In chapter six the theme of childhood innocence is very prevalent, but it also shows how some of these childish activities can lead into much more serious situations. At the start of the chapter the kids, Jem Scout and Dill, are going to sit by the fish pond. “Not a breath blowing” says Jem as they sneak around the driveways, this shows us that Jem is very serious when participating in this childish almost make-believe sneaking around. The chapter starts in the past tense with their father saying that they could go to the fish pond, why did the author decide to phrase the entry that way?

Another thing that I believe he author is trying to make us feel in the chapter, is the way scout feels being left out because she’s not a boy. We also see how scout is very upset whenever Jem or Dill says that she’s “acting like a girl” again his tells me that she just wants to be seen as one of the guys as she usually is. After the kids are at the fish pool Dill has the idea to go for a walk, this is suspicious seeing as Dill is a kid and kids don’t just go for walks, what is he up to? Does Jem know? Scout picks up on this and is immediately skeptical although Dill refuses to give it up. Dill being ingenuine to scout makes me see him differently, now I don’t see him as a trustworthy person.

As it comes out, that Jem and Dill have planned to go to Boo Radley’s house to look in the windows and try and get a glance of him, it reminds me of other fiction about kids growing up. They are constantly fascinated about what they don’t understand or what frightens them. As they approach the Radley residence from behind, I wish the author would have done a better job of describing the backyard. Hey described the physical objects and layout of it fine but I never got a sense of what feeling you would get if you were there.

The kids get caught and chased out of the lot by Arthur Radley who has a shotgun who shoots it as they run, at this point the childhood shenanigans have turned into a much more serious issue, someone could’ve been hurt or even killed. Now the whole town is involved the prank is getting bigger. The fact the Arthur Radley shot before anything at what he thought was a black man is just a violent reminder of the of racist southern qualities. When Jem, Dill and Scout get back to the group crowded around the house, they have to lie about Jem’s pants that he lost in the chaos of trying to escape. They say they were playing strip poker and this is an example of why the town sees them as kids who just run wild. When Jem goes to return his pants Harper Lee uses a good simile describing Jem’s white shirt tail bobbing of into the distance like a small ghost.

To me this seems like an important chapter in the book where the characters learn about themselves and in doing that we, the reader, learn so much more as well. Something tells me that after this the will leave the Radleys alone for a while but most likely their inevitable fascination will draw them back.