Chapter 8 of Mockingbird Analysis

This makes the situation more intense as even the insensitive Scout could sense "trouble" brewing.
             The town fire siren had been personified and was "screaming" and had "wailed up the scale to a treble pitch". It made the town fire siren sound like a person who was calling for help. The two imageries "fire spewing from Miss Maudie's dining-room windows" and "fire silently devouring Miss Maudie's house" caused the reader to worry for Miss Maudie as her house was soon going to be reduced to a heap of ashes. It can also mean that prejudices are like the fire which can silently devour the town very quickly. .
             On one hand, Jem was muttering "why don't they hurry" with unease but on the other hand, unfortunately, the "old fire truck" could not operate properly. The fire truck had to be "pushed from town by crowds of men" and "when the men attached its hose to a hydrant, the hose burst and water shot up, tinkling down on the pavement". These imageries made the fire scene chaotic and disordered as on one side, people were trying frantically to put out the fire and on the other side, the fire truck was "killed by the cold". Harper Lee wanted to make the reader nervous and at the same time create the impression that it was obvious that Miss Maudie's house could not be saved from the fire.
             Harper Lee made good use of imageries to create tension in the given passage so as to attract readers to read on.
             b) What does this passage show of the relationship between Jem and Scout, and how does it reinforce our understanding of Atticus" character? In your answer, you may need to refer closely to this passage as well as other parts of the novel.
             Scout once mentioned that "Jem had his little sister to think of the time I dared him to jump off the top of the house". Jem always had a strong sense of responsibility towards the well-being of her sister. .
             At the start of the novel, the brotherly side of Jem was less apparent as it was stated that "he jumped, landed unhurt, and his sense of responsibility left him until confronted by the Radley Place".