Chapters seven and eight of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee reflect the central idea of growing up by dealing with the complications of the adult world through the novel’s plot. Jem’s actions pertaining to an event in the story help readers understand the struggles of coming of age, and having to deal with adult issues and ideas. Throughout the novel, Jem and Scout send out and receive objects and messages with Boo Radley through a knothole in a tree in the Radleys’ yard. The Radleys are very strict about never reaching out to the community, so when Nathan Radley finds out that his brother Boo has been using the tree to talk to Jem and Scout, he fills the knothole with cement to stop this correspondence. Jem and Scout are extremely disconcerted
