At the beginning of Chapter 25 of To Kill a
Mockingbird, Jem catches Scout about to smash to death a "roly-poly"--better
known as a "pill bug" or "doodlebug." The bug was not bothering Scout, nor is it
particularly harmful to other living things. About an inch long, the roly-poly rolled
itself into a ball when Scout approached it. Jem ordered Scout to stop
and
"... set
him out on the back
steps."
Scout thought Jem was
crazy, and she asked him why she shouldn't mash it.
"Because they don't bother you," Jem
answered...
Like the
mockingbird, the roly-poly was an innocent and harmless creature. Since this scene
immediately follows Tom Robinson's death, Jem is still reeling from the knowledge that
this poor, innocent man was dead.
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