Jem and Scout are heading to Miss. Rachel's house to meet with Dill. The author has an interesting way of describing the night. Harper Lee says things like "Not a breath blowing," which makes everything appear still and quiet. She says some other things like "gigantic moon," but isn’t the moon always the same size? Does she mean that it is brighter than usual, or is it a full moon? She also mentions the “lady in the moon,” the author is using a metaphor here to cast the idea of shadows across the moon, giving the night a gloomy feel.
When Scout and Jem get to Dill, Dill decides that he wants to go for a walk but the author is inferring that Dill is up to something by having the narrator think to herself “Nobody just goes for a walk.” Then they “Stroll silently,” making Dill seem even more suspicious because he won’t tell the other two where they are going. As they walk, all they hear is faint voices and “The porch swings creaking with the weight of the neighborhood.” This gives the night a creepy feel and the reader anticipates that something is going to happen.
When Scout is finally told where they are going (the Radley house), she discovers that Jem and Dill have planned to peak through a window. When she says that she doesn’t want to do that, Jem starts calling her a girl. The theme childhood innocence happens here because she convinces herself that she “Had no option,” she thinks she has to prove herself.
As they sneak into the yard, Scout is told to stay away from the collards because “They’ll wake the dead,” this is the theme of imagination, where the children are playing off of the “Town phantom,” rumor. The description of the back of the house gives the reader a nervous feeling because it is very dark, with some old junk on the porch.
They went around to the porch and Jem got on, “Then I saw the shadow,” this makes the reader very excited and nervous because something big is about to happen. Will the kids be okay? Who is this shadow? Questions just fly through the readers mind. The three of them get shot at but make it out unharmed, unfortunately Jem loses his pants in the process. When people ask were his pants went, Dill says that he won them in a game of strip poker. Jem claims they were playing with matches, not cards. “Matches were dangerous, but cards were fatal.” This makes the reader wonder, what’s so bad about cards? Does Maycomb have a gambling problem? When Scout and Jem leave Dill, the author plays on the childhood innocence theme again by having Dill kiss Scout because they “Engaged.”
The children are very nervous after that, their imaginations are running wild, thinking that Boo was going to “Get them,” in the night. Jem decides that he must go and get his pants back, this makes Scout and the reader nervous because they’ve already been shot at and now Jems going back. The author describes the night as very dark as Scout wails for Jem, Harper uses an alliteration by using many words that begin with the letter D, giving the flow of speech a rhythm. Jem gets back with his pants but is “Trembling in his cot.” Did something happen to make him so scared? Did he get caught? The reader and Scout do not know.