Scout has a fun time at the Halloween festival. Jem walks her over to the school and gives her three dimes to participate in any activities she desires. She and Cecil Jacobs go through the House of Horrors, eat Mrs. Taylor's homemade divinity, and are about to buy taffy when the production begins and she must play her part as a ham. The whole town listens to Mrs. Merriweather's patriotic speech about Maycomb's history for about thirty minutes. During that time, Scout dozes off and must be called three times to enter for her part. Judge Taylor had to excuse himself to go laugh because Mrs. Merriweather almost had a panic attack screaming for pork. Therefore, the mood at the Halloween pageant and festival is fun and joyful,for the most part, as both adults and children had a good time.
Mrs. Merriweather does make Scout feel guilty for coming on stage late, though. As a result, Scout doesn't want to walk home until everyone is gone from the auditorium. This makes Jem and Scout the last to be walking home on a moonless, Halloween night. Plus, this is where the mood shifts from fun to dark and lonely because the lights go out at the school and they are walking home alone through deep darkness.
The mood changes from from dark and lonely to creepy as Jem hears footsteps behind them as they walk. The footsteps stop when they stop and go when they go. Jem becomes concerned and tells Scout to be quiet. However, Scout thinks that it might be Cecil Jacobs trying to scare them again so she calls out, "Cecil Jacobs is a big wet he-en!" (261). When no one answers back, but the kids can still hear footsteps coming, the mood shifts to highly concerning, if not dangerous. Once Bob Ewell attacks Jem, the mood is highly suspenseful as well as dangerous as the children fight for their lives.
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