8
In this Chapter, and for the first time in years, Maycomb county suffers a real winter. It even snows, an event rare enough for school to be closed. Jem and Scout collected as much snow as they could from Miss Maudie’s yard to their own. Since they didn't have enough snow to make a full showman, they made one out of dirt and covered it with snow. They tried to make it look like Mr. Avery, a weird man who lives down the street. The figure’s likeness to Mr. Avery is so strong that Atticus tells them to disguise it. Jem places Miss Maudie’s sunhat on its head and sticks her hedge clippers in its hands.
That night, Atticus wakes Scout and helps her put on her bathrobe and coat and goes outside with her and Jem. When they arrive, they see that Miss Maudie’s house is on fire. The neighbors tried to help her save her furniture, and the firemen arrived in time to stop the fire from spreading to other houses, but Miss Maudie’s house burned to the ground. In the confusion, someone covered Scout with a blanket. When Atticus later asks her about it, she says she had no idea who put it over her. Later, Jem realizes that Boo Radley put it on her, and he reveals the whole story about the knothole, the presents, and the mended pants for Atticus. Atticus tells them to keep it to themselves, and Scout, realizing that Boo was behind her a while ago, nearly throws up.Despite having lost her house, Miss Maudie is cheerful the next day. She tells the children how much she hated her old house and that she is planning to build a smaller one to have a larger garden. She says that she wishes she had been there when Boo put the blanket on Scout to catch him in the act.
9
At school, Scout nearly starts a fight with a classmate named Cecil Jacobs after Cecil declares that “Scout Finch’s daddy defends niggers.” Atticus has been asked to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. It is a case he cannot hope to win, but he tells Scout that he must argue it to uphold his sense of justice and self-respect.
At Christmastime, Atticus’s brother, Jack, comes to stay with Atticus for a week during the holidays. Scout generally gets along well with Uncle Jack, but when he arrives in Maycomb, she begins cursing in front of him (a habit that she has recently picked up). After supper, Jack has Scout sit on his lap and he warns her not to curse in his presence. On Christmas Day, Atticus takes his children and Jack to Finch’s Landing, a rambling old house in the country where Atticus’s sister, Alexandra, and her husband live. There, Scout endures Francis, Alexandra’s grandson, who had been dropped off at Finch’s Landing for the holiday. Scout thinks Francis is the most “boring” child she has ever met. She also has to put up with the prim and proper Alexandra, who insists that Scout dress like a lady instead of wearing pants.One night, Francis tells Scout that Dill is a runt and then calls Atticus a “nigger-lover.” Scout curses him and beats him up. Francis tells Alexandra and Uncle Jack that Scout hit him, and Uncle Jack spanks her without hearing her side of the story. After they return to Maycomb, Scout tells Jack what Francis said and Jack becomes furious. Scout makes him promise not to tell Atticus, however, because Atticus had asked her not to fight anyone over what is said about him. Jack promises and keeps his word. Later, Scout overhears Atticus telling Jack that Tom Robinson is innocent but doomed, since it’s inconceivable that an all-white jury would ever acquit him.
