Chapter 4
1. What does Scout think of current fashions in education?
Scout is very bored in school. She wants to read and her teacher won’t let her. She can already hand write and her teacher wants her to wait until third grade to do that. Scout feels school is a waste of time.
2. What superstitions do the children have in connection with the Radley house?
The nuts that fall off the tree into the school yard are poison. Boo comes out and haunts the town at night. They run past the house whenever they pass it alone.
3. Why do the children make Boo's story into a game?
They are bored with all their other “plays.” Boo is a mystery to them and they want to imagine what his life must have been like. They know they are doing something wrong and that might add an element of excitement as well.
4. What do they do in this game? Do you think the game is an accurate version of what happens in the Radleys' home?
In the game they act out everything they have ever heard about Boo’s life plus they make up dialogue that they think might have happened. Scout plays Boo’s mother, Dill plays the father, Jem plays Boo. For all the other roles, they double up parts as needed. The big scene is where Boo attacks his father with a pair of scissors which they sneak out of Calpurnia’s sewing basket.
5. What might be the cause of the laughter from inside the house?
Maybe Boo watches the children and he thinks it looks funny to see a little girl rolling in a tire then crashing into his gate.