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Copywork
About This Passage
Lee paces this sentence like the movement it describes — skipped, put, heaved, teetered, regained, dropped. Six active verbs in two sentences, each one a distinct act of nerve, and the camera never cuts away. The rhythm enacts the boy's negotiation with gravity and fear, and "teetered a long moment" hangs the reader mid-breath at the exact instant Jem chooses not to turn back.
Jem skipped two steps, put his foot on the porch, heaved himself to it, and teetered a long moment. He regained his balance and dropped to his knees.
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Reconstruct Chapter 6 as a unit: the invitation to trespass, the shadow's refusal, the shotgun, the cover story, and the silent moral reckoning on the cot. Pay attention to where Lee speeds the prose and where she slows it.
Discussion Questions
- Scout identifies this chapter as the start of Jem's "parting company" with her. What does Lee suggest is required to develop a private conscience, and why must that development be invisible even to a sibling who loves you?
- Jem will accept a shotgun blast to preserve Atticus's trust but has been willing all summer to terrorize Boo Radley. How does Lee make these two postures consistent within the same character? What does this reveal about the relationship between fear of authority and respect for conscience?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
moved or balanced unsteadily, on the verge of falling
Item 2
lifted or hauled with a great deal of effort
Item 3
got back something that had been lost or reduced
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Critical Thinking
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