In chapter 4 of Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem suggests to Dill and Scout that they should act out the Radleys' family drama like a game. It's just like how little kids play "house" and take parts with family roles. Only the Radley game is about a dysfunctional adult son who stabs his father in the leg with scissors. The sinister side of the tale intrigues the boys who want to explore it through roleplay. However, playing the game happens after the tire incident when Jem rolls Scout into the Radleys' yard. Scout hears someone laughing from inside the house, but she doesn't tell the boys about it. Needless to say, Scout is reluctant to play a game about the Radleys when someone in the house might be watching them. She even uses the word "reluctant" to express her feelings about the game as follows:
"I reluctantly played assorted ladies who entered the script. I never thought it as much fun as Tarzan, and I played that summer with more than vague anxiety despite Jem's assurances that Boo Radley was dead and nothing would get me" (39).
Atticus catches the children playing the game one day, but Jem and Dill still want to play it. Since the game is Jem's brainchild, he wants to continue playing it. Scout protests, then explains how Jem feels about playing the game as follows:
"He still maintained, however, that Atticus hadn't said we couldn't, therefore we could; and if Atticus ever said we couldn't, Jem had thought of a way around it" (41).
Jem, therefore, enthusiastically desires to continue playing the game they call "One Man's Family" (40). As for Dill, Scout says that he "was in hearty agreement with this plan of action" (41). Scout seems to be outvoted on discontinuing the game. As a result, she leaves the boys to their playing and scheming and visits Miss Maudie more frequently.
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