To Kill a Mockingbird Forum

1)In response to Scout's question about whether Boo is crazy, Maudie says:"If he's not he should be by now. The things that to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets--" What is she suggesting has happened to Boo? What kind of secrets in general might she be referring to?

2)Explain the "lawyer's trick" Atticus uses to get Jem to confess to the backyard Boo-dramas. [page 49]

3)Explain Miss Maudie's statement:". . . sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of--oh, your father," Can you imagine an instance(or think of an instance in your experience) when this might be true? Describe it.

4)What do you know about Dill that might explain why he wants Boo to come out and "sit a spell with us" in order to "feel better" ? Why, too, is it understandable that Dill lies so often and so well?

1. The fact that Arthur has been kept inside for so long is unnatural, i.e. "crazy."  I think Maudie is saying that the Radleys choose ways that the rest of us really don't understand.

2. Atticus asks whether the kids have been putting on a "Radley show."  Jem says, "That's not what we were doing, we were...."  Well, he just admitted to doing SOMETHING they weren't supposed to be doing.  I think it's sort of like asking, "Do you still beat your wife?"  Any answer may incriminate you.

3. People trying to look holy are often less holy than an honest man who's had a few drinks.  Hypocrites (of which there are many in this novel) talk all about Christianity but don't practice it.  Atticus is a fine man who even drunk would not behave as badly as some "holy rollers."

4. Dill leads a lonely life.  Even his parents don't want him around; that's why he is passed from relative to relative.  He understands Arthur's loneliness and wants to relieve it by offering to keep him company.  I think Dill lies because his lies--exaggerations, really, not so much dishonesty--provide something to be proud of.  His stories make him sound admirable to other children.  Perhaps his stories give him something to believe in, too.