Jeremy 'Jem' Finch quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Jeremy 'Jem' Finch

Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on.

Jeremy 'Jem' Finch

He gets her interested in something nice, so she forgets to be mean.

Jeremy 'Jem' Finch

Your names longer'n you are. Bet it's a foot longer.

Dill

Hey.

Jem

Hey yourself.

Dill

I'm Charles Baker Harris. I can read. I can read anything you've got. Folks call me Dill.

Jem

How old are you? Four and a half?

Dill

Going on seven.

Jem

Well no wonder then. Scout's bin readin' since she was born, and she's not even six yet. You're mighty puny for nearly seven.

Dill

I'm little but I'm old.

Jem

There goes the meanest man that ever took a breath of life.

Dill

Why is he the meanest man?

Jem

Well, for one thing, he has a boy named Boo that he keeps chained to a bed in the house over yonder...See, he lives over there. Boo only comes out at night when you're asleep and it's pitch-dark. When you wake up at night, you can hear him. Once I heard him scratchin' on our screen door, but he was gone by the time Atticus got there.

Dill

I wonder what he does in there? I wonder what he looks like?

Jem

Well, judgin' from his tracks, he's about six and a half feet tall. He eats raw squirrels and all the cats he can catch. There's a long, jagged scar that runs all the way across his face. His teeth are yella and rotten. His eyes are popped. And he drools most of the time.

How old was I when Mama died?

Jem

Two.

How old were you?

Jem

Six.

Old as I am now.

Jem

Uh, huh.

Was Mama pretty?

Jem

Uh, huh.

Was Mama nice?

Jem

Uh, huh.

Did you love her?

Jem

Yes.

Did I love her?

Jem

Yes.

Do you miss her?

Jem

Uh, huh.