Position:Home>Books & Authors> This is a question to do with Harper Lee's To KIll A Mockingbird

Jem and Scout have grown up close neighbours to Boo!. they have never seen him but their childish imagination weaves stories about his life and how come he never steps out of his house!. It is only when Dill comes into their lives that they get the idea(originally Dill's idea) to try to get Boo to get out of his house!. Dill's coming is associated with that idea but it does not mean that Jem's broken arm has anything to do with Boo Radley!. It is a general introduction that Scout is giving us by mentionin people(Dill) and incidents(making Boo come out) taht we will encounter in the book later on!. If you go back to the beginning where Scout says that if it began with Dill, it might also have begun with when the first Finch came to the landing!. What she simply wants to point out here is that had the family not settle down in Maycomb, none of all this would have happened(meeting with Dill, planning on ways to make Boo appear, the trial of Tom robinson, the hatred of Bob Ewell and his eventual revenge on Scout and Jem which results in Jem's broken arm)!.

I believe that what Jem is refering to in fact is neither Dill nor Boo but to the 'summer' in which Dill came to Maycomb!. he is rerfering to the time, the period at which their problems started!. It is in that summer or around that time that Atticus is going to start the Tom Robinson case!. The children find ways to divert themselves and in so doing plaan to make Boo radley come out of his house!. In a certain way, that saves the life of Jem and Scout at the end of the book!. Although Boo makes no apparition he finds a way to tell the children he is friends with them!. He leaves little gifts for them, covers a cold Scout on the night when Miss maudie's house is burnt down, mends Jem's pants after disentangling them from the wire netting and finally saves their lives at the end!. He is a sort of guardian angel for the two children who probably remind him of his childhood!.

It is boo who stabs Mr Ewell, not Jem!. If you re-read the part where Heck Tate is speaking to Atticus on the porch, you will see that Atticus is so distraught for not only is Jem badly hurt but he believes that Jem had killed Ewell!. Mr Tate tries to explain to him that he will say Ewell fell on his knife, being already dead drunk, but Atticus speaks about his principles and says that Jem had to take the responsibility for waht he has done, although out of self defence!. Mr Tate then says that it is someone else he is trying to protect- it's not Jem but Arthur(Boo)!. Being of a retiring nature it would not do to expose Boo to public eyes and admiration for what he has done under the guise of praising him!. Such an action would cause more harm than good to Boo!.

Scout undertands before Atticus what Mr Tate is trying to say and tries to explain to her father what would best be done in the situation!. She is sure of what has happened although this was not the case when she had first started narrating what had happened to her!. By understanding the ultimate necessity if covering Boo, Scout grows up!. She loses a little more of her innocence!. She accompanies Boo back home and puts herself in his place as she stands on the Radley porch, knowing that Boo was the one person who had given her life once again!.

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Scout's basically saying that trying to get Boo Radley to come out is what started it all!. It didnt have anything, really, to do with Tom Robinson getting into trouble, or Mr!. Ewell hating them, but I *think* it kind of made them bond more with Boo, which is why he saved them!.

It's also a good starting place for the book!.

And Boo stabbed Mr!. Ewell!. Jem didnt have a knife!. Scout thought it was Jem, but everyone knew it was Boo--they didnt arrest him, because it would have made him a hero for saving those kids and he didnt want or need the attention!. He was a *very* private person, and attention wouldn't have benefited him at all!.

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Mr Ewell attacks Scout!. Jem tries to shove him out of the way, hence the broken arm!.

Ewell was stabbed by Boo but Atticus believed it was Jem!. The sheriff later explained that it was Boo!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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