To Kill a Mockingbird — Chapter 29

About This Passage

This passage is the first time Scout — and the reader — actually sees Boo Radley head to toe. Lee describes him in careful, almost clinical detail: sand-stained khaki pants, a torn denim shirt, a thin frame, hollow cheeks, delicate indentations at the temples, gray eyes so colorless they look blind, hair dead and thin and almost feathery. There is no judgment in the description, only patient observation. The reader has waited the entire novel for this moment, and Lee gives it to us not in a rush but in a slow, head-to-toe inventory that reads like a respectful introduction.

Narration Prompt

Narrate chapter 29 in three parts: the bedroom conversation between Atticus, Mr. Tate, and Aunt Alexandra; Scout's account of the attack with Mr. Tate's questions; and the moment Scout finally turns to the man in the corner and says, 'Hey, Boo.'

Discussion Questions

1. Boo Radley does not speak a single word in chapter 29, but Lee tells us a great deal about him through his body and his clothes. Examine the description in line 95 — sand-stained khaki pants, a torn denim shirt, hollow cheeks, colorless gray eyes, feathery hair, white hands that have never seen the sun. What does Lee reveal about Boo's life inside the Radley house through this head-to-toe inventory rather than through any words from Boo himself?
2. Mr. Tate examined Scout's chicken-wire ham costume and pointed to a shiny clean line on the dull wire. What evidence in the chapter shows that Mr. Tate, just from looking at the costume and the holes in Bob Ewell's clothing, has reconstructed exactly what happened under the tree — and what does his careful method of reading objects tell us about the kind of sheriff he is?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide