After Scout being scared of many things in life, the fearlessness in Jem, her older brother, shows how much Scout can trust and rely on him to be there for her through terrifying times. When Scout, Jem and Dill sneak through the Radley's house and shortly after hear a gun shot, they run and Jem looses his pants trying to jump over the fence. But, when he goes back out to find the pants he finds them neatly hanging, as if someone knew he was coming back. "...They were all in a tangle when I was gettin' out of 'em... when i went back they were folded across the fence.. like they were expectin' me....they'd been sewed up... -somebody knew you were comin' back for 'em" (Lee 78). Jem is the fearless older brother to Scout, and had been holding this information in for days. But, when it was just him and Scout he decided to open up and sound less fearless and more scared. Jem means to say to Scout that he thinks Mr.Radley knew he was coming back for the pants, so Mr. Radley took them and folded them up. Jem is saying that Mr. Radley knows what he did and if he does it again, he will come after Jem. This comment helps the reader understand that even though in the beginning the little kids were just joking around, this is not a joke anymore. The seriousness and fear in Jem's words make it seem even more serious and not a joke to both Jem and Scout. Jem is trying to not make Scout more scared, but to show her not to joke around anymore and that it was a bad idea in the beginning Scout trusts Jem more than anyone in the world because they are so close and when Jem said this, it made Scout trust him more that he will always protect her and will still be her fearless older brother.
Why do you think Jem said this to Scout? Do you think he was scared when he got the pants? Do you think Jem is fearless? Do you think Scout loves Jem more than anyone in the world?
If Mr. Radley wanted to warn Jem to stay away from his house or scare him, why would he sew and fold his pants? How does that show Jem that Mr. Radley is out to get them? Couldn't that have just been an act of kindness on Mr. Radley's part? Maybe he is trying to show them that the rumors about him and his brother aren't true. I agree that Jem is scared but I don't think Mr. Radley intended to scare Jem with the pants.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jem was not only scared, but he was also confused. If Mr. Radley was the one who folded Jem's pants, Jem would have a right to be confused because he was snooping in Radley's yard trying to get a look at "The crazy guy" in there. Yet Mr. Radley doesn't go and do anything harmful to Jem, he kindly fixes his pants up for him.
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