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How does Harper Lee build up tension in Chapter 28 of To Kill a Mockingbird, in bullet points?

Tension, or suspense, is built through a series of events that involve Scout and Jem walking home alone at night and Boo Radley saving them from Bob Ewell.  Many little hints are dropped throughout the chapter that foreshadow this event.


  • It is very dark, and there is no moon.

  • Boo Radley, and the fact that the children used to be afraid of him, is mentioned.  The children seem a little scared.


“It is a scary place though, ain’t it?” I said. “Boo doesn’t mean anybody any harm, but I’m right glad you’re along.” “You know Atticus wouldn’t let you go to the schoolhouse by yourself,” Jem said. (Ch. 28)



  • The children laugh at how they were afraid of things in their childhood.

  • It is quiet, but they hear a mockingbird.

  • Scout asks Jem how he knows where they are.  They say they should have brought a flashlight.

  • Cecil Jacobs scares them.

  • Scout misses her cue at the pageant.

  • Scout decides not to take her costume off.

  • The children decline a ride home.

  • Scout realizes she forgot her shoes.

  • Jem tells Scout to be quiet because he thought he heard something.

  • Scout asks Jem if he is afraid.  He says he isn’t, but it is obvious he is.  He thinks someone is following them.  They wonder if it is Cecil Jacobs again.

  • The children realize they do hear someone.


Our company shuffled and dragged his feet, as if wearing heavy shoes. Whoever it was wore thick cotton pants; what I thought were trees rustling was the soft swish of cotton on cotton, wheek, wheek, with every step. (Ch. 28)



  • They realize it is not a child.  Jem screams for Scout to run.

  • Scout feels someone attack her costume.  Jem screams. She can’t see what is happening because of her costume.

  • Jem is “jerked backwards and flung on the ground” and Scout thinks he is dead.

  • Scout hears a violent cough and sobbing.

  • Scout hears a man groan and pull something heavy across the ground.

  • Scout feels someone with prickly stubble and whisky on his breath.

  • Scout realizes that there is a man carrying Jem.

  • Aunt Alexandra calls for Dr. Reynolds.  She looks for Scout and then calls Sheriff Tate.

  • Scout asks Atticus if Jem is dead and is told he is not.  She is unable to tell him what happened.

  • Dr. Reynolds arrives and tells Scout that Jem just has a bump on the head and a broken arm. Scout has a bump on her head too.

  • Scout tries to talk to Jem, but he’s unconscious.

  • Heck Tate tells them he found a little girl’s dress and Bob Ewell lying under a tree, dead.

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