A To Kill a Mockingbird
STUDY GUIDE
Chapter 1
1.
What is the setting of the novel?
2.
What does the children's father, Atticus Finch, do for a living?
3.
From whose point of view will the story be told?
4.
Who is Calpurnia and what is she like?
5.
What game does Dill invent?
6.
What are some rumors about Boo?
7.
What did Arthur (Boo) Radley do (at age 33) that landed him temporarily in the county jail?
8.
According to Jem's description, what does Boo look like?
9.
What act of "courage" on Jem's part ends the chapter?
Chapter 2
10. On her first day of school, what does Scout get in trouble for? List three things.
11.
What are the Cunninghams like?
12.
How does Miss Caroline Fisher feel at the end of her first day? How do you know?
Chapter 3
13. How does Scout solve her problem with Walter Cunningham?
14.
How does Jem solve Scout's problem with Walter Cunningham?
15.
Why does Scout get into trouble at lunch?
16.
What scared and shocked Miss Caroline? (Do you know another name for this creature?)
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17.
Why can't Walter Cunningham pass the first grade?
Chapter 4
18. What is the first gift that appears in the hollow tree? What other gifts do the children find?
19.
What new facts does Dill offer about his father?
20.
How has the Boo Radley game changed?
21.
When Scout rolls into the Radley front yard in the tire, what does she hear?
22.
How is Jem changing? Give several specific ways.
Chapter 5
23. What does Scout admire about Miss Maudie?
24.
What do you learn about Uncle Jack?
25.
What' new plan do the boys devise to get Boo to come out? Why doesn't it work?
26.
What does Dill say that causes Scout to accuse him of lying?
27.
What direct order does Atticus give the children?
Chapter 6
28. How do the children plan to spend Dill's last night in Maycomb?
29.
What goes wrong with the children's escape plan?
30.
At whom does Mr. Nathan think he has fired his gun?
31.
How do the children claim to have spent the evening?
32.
What makes Jem decide to return to the Radley yard that night?
Chapter 7
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33.
What does Jem tell Scout about "that night" at Boo Radley's?
34.
What new gifts do they find in the knothole? (There are five.)
35.
What ends the knothole gifts? What are the children’s reactions?
36.
Why do you think Mr. Nathan Radley filled in a knothole in a healthy tree? .
Chapter 8
37. Who dies this winter?
38.
What "aberration of nature" frightens Scout?
39.
What method does Jem devise to make a snowman?
40.
When Maudie's house begins to burn, what other possibility is the Finch family worried about?
41.
Why doesn't Atticus help carry out Maudie's furniture?
42.
Whom will Scout someday want to thank for keeping her warm on the night of the fire?
Chapter 9
43. Who is Tom Robinson?
44.
What gift does Uncle Jack give the children?
45.
What new habit has Scout picked up that bothers Uncle Jack?
46.
What does cousin Francis tell Scout about Dill's homelife?
47.
Why does Scout fight her cousin after the Christmas dinner at Finch's Landing?
48.
What is "Maycomb's usual disease"?
49.
Look closely at the reasons Atticus gives Scout for defending Tom Robinson. Also look at his statement,
"every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess." What
is it about this case that strikes so deeply at what Atticus believes?
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50.
What lesson does Scout teach Uncle Jack about children and what further lesson does Atticus add?
Chapter 10
51. In Scout's eyes, what is Atticus's chief fault?
52.
What reason does Uncle Jack give for Atticus's unwillingness to teach the kids to shoot?
53.
According to Miss Maudie, why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird?
54.
What crisis shows the children a surprising skill their father possesses?
55.
Who is Heck Tate?
56.
What is Atticus's old nickname?
Chapter 11
57. What makes the children hate and fear Mrs. Dubose?
58.
What two comments specifically infuriate Jem to the point that he can't control his temper?
59.
What does Jem do to get revenge?
60.
What is his punishment?
