“Scout!”I ran to him. Someone had filled our knot-hole with cement. “Don’t you cry, now, Scout…don’t cry now, don’t you worry-“he muttered at me all the way to school. When we went home for dinner Jem bolted his food, ran to the porch and stood on the steps. I followed him. “Hasn’t passed by yet,” he said. Next day Jem repeated his vigil and was rewarded. “Hidy do, Mr. Nathan,” he said. “Morning Jem, Scout,” said Mr. Radley, as he went by. “Mr. Radley,” said Jem. Mr. Radley turned around. “Mr.Radley, ah- did you put cement in that hole in that tree down yonder?”“Yes,” he said, “I filled it up.”“Why’d you do it, sir?”“Trees dying. You plug`em with the cement when they’re sick. You ought to know that, Jem”.”Jem said nothing more about it until the afternoon. When we passed our tree, he gave it a meditative pat on its cement, himself into bad humor, so I kept my distance. As usual, we met Atticus coming home from work that evening. When we were at our steps Jem said, “Atticus, look down yonder at that tree, please sir.”“What tree, son?”“The one on the corner of the Radley lot comin` from school.”“Yes?” “Is that tree dyin`?”Why no, son, I don’t think so. Look at the leaves, they’re all green and full, no brown patches anywhere-““It ain`t sick?”“The trees as healthy as you are, Jem. Why?”“Mr. Nathan Radley said that’s it dyin`.”“Well maybe it is. I’m sure Mr. Radley knows more about his tree than we do.”Atticus left us on the porch. Jem leaned on a pillar, rubbing his shoulders against it. “Do you itch, Jem?” I asked as politely as I could. He did not answer. “Come on in, Jem,” I said. “After while.”He stood there until nightfall, and I waited for him. When we went in the house, I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I thought it odd that I had not heard him.

In the beginning of the chapter, Jem tells Scout what happened when he went to get his pants and how he found is pants fixed and folded over the fence like someone was excepting him. I feel this is the point where Jem realizes that Boo isn’t actually as bad as the people in Maycomb say. The reason I chose this quote is because it shows the perspective of Scout and Jem, in the beginning they were really afraid of Boo Radley, and they thought that he was a monster and they let the gossip of the town affect their perspective on Boo. All the kids in Maycomb think that Boo is monster and they are deathly afraid of him. I feel like Jem matures a little because he has experienced that Scout hasn’t and I feel that’s why she still is scared of Boo. Scout and Jem started to get little trinkets and I feel like they connect Jem and Scout to Boo and when Mr. Radley put cement in the knot- hole they were disconnected from Boo. It was the only way they could communicate with Boo and the only way Boo could communicate with Jem and Scout. Jem tells Scout not to cry and that everything is going to be okay, this shows how much they got attached to the hole and how their whole perspective on Boo changed and how they actually cared about Boo. Scout talks about how she heard Jem cry at night, this also shows their attachment to the hole and I feel that Jem had a better understanding about Boo; nevertheless, so did Scout she really wasn’t the same as she was in the beginning of the book.

This passage also connects to Atticus perspective and how he sees everyone in Maycomb and how everyone else sees each other. From the beginning of the book Atticus has been a really compassionate, respectful and an honest person. I feel that Atticus is alienated in Maycomb because he is different than everyone else. One thing that makes him different is that he never talks about people behind their backs and always treats them with respect. When Jem asks Atticus why Mr. Radley put cement in the hole and whether the tree was dying, Atticus said that it wasn’t dying and that the leaves looked fresh and looked fine. Jem tells Atticus that Mr. Radley put cement in because he said it was dying, Atticus than changes and says that maybe it is dying and that Mr. Radley knows more about trees than he does. I feel a lot of people in Maycomb wouldn’t have done the same thing, they would have probably told their child that Mr. Radley is wrong and that they know more than he does. Atticus isn’t two-faced like everyone else in Maycomb he actually respects and cares about everyone in Maycomb. I think the reason he tells Scout and Jem to stop bothering Boo is because he knows who Boo really is and that all the people are spreading rumors that aren’t true at all. He never undermines anyone or “throws them under the bus”, because he knows that whatever someone does is their business and that they have a reason for doing it.

It connects to the novel because this is the chapter where you learn that Scout and Jem`s feelings toward Boo are different and they have changed. Some of the motifs that I chose for this passage there: Integrity, respect, innocence. These relate to the passage because Atticus shows integrity and respect when he doesn’t talk bad about Mr. Radley and doesn’t tell Jem and Scout that Mr. Radley is lying. This passage is important because it connects to different parts in the book, for example, when Miss. Stephanie talks about Boo and how he is a monster and how the kids should stay away from him. Atticus tells that kids that they should mind their own business and that Boo is probably in there for a good reason and that he doesn’t want to be disturbed. The main perspectives in this passage are Atticus, Jem and Scouts.