Why do Jem and Scout create a snowman resembling Mr. Avery in To Kill a Mockingbird?

One morning, Scout looks out her window and discovers that "the world's endin'." Fortunately for Scout, what she believes is the end of the world is just snow. Maycomb County experiences some of the coldest weather on record, and the first snowfall since 1885. School, of course, is canceled.

Although Atticus doubts there will be enough snow, Jem and Scout decide to make a snowman. They gather snow from their own yard and "borrow" some from Miss Maudie. Jem uses dirt to form the snowman, then covers the dirt with snow. After adding a little more dirt to the midsection of the snowman, wood pieces for facial features and buttons, and finally a "stick of stovewood," their project is complete.

When Atticus views the snowman, he informs Jem that he has "perpetrated a near libel here in the front yard," as he recognizes a resemblance between the snowman and Mr. Avery. Atticus then advises the children to "disguise this fellow," so Jem adds Miss Maudie's sunhat and clippers.

Perhaps Scout and Jem make a snowman of Mr. Avery because they believe his shape resembles that of a snowman. Another possible reason could be because Mr. Avery believes Scout and Jem are the reason it snowed. He tells them, "It’s bad children like you makes the seasons change."

Harper Lee is an incredible writer, and the snowman scene has several possible layers of meaning. First, as we read of the snowman, we should also think of Boo's present to Jem and Scout. It was not a snowman, but it was similar. It was a figure carved out of soap. Here the differences end. Boo's present was an act of love, care, and kindness - utterly selfless. The snowman on the other hand was not a present at all. In fact, it was cruel as they made it look like a man they did not like. Moreover, it was selfish as they made it for his own amusement. This is why Atticus put an end to their childishness. All of this shows the immaturity of Scout and Jem. By this, the maturity and kindness of Boo stands out.

Second, Lee is quick to point out that snow was out of place. In other words, something odd has happened. Miss Maudie's house also caught on fire - another odd point. Finally, there is not enough snow to really make a full snowman. So, even the snowman looks odd. This is a way to show that the tone is now ominous. Something bad is about to happen.

Why did Jem and Scout create a mudman instead of a snowman in "To Kill a Mockingbird," and why does it represent Mr. Avery?

Jem and Scout build a "mudman" because there isn't enough snow on the ground to construct a snowman. When Scout realizes what he is doing she says:

“‘Jem, I ain’t ever heard of a nigger snowman.’”

Jem finishes building the "mudman" and then covers it with snow. 

The snowman (which later turns out to be a snow woman) is symbolic. It foreshadows events to come. The snowman is partly built with black Alabama soil. The colors—black, black and white, white, black again—foretell the racial unrest to occur later in the book.

At first the "snowman" resembles Mr. Avery.  This is appropriate because he is a very crude character.  He behaves worse than any black character in the story. He behaves the way that blacks are "supposed" to behave and yet he is white.  This is similar to the snowman who is "black" on the inside and white on the outside.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, who is the snowman built by Jem and Scout modeled after?

The passage that you are looking for is right at the beginning of chapter eight.  Jem and Scout take advantage of the meager amount of snow that falls in town, and attempt to make a snowman.  As they start to build, Jem queries, "Mr. Avery's sort of shaped like a snow man, ain't he?"  Mr. Avery is an older man, who is also a neighbor of theirs; he is a bit gruff and grumpy, and is considered to be a bit of a drunk.  The kids caught him peeing off his front porch one night, and it was rumored that he "sat on the porch every night until nine o' clock and sneezed."  He is also the one that, at the beginning of the chapter, asserted that bad weather was brought on by bad children, and later, the one who helps out so much at Miss Maudie's fire.  So, they make the snowman look even more like Mr. Avery, even making it "look cross."  But Atticus comes home and mentions that Mr. Avery might not like being the model for a snowman, so they grab Miss Maudie's hat an plopped it on the snowman's head, and "jammed her hedge-clippers into the crook of his arm."  So now, the snowmen looked like a Mr. Avery/Miss Maudie mix.  I hope that helps a bit; good luck!

What is humorous about Scout and Jem's snowman in To Kill a Mockingbird?

When a rare snow storm blows into Maycomb and deposits a thin layer of snow on the lawns, Jem and Scout are anxious to build a snowman.  The snowman actually consists of more mud than actual snow; however, the children are able to form a pot-bellied, portly snowman who resembles the eccentric Mr. Avery who rents a room from Mrs. Dubose down the street from the Finches.  Mr. Avery’s strange behaviors have been the source of conversation between the children, especially when they see him peeing off Mrs. Dubose’s porch one night.  Mr. Avery also blames the turn in the weather on bad kids, aiming this superstition towards Jem and Scout as they pass by his house.  When Atticus realizes that the snowman looks like Mr. Avery, he urges Jem and Scout to change it, so they borrow a bonnet from Miss Maudie to disguise the effigy of Mr. Avery.  Mr. Avery is another interesting, peculiar character who Harper Lee creates to show the many personalities found in a small, southern town.

The snowman was "funny" in that it looked very much like Mr. Avery, a neighbor who blamed the changing weather on children's bad behavior.  He claimed it was found in the Rosetta Stone.  Atticus recognized the similarities between Mr. Avery and the snowman, and told the children to make appropriate changes.  Scout and Jem borrowed Ms. Maudie's hat to turn it into a female, and Ms. Maudie referred to it as a "morphodite."