61.
What did Mrs. Dubose vow to do before she died?
62.
Explain Mrs. Dubose's use of the alarm clock.
63.
What type of courage does Mrs. Dubose teach the children?
Chapter 12
64. Why doesn't Dill plan to come to Maycomb this summer?
65.
What is the purpose of this Sunday's collection at First Purchase African Methodist Episcopal Church?
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66.
Why are Jem and Scout so welcome in this church?
67.
Why can't Helen Robinson get work?
68.
What do the children notice about Calpurnia's behavior in her church community?
Chapter 13
69. Why has Aunt Alexandra come?
70.
Why does Aunt Alexandra get angry with Atticus?
71.
What does Atticus tell the children about being Finches?
Chapter 14
72. When Aunt Alexandra finds out that Jem and Scout have attended Cal's church, what does she want Atticus to
do about it?
73.
"Then Jem rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood." What new violation causes Scout to make
this comment?
74.
What solution does Atticus offer to the problem of Dill's presence?
Chapter 15
75. Why have the neighbors gathered in the Finches' front yard?
76.
Who is Mr. Underwood?
77.
Where do the children find Atticus at ten o'clock on Sunday?
78.
What is the mob's intention?
79.
How does Scout manage to end the danger?
80.
At the end of the chapter, who do we hear from for the first time in the novel?
81.
What has Mr. Underwood been doing during the mob scene?
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Chapter 16
82. Explain in what ways Scout and Jem made Mr. Cunningham stand in Atticus's shoes?
83.
In the eyes of the community, what is Dolphus Raymond's problem?
84.
Why isn't Miss Maudie going to court?
85.
What makes a "mixed child" "real sad"?
86.
What fact about Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson does Scout learn from the Idlers' Club?
87.
Where do the children sit for the trial? What does this tell you? (two things? three things?)
Chapter 17
88. What is the first point Atticus tries to make in court?
89.
During the discussion of Mayella's injuries, what key fact seems important to Atticus?
90.
What detail in the description of the Ewell cabin makes the reader guess that perhaps Mayella is different
from the rest of her family?
91.
Why does Atticus ask Mr. Ewell to write his name?
92.
Based on his comments and behavior in court, write a character description of Bob Ewell.
93.
At one point Bob Ewell comments that the "nest [of black families] down yonder" is "dangerous to live
around 'sides devaluin' [his] property." What is ironic about this?
Chapter 18
94. Why does Mayella Ewell break into tears at the beginning of her testimony?
95.
What makes Mayella think Atticus is mocking her? What does this tell you about her?
96.
Atticus is trying to get Mayella to make a confession. What does he want her to admit?
97.
Why doesn't Mayella have friends, or even quite know what it would mean to have a friend?
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98.
What dramatic fact do we learn about Tom Robinson at the end of Mayella's testimony?
99.
How is Mayella the same AND different from her father?
Chapter 19
100. According to Tom's story, when did he "bust up the chiffarobe"?
101. On the day of Tom's "crime," where were the seven Ewell children?
102. When Mr. Ewell arrived on the scene, what did he see through the window that infuriated him?
103. Who is Link Deas? What (unsolicited) comment does he add to the proceedings?
104. What two points does Mr. Gilmer try to make in cross-examining Tom?
105. "Nobody liked Tom's answer" to the question of why he helped Mayella for no pay. Explain Mr. Gilmer's fury
at Tom's feeling sorry for Mayella.
106. Why does Dill start to cry?
Chapter 20
107. What aspect of Mr. Raymond's reputation do the children find to be false?
108. Why is he willing to let the children in on his secret?
109. Why does he pretend?
110. What does Atticus say is "the worst thing you can do"?
111. When Scout and Dill return to the court, what does Atticus do that surprises them? Why does he do it?
112. What "crime" does Atticus say Mayella feels guilt for?
113. What "facts about Negroes" does Mr. Ewell rely on to make the jury bring in a guilty verdict?
Chapter 21
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114. Why has Cal come to court?
