with the Finch children.

Why does Jem sneak out at 2 o’clock in the morning? He sneaks out to retrieve his pants. What happened to Jem, scout, and dill when the snuck to the back of the radley house to peek inside? They saw a shadow and gunshots fired so they got scared and ran.

Jem then lifts the bottom of the fence surrounding the Radley’s backyard as Scout and Dill crawl underneath it. When Jem follows them, his pants get caught in the fence wire and he is forced to kick them off his body.

Expert Answers In fact, their mother died when Scout was two and Jem was six; but, the bulk of the storytelling starts when Jem is ten years old and Scout is six. They meet Dill for the first time in chapter one, which covers the summer before Scout enters first grade in the fall.

Dill creates stories about his father to impress Scout and Jem. In reality, Dill has no relationship with his father. Scout later tries to catch Dill in a lie by mentioning his father’s beard. Dill is quick to tell her that his father does not have a beard.

He is a very small boy, and Scout describes him as having white hair like “duckfluff.” Dill is a very imaginative child, and he is intensely interested in Boo Radley’s house when the book opens.

However, after Dill modifies the challenge to just touching the house instead of trying to get Boo to come outside, Jem accepts. So, he touches the Radley house in order to not be accused of lacking courage and because doing so is not as frightening as the first proposal.

The children do not know it yet, but Boo Radley is a shy, compassionate man, who enjoys watching their antics from inside his home. Jem thinks he hears someone laughing inside the house when he is dared to touch it.

By touching the Radley house this shows that Jem will not back down from a dare even if he is scared. By being courageous Jem shows how he can persevere through a situation and overcome a dare. Another way that Jem shows courage is when Jem and Scout are being followed home.