In a little twist to the tale, it seems someone in the Radley household has realized the children are interested in them. On their way to school, someone drops gifts for them - chewing gums, toys etc, which they gladly pick from a hole in a tree. But the day the kids, Scout and Jem, decide to write a "thank you" note to the individual, the gifts stop and the hole on the tree is filled with cement. The kids discover it is Nathan Radley who filled the hole with cement. It makes Jem to cry.

I think the author is trying to make us see something about the character of Nathan Radley. Maybe he loves children but doesn't want anyone showing kindness towards him. The next chapters might reveal this conjecture.

Emekadavid wrote: In a little twist to the tale, it seems someone in the Radley household has realized the children are interested in them. On their way to school, someone drops gifts for them - chewing gums, toys etc, which they gladly pick from a hole in a tree. But the day the kids, Scout and Jem, decide to write a "thank you" note to the individual, the gifts stop and the hole on the tree is filled with cement. The kids discover it is Nathan Radley who filled the hole with cement. It makes Jem to cry.

I think the author is trying to make us see something about the character of Nathan Radley. Maybe he loves children but doesn't want anyone showing kindness towards him. The next chapters might reveal this conjecture.

Although I may be writing with the benefit of hindsight, I think there is no chance that the gum and other gifts were from Mr. Nathan. Boo (Arthur) is the implied leaver of gifts. He is lonely as hell, held in his house as a prison because he was too wild as a teenager. He has watched the children, because they live nearby. Whether or not he understands their fear, he desperately wants to reach out to them. Mr. Nathan's cementing the knothole is an act of evil, of a heart twisted by religion. It seems to me that Harper Lee has as much contempt for Nathan Radley as she has for the Ewells.

Harper Lee gives us a look into the nature of Boo Radley. For the first time, the children, Scout and Jem, have contact with Boo Radley but they did not see or notice him. When there is a fire on Ms. Maudie's house and because it was cold, he walks silently to them and puts a blanket over Scout's shoulders unnoticed. Atticus remarks favorably on this to Ms. Maudie who is pleasantly surprised.

Ms. Maudie is not bothered that her house went up in flames. She will build another. She had been hoping to build a smaller one for her azaleas plants to have more space in the compound. Scout and Jem are surprised at her reaction to the fire.

There is snow for the first time in Maycomb county. The last snow was years ago, in 1885.

One takeaway from this chapter is that we have a good look into the character of the reclusive Boo Radley. Maybe the author wants to introduce him to the children slowly in this town that do not look favorably on the Radleys. That says a thing or two about how the author views discrimination and scandalous untruths.

Harper Lee is beginning to set the tone for the conflict in the novel. Scout cannot keep her cool when she hears her father being called a "niger lover," because he wants to defend a negro against the Ewells. Atticus tells her that it is his duty to defend anyone who needs defending. He could not be able to talk to his children if he doesn't do what is right, no matter what others think.

Uncle Jack learns a lesson about how to treat children. I think it is a very nice lesson.

Atticus comes off as a fair, impartial person in a bigoted community. Harper Lee wants us to realize how pervasive is the segregation in this community and how the negroes are regarded by the people of Maycomb County. For Atticus to decide to defend a negro takes a lot of courage. This shows us why Scout is always proud of her father. There is one word that he said to her: "She should learn to fight with her brains and not with her fist." Good advice for a child who is learning the ways of the world.

Scout continues to discover something new about her father, Atticus. First, when Jem is given an air rifle, he tells Jem that he could shoot any living bird he finds but never to kill a mockingbird. Ms. Maudie tells her that mockingbirds are the most adorable of birds. They sing and entertain, and are so innocent. Later, when she begins to think her father is no good, all he does is go to work and read. He shows them another of his past. He can shoot very well. With one shot, he brings down a mad dog on the street. Jem is fascinated and is told that his father is the best marksman in Maycomb county. The kids now have a new respect for their father.

I think Harper Lee wants to use this chapter to help us see that Atticus is talented and his children inherited his talent. Talent flows in the Finch blood.

Notes for chapter 11

I am enjoying it so far. Harper Lee has successfully painted not only the views of the folks of Maycomb county about persons who fall out of line but also how they regard negroes. It is a racist county, this Maycomb county. Mrs. Dubose, whom Atticus admires personifies what he describes as courage: Not fighting with the gun or weapons, but the ability to hold oneself accountable for one's actions and be beholden to no one. That was Mrs. Dubose and Scout would never understand why Atticus holds her in high regard.
Although Mrs. Dubose who later dies in the chapter tells the children that they would come to no good since their father is a nigger lover, Atticus tells them that he would not be able to live with his conscience if he does not take up the case to defend the black man.