Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Close Reading Organizer - Chapter 4 Sample

Answers
Directions: Read each summary entry and think about which themes listed in the
Themes Key apply to it, then color in those themes in the Theme Tracker. Next, write a
few sentences of Analysis to explain how the themes you chose apply to each summary
section.

Note: There is not always a definitive set of “correct” answers for which themes should appear in the
Theme Tracker. Answers that differ from the ones we propose below should therefore not automatically
be treated as incorrect, and in fact can serve as great discussion starters.

Themes Key
1 Good, Evil, and Human Dignity
2 Prejudice
3 Growing Up
4 Courage
5 Small Town Southern Life

Summary Theme Tracker Your Analysis

The rest of Scout’s school 1 2 3 4 5 Again, the fact that Scout

year proceeds much like can identify that her formal
her first day. She can’t education seems less useful
help but think she’s in light of what Atticus has
missing something, since been able to accomplish
Atticus was educated at through a home education
home, not with the Dewey speaks to both her
Decimal System, and he’s precocious nature and the
been elected to the state uselessness of the school
legislature unopposed for system as she experiences
years. Scout gets out of it. Choosing to chew this
school 30 minutes before gum despite the rumor that
Jem, so she races past the everything on the Radley
Radley Place. One property is poison suggests
afternoon, something that a small kindness like
catches her eye and she leaving the gum can be
returns to one of the big enough to help a person
oak trees in the Radley like Scout overcome their
yard. In a knothole, she prejudices and fears.
finds two pieces of
chewing gum in tinfoil,

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______
which, after checking to
make sure they’re not
poisonous, she shoves in
her mouth. Jem is aghast
when he finds her and
makes Scout gargle.
On the last day of school,
Jem and Scout get out
early. They discuss Dill’s
impending arrival and as
they pass the Radley
Place, Scout points to the
knothole. There’s more
tinfoil in it, and this time,
Jem pulls out a shiny
package. At home, Jem
finds a ring box containing
two polished Indian head
pennies. They deliberate
over whether to keep them
and wonder if Cecil
Jacobs might be hiding
things in the knothole, but
they reason that Cecil goes
an extra mile per day to
avoid the Radley Place and
mean Mrs. Dubose. They
decide to keep them until
school starts again in case
they belong to a
classmate. Scout points
out that nobody would
want to save chewing
gum, but Jem insists that
the pennies are important
to someone since Indian
head pennies are magic.
Dill arrives two days later
on the train. He announces
that he rode the train,
helped the engineer, and
that he met his father over
the school year. The
children squabble over
what to play and Dill sniffs,
Jem and Scout’s genuine
attempts to ensure that
they’re not stealing from
one of their classmates
illustrates how kind they
are and how important it is
to them to do the right
thing, even if they might
lose out on something
exciting like pennies or
gum. Their aside about
Cecil Jacobs’s long walk to
school, meanwhile,
indicates that the fear of
the Radleys extends
1 2 3 4 5 throughout the community
and suggests that the “evil”
in Maycomb is easy to
identify and avoid, if one is
willing to literally go the
extra mile.
1 2 3 4 5 “Hot Steams” are ghosts or
spirits with unfinished
business on Earth, which
makes it clear that the
children’s superstitious
beliefs don’t just involve
their reclusive neighbors:
they’re part of a much
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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______
declaring he can smell
death at the Radley Place.
They argue over whether
Hot Steams are real and
Scout insults Jem’s
courage. Scout suggests
they roll in the tire, which
Jem and Dill agree to.
Scout goes first and folds
herself into the tire. She
only realizes once Jem
pushes her with all his
might that Jem was
offended by her insult. As
the tire rolls, Scout feels
like she’s suffocating. She
crashes and finds herself
on her back in the Radley
front yard. Jem screams at
her to run.
Scout runs on wobbly legs
back to Jem and Dill and
then argues with Jem
about who should get the
tire. Jem is furious, but he
dashes in to get the tire
and insults Scout for acting
too much like a girl.
Calpurnia calls them in
for lemonade and as they
sit on the porch, Jem
announces expansively
that they can play Boo
1 2
Radley. Scout knows this
is supposed to make him
look fearless and her look
scared. He doles out parts
(Scout is Mrs. Radley, Dill
is old Mr. Radley, and Jem
is Boo) and chastises Scout
for being scared of Boo,
whom he insists is dead.
Their game evolves over
the summer and though
Jem and Dill love it, Scout
plays anxiously.
larger belief system.
Because of this, however,
note that the Radley Place
becomes not just another
house on the street, but
something fundamentally
different in the children’s
eyes—and because of this,
it’s terrifying.
Insulting Scout about being
too girly shows that in
addition to the class
warfare at work in
Maycomb, Scout also
experiences sexism, even
from those closest to her.
This betrays Jem’s
prejudice, as he’s clearly
suggesting that feminine
attributes—or in this case,
fear, which everyone,
regardless of gender,
3 4 5
experiences—are less
desirable than those he
believes come along with
masculinity. This is another
attempt to get Scout to
conform as well.
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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______
The play draws from
neighborhood gossip. Dill
plays villains, and for once
Scout gets a good part
when she plays the judge.
Jem steals Calpurnia’s
scissors daily so he can
mime stabbing Dill in the
leg, and the children stand
silent when Nathan
Radley passes or when
they catch neighbors
watching. One day, they
don’t notice Atticus
watching. Jem evasively
insists that they’re not
1 2
playing anything. Atticus
shrewdly takes the scissors
and asks if their game has
to do with the Radleys. Jem
insists it doesn’t, and
Atticus tells them it
shouldn’t as he enters the
house. Scout hisses that
Atticus knows, but Jem
accuses her of being a girl
and imagining things. She
doesn’t tell him that she’s
anxious because on the
day she rolled into the
Radley yard, she heard
someone laughing.
As far as Atticus is
concerned, the children are
being extremely rude to
their neighbors by acting
out this family drama on
the lawn. This suggests that
in Atticus’s mind, the
Radleys aren’t scary or
untouchable. Rather,
they’re neighbors who
deserve respect and
kindness, even if they’re
different and don’t interact
with the Finches the same
way other people do. While
it’s likely that Scout
3 4 5
interpreted the laughter she
heard in the Radley house
as sinister, a more
generous reading suggests
that whoever laughed
simply found the children’s
antics funny and means
them no harm.