In chapter four, Scout races home from school and stops after glancing at a shiny object coming from the knothole of the Radley tree. When Scout approaches the knothole, she mentions,
"Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun"...
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(Lee, 33).
Scout utilizes personification by writing that the tinfoil sticking out of the tree was "winking" at her. Personification is a literary device in which human qualities or character traits are attributed to inanimate objects or animals. Scout personifies the tinfoil by giving it the human ability to wink.
Scout ends up discovering that there are two pieces of chewing gum inside the knothole of the Radley tree and immediately takes the sticks of gum home with her. Scout ends up chewing the gum and Jem forces her to spit it out when he returns home. Later on, the children begin finding more small gifts in the knothole of the Radley tree.
Further Reading
This is an example of personification. Personification is giving human qualities to non-human things. In this case, the tinfoil is "winking" at them in the sun. This gives the impression tinfoil has eyes and a personality, as well as the capability to interact with people. But it literally means tthat he sun is glinting off the reflective surface of the tinfoil and catching their eye.
Lee uses personification in the quote. Personification is a figure of speech in which inanimate objects, animals, plants, or ideas are given human form or human characteristics. The tinfoil of the gum wrappers reflects the light from the sun. Lee chooses to personify this reflection as winking because it is poetic. Perhaps, this instance of personification is also used to indicate Boo's persona in the gift itself. Since the children do not yet know that Boo is the one who puts things in the knothole, this is a clever use of personification indicating that Boo is privy to a secret that the children are not yet aware of: as if Boo himself is winking. This seems likely because when Mr. Radley puts cement into the hole, it symbolizes the way he's treated Boo and speaks to the reasons Boo has stayed closed in (cemented in) his house all this time.
There's no indication that Jem knows Boo is the one putting things in the tree. But when it is cemented, Jem feels as if a significant connection has been lost:
He stood there until nightfall, and I waited for him. When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I thought it odd that I had not heard him.