The events that happen to Maudie Atkinson’s house ( in chapter 8 ) tells us about her character and what she is like .
In this chapter the house that she lives in burns down . The reason why this happens is because Maycomb experienced the worst winter in years , this meant that the people who lived there tried to keep as warm as possible and did anything they could .They probably had fires in any room they could ,and of course this causes a fire hazard . The reason for what happened to Miss Maudie’s house is not clear , the closest we’ve got is ” probably the flue in the kitchen. i kept a fire in there last night for my potted plants “. a flue is something that lets smoke or other gases produced by burning a fuel .this probably means that there was some sort of heater on in the kitchen , or that she had a stove on .
The reaction that Jem and scout received the next day from Maudie Atkinson about losing her house was weird and unexpected . her is a quote to show it :
“Miss Maudie looked around, and the shadow of her old grin crossed her face.
“Always wanted a smaller house, Jem Finch. Gives me more yard. Just think, I’ll have more room for my azaleas now!”
You ain’t grievin‘, Miss Maudie ?’ I asked, surprised. Atticus said her house was nearly all she had.
Grieving, child? Why, I hated that old cow barn. Thought of settin‘ fire to it a hundred times myself, except they’d lock me up….Don’t you worry about me, Jean Louise Finch. There are ways of doing things you don’t know about. Why, I’ll build me a little house and take me a couple of roomers and—gracious, I’ll have the finest yard in Alabama. Those Bellingraths’ll look plain puny when I get started!””
This shows that Maudie Atkinson looks on the positive side of everything , you could say she is optimistic , this can be a good or bad thing , but that just depends on the way you look at it . I think the way she is acting might be a way of helping her through what is happening . The quote also shows that she has a competitive side to her when she says Those bellingraths’ll look plain puny when i get started .
There is also a darker side to this quote , mainly the first part , a bit i would like to pick out is ” Thought of settin‘ fire to it a hundred times myself, except they’d lock me up….Don’t you worry about me, Jean Louise Finch. There are ways of doing things you don’t know about” . This hints that something else could have happened to cause the house to burn down , then again it may not mean this at all .If it does then she could have intended for this to happen when she had lit the fire or heater the previous night . It could also mean that somebody could have purposely damaged the flue or the the thing holding the fire to make it more likely for the house to burn down .
The language used in that certain part is suggestive , its not written in stone that a certain thing could have happened , neither does it say it did happen . Its good though because it leaves a certain mystery of what happened .
React!