Monday, September 22, 2014

In Chapter 6 before they go to into Radley's yard, what do Dill and Jem see in the moon? In Chapter 6 after they go to into Radley's yard, what...

Dill and Jem see "the lady" in the moon that rises above Maycomb that night. As they sneak out, Jem notices:



He pointed to the east. A gigantic moon was rising behind Miss Maudie's pecan trees. "That makes it seem hotter," he said.


"Cross in it tonight?" asked Dill, not looking up. He was constructing a cigarette from newspaper and string.


"No, just the lady. Don't light that thing, Dill, you'll stink up this whole end of town." There was a lady in the moon in Maycomb. She sat at a dresser combing her hair.



Similar to the idea of the "man in the moon" or, more sinister, "the Reaper", there is "a lady" evident in the moon on certain nights in Maycomb. Often, people would consider different images in the moon as signs of different kinds of luck, good or bad.


Later, as they escape the Radley house, Jem gets his pants caught on the fence and is forced to leave them if he wants to get away without getting caught. Yet the gunshot that Mr. Radley fires awakens the neighborhood, & Jem's lack of pants is soon discovered. Dill quickly works up a fib on the spot:



"Ah - I won 'em from him," he said vaguely.




"Won them? How?"




Dill's hand sought the back of his head. He brought it forward and across his forehead. "We were playin' strip poker up yonder by the fishpool," he said.




Jem and I relaxed. The neighbors seemed satisfied: they all stiffened. But what was strip poker?



So Dill "confesses" that he won Jem's pants in a game of strip poker. the fact that Scout has no understanding of the game reveals her immaturity at this point in the story. Dill however sees an opportunity to swap a small transgression for a big one, & he figures it's better to get in trouble for strip poker than sneaking into someone's yard & nearly getting killed.

No comments:

Post a Comment