Thursday, May 7, 2015

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, what ''aberration of nature'' frightens Scout in Chapter Eight?

In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper
Lee, Chapter Eight brings about an "aberration of nature" that frightens Scout (because
in her young life, she has never seen it before) is a
snowfall.


readability="13">

Next morning I awoke, looked out the window and
nearly died of fright. My screams brought Atticus from his bathroom
half-shaven.


"The world's endin', Atticus! Please do
something—!" I dragged him to the window and pointed.


"Not
it's not," he said. "It's
snowing."



(It's amusing and
endearing that Scout believes that with the world ending, Atticus might be able to do
something about it: she has the faith of a child in a parent, a theme we will see often
in the novel. )


The telephone rings and when Atticus
returns from the call, he announces that Eula May (the town's operator) had called. He
tells the children what Eula May had to say:


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"I quote—As it has not snowed in Maycomb County
since 1885, there will be no school
today.'"



(The year 1885 is
not long after the end of the Civil War. The story is set during the 1930s and the Great
Depression—it has been a long time since it has snowed in this part of Alabama:
something that would understandably stop the "rituals" of an ordinary
day.)


The children are encouraged to eat rather than watch
the snow outside, but Jem's thoughts quickly turn to building a snowman, which will be a
first for both Scout and Jem.

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