Chapters 27-28: The AttackLearning objective:

I can interpret the key events of the attack on the children through the perspective of Arthur Radley.

Chapter 26 summary• School starts again; Jem and Scout pass by the Radley place every day –

the story begins to come full circle as they are both now too old to be frightened by the house

• Scout’s now in the 3rd grade; her teacher, Miss Gates, lectures the class on the wickedness of Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and on the virtues of equality and democracy. Scout listens and later asks Jem how Miss Gates can preach about equality when she came out of the courthouse after the trial and told Miss Stephanie Crawford that it was “about time that someone taught the blacks in town a lesson”. HYPOCRISY

• SIGNIFICANCE: The dissipation of Jem and Scout’s youthful fear of Boo reflects how the trial has toughened them and how, in the wake of the trial’s injustice and Bob Ewell’s threats, the children have become increasingly entangled in the more serious concerns of the adult world. 

Chapter 27 summary• Bob Ewell gets a job with the WPA, one of the Depression job programs, and

loses it a few days later; he blames Atticus. It was very difficult to lose one of these government-provided jobs.

• Bob is also seen creeping around Judge Taylor’s house and stalking Helen Robinson.

• Link Deas sees Ewell and threatens to have him arrested if he doesn’t leave Helen alone; he gives her no further trouble.

• SIGNIFICANCE: The aura of scariness attached to the name “Boo” has dissolved into curiosity, perhaps even into fondness. As Jem and Scout gain a greater understanding of Boo, he seems less like a town freak to them and more, in a strange way, like a pet or even a friend. Scout still expresses a wish to see Boo someday. These memories restore Boo Radley to the reader’s consciousness, which has been occupied with the trial for most of Part Two, thereby foreshadowing Boo’s appearance a few chapters later.. 

Significance of these chapters• Lee devotes large parts of these chapters to building tension and

suspense by focusing on the unpredictable threat that Bob Ewell poses.

• Bob poses a hint at the damage caused by those who act without conscience.

• SIGNIFICANCE: Jem has become disillusioned; he shuts himself off from the painful memory of the trial. Bob Ewell’s threats are not the only dark cloud hanging over the Finch

household in this section: the injustice of the trial has changed Jem irrevocably.

“To Kill a Mockingbird”: Diary Entry – Chapters 26-31This is the secret diary of Arthur Radley (Boo)!!At the end of the novel we realize that Arthur (Boo) Radley has never stopped watching the children, and that he has foreseen the danger from Bob Ewell. .Imagine that Arthur keeps a diary, in which he writes about what he has seen and how he makes sure that the children are safe. Write 2 short diary entries to cover the main events of the final chapters of the novel. (Chapter 26-31).

Diary entry 1: Early September• How do you (Boo) feel about the court case and the verdict? How do you

(Boo) feel about the effect it has had on the children?• Bob threatens Atticus at the post office corner…. Do you (Boo) feel that the

threat is to be taken seriously? Are you (Boo) worried about the children?

Diary entry 2: Late October… • You (Boo) heard a scream and ran to help the children … Describe what

happened under the tree in the school yard.• You (Boo) go to the Finches house with the children, and watch while the

doctor tends to Jem. Atticus introduces you (Boo) to Scout.• You (Boo), Heck Tate (Sheriff) and Atticus sit on the porch and discuss what

happened. Write in your diary the thoughts that you (Boo) did not discuss on the porch.

• Scout walks you (Boo) home. How do you (Boo) feel about this?