At the beginning of chapter twenty-eight, Jem and Scout walk towards the Radley house on their way to the Maycomb Halloween festival at the school. The night is extremely dark, there is no moon in the sky, and shadows bounce off the ominous Radley house, which looks like it is empty. Jem proceeds to tease Scout about Boo Radley, and Scout responds by saying that Boo doesn't mean any harm. The siblings then joke about their childhood fears and superstitions as they approach the Radley Place. Jem then hears a solitary mockingbird sing into the night along with the "irascible qua-ack" of a bluejay. There are several different interpretations of this specific symbolic mockingbird, which could represent Boo's watchful presence or the defenseless, innocent Finch children, who are vulnerable to Bob Ewell.
While listening to the mockingbird's tune, Jem comments, "Boo must not be at home" (Lee, 258). Jem's comment is ironic because Boo is always home. Boo Radley is a notorious recluse, who never leaves his house. Jem jokingly makes the statement because he understands that Boo is more than likely inside the home and is indirectly commenting on the solitary, spooky atmosphere of the night as well as the empty-looking Radley home. The only thing that can be heard is the sound of various birds and the strong wind blowing, which contributes to the foreboding mood. Fortunately, Boo Radley is home, keeping watch over the Finch children when they return from the Halloween festival. Later on, Boo Radley witnesses Bob Ewell attack Jem and Scout and immediately comes to their defense.
At the beginning of chapter 28, Jem walks Scout over to the school for the Halloween activities while also carrying her ham costume. As they go around the Radleys' home, Jem brings up superstitious ghosts like Haints and Hot Steams. He's trying to tease and scare Scout a little bit since it is Halloween and the house appears dark, quiet, and creepy. When Jem says "Boo must not be home. Listen," he points out the sound of a mockingbird, which may symbolize protection and safety. Another reason why Jem might point out the mockingbird's singing is, as Miss Stephanie Crawford says, Boo goes out at night and looks in people's windows. Jem could be suggesting (and teasing) that Boo is out on patrol, so the mockingbird feels safe enough to sing around his spooky home. The irony about this is that Jem is teasing. The children have long since dropped the idea that Boo Radley eats cats and squirrels, that he's the boogieman, or that he's dangerous. Scout even says the following:
"Boo doesn't mean anybody any harm, but I'm right glad you're along" (254).
Thus, Jem uses verbal irony as a joke to tease and scare Scout on Halloween, not because he really thinks that Boo Radley is a threat to them. Again, as for Boo Radley not being at home, Jem saying that he's not is ironic because he's always at home or in the yard.
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way to the Halloween pageant, Scout and Jem must walk by the Radley house. Even though they know by now that Boo is harmless, it’s still a moonless, scary Halloween night, and the Radley house is dark and spooky. Jem says Boo must not be home because he hears a mockingbird singing in the Radley yard, an omen that Scout and Jem are safe going by the Radley house; this implies that a mockingbird would not sing its beautiful song anywhere around Boo’s vicinity. It’s also ironic that Jem hears a mockingbird singing in the Radley yard because Boo is symbolic of a mockingbird who never harms anyone or anything.
It is also ironic because Boo is always at home. Although, Boo does seem to be in the right place at the right time in regards to the children. He is there to wrap a blanket around Scout’s shoulders at Miss Maudie’s fire, he is able to place items in the knothole of the tree, and later he is able to save the children when he kills Bob Ewell. Being there for the children shows that he does get out and about town sometimes; however, for the most part, Boo is still a recluse. Luckily, he seems to keep an eye out for Scout and Jem throughout the novel, and this protective, kind side of Boo shows that he is certainly one of the main symbols of a mockingbird in the story.
It's important to the kids to know Boo is gone, because they are walking alone on a moonless night, and they're slightly spooked, Scout remarking, "It (the Radley home) is a scary place though, ain't it? Boo doesn't mean anybody any harm but I'm right glad you're along." Jem then goes on to re-state that Boo must not be home because a mockingbird is singing in the tree in front of the Radley house, "in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in." The irony of this development in the plot is that Boo Radley has been nowhere but home for years, and that the mockingbird becomes a symbol for Boo Radley after he saves the children from Ewell's attack.
In Chapter 28 of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," the children depart for the Halloween pageant where Scout is going to perform. "Thus began our longest journey," Scout narrates. As they walk along, the street light casts "sharp shadows" on the Radley house and Jem remarks, "Bet nobody bothers them tonight." The siblings laugh at their former fear of "haints," but Scout tells Jem to "cut it out" as they near the Radley home.
As they stand in front of the Radley house, Jem comments that no one appears to be home. A mockingbird "poured out his repetoire." And, as the mockingbird is a symbol of both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, the significance of the hovering "mocker" cannot be missed after one has finished the narrative. For, at this point in the story, Lee hints (foreshadows) the hovering of Boo Radley, who comes to Scout's rescue when she is attacked by Bob Ewell.
Also, before they arrive at the pageant, Cecil Jacobs jumps out before the children, frightening them, thus foreshadowing the attack of Ewell. The suggestion of danger along with the theme of bravery are in this chapter. The little mockingbird is not afraid to sing all his songs, be they "shrill," "irascible," or melancholy--all the feelings of the recluse, Boo Radley, who will later emerge brave and heroic.
Since Atticus and Aunt Alexandra both beg out of going to the Halloween pageant, Jem is delegated to escort Scout to the school.
"You know Atticus wouldn't let you go to the schoolhouse by yourself," Jem said. "Don't see why, it's just around the corner and across the yard." "That yard's a might long place for little girls to cross at night," Jem teased. "Ain't you scared of haints?"
They are, of course, referring to the Radley Place, but author Harper Lee is actually foreshadowing a different threat to the children. Scout acknowledges that she knows Boo is harmless, but adds "It is a scary place though, ain't it?" As they cross in front of the Radley's, Jem reflects, "Boo must not be at home. Listen." Sitting in one of the Radley trees is a mocker as he "poured out his repertoire in blissful unawareness of whose tree he sat in." The mocker imitates the "kee, kee" of the sunflower bird, the "qua-ack" of the bluejay and, finally, the lament of the whippoorwill.
Jem jokes that the bird would have better sense than to make its mocking call in the Radley tree if Boo were actually at home.
By now, Jem and Scout know that Boo "means no harm." But because of the specific night and the darkness, they need for him to be "gone." In the second paragraph of the chapter Jem says, "Bet nobody bothers them tonight" as he nods at the Radley house. Then Scout replies, "It is a scary place though, ain't it? Boo doesn't mean anybody any harm, but I'm right glad you're along."
From the very beginning of this chapter, the theme of superstition is evident. They begin talking of how dark it is because there is no moon. The cloud cover makes the strangely warm evening even darker. On top of that, it's Halloween and the children are walking alone to and from the school. All of these events are then supported by Cecil who jumps out to scare them on such a "spooky" night. So when Jem says that Boo must not be at home, it because that's what he wants to think. Harper Lee is setting up the reader for the upcoming climax of the story.