115. How long was the jury out? (And why isn't this a trivial question?)
116. How does Scout know that Tom has not been acquitted even before the jury reports?
117. What happens as Atticus leaves the courtroom?
Chapter 22
118. What does Atticus find in the kitchen on the morning after the trial?
119. Explain why "It's not time to worry yet."
120. What is the feeling among the white neighbors (Maudie excluded) on Atticus's defeat?
121. What has Dill decided to be when he grows up? Why?
122. What is Bob Ewell's response to the verdict?
Chapter 23
123. What are the children worried about at the beginning of Chapter 23?
124. What does Atticus expect Jem to learn if he "stand[s] in Bob Ewell's shoes a minute"? Why is Ewell so angry?
After all, he won.
125. Jem says we should do away with juries. Why? What alternative does Atticus suggest?
126. Who was responsible for the jury taking so long to make a decision? Why?
127. Where is Tom Robinson in this chapter?
128. How does Atticus define "trash"? How does Aunt Alexandra?
129. Why does Aunt Alexandra not want Walter Cunningham in the house, even though the Cunninghams are
admittedly "good folks"?
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130. List the categories in Jem's social hierarchy-the four kinds of folks in the world. What kinds of folks are in
Scout's hierarchy?
Chapter 24
131. What does the "business" part of the Missionary Society consist of?
132. Why does Scout prefer the world of men to the world in which "fragrant ladies rocked slowly, fanned gently,
and drank cool water"?
133. Who are the "hypocrites" Mrs. Merriweather mentions? Why does she consider them hypocrites?
134. What news does Atticus bring to Aunt Alexandra, Maudie, and Scout?
135. Explain the basic irony of the Missionary Society's meeting for the betterment of conditions for "those poor
Mrunas."
136. What irony is there in Mrs. Merriweather's insistence that Helen Robinson be forgiven?
137. What does Maudie mean by the people with "background"?
138. What new side of Aunt Alexandra do you see in this chapter?
Chapter 25
139. What causes Scout to comment that Jem was acting more like a girl every day? What definition of "girl" does
this imply?
140. How does Scout learn about Helen's reaction to the news of her husband's death?
141. Mr. Ewell said Tom's death meant "one down and about two more to go." What does he mean?
142. What was the topic of Mr. Underwood’s editorial?
Chapter 26
143. What is happening to the cement patch in the tree?
144. Although she thought it had escaped his notice, Scout learns in this chapter that Atticus has known of one of
her "crimes" for a long time. Which one?
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145. What strikes you as important about Miss Gates's lesson on democracy?
146. What has Scout overheard that confuses her about Miss Gates's view of Hitler?
Chapter 27
147. Who does Bob Ewell blame for his loss of the WPA job?
148. What happened at Judge Taylor's house?
149. What two services does Link Deas perform for Helen Robinson because he "felt right bad about the way
things turned out"?
150. What event has been added to the fall social calendar in Maycomb?
151. What is Scout's Halloween costume? What are its chief drawbacks?
Chapter 28
152. Who scares the Finch children on the" way to the pageant?
153. How does Scout's performance go?
154. What is the first clue the children have that they are not alone on their walk home?
155. Who are the "four people under the tree"?
156. How does Jem get home?
157. What question does Scout ask again and again?
158. Who is the children's attacker? How did he die?
159. "The man who brought Jem in . . . He was some countryman I did not know." Why is it important that Scout
doesn't identify the rescuer?
Chapter 29
160. What unexpected advantage did the ham outfit supply?
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161. What does Boo really look like?
162. What character traits does Aunt Alexandra show in reaction to the crisis? What about Heck Tate?
Chapter 30
163. Who killed Bob Ewell?
164. What was the murder weapon?
165. What does the switchblade Heck Tate uses for demonstration have to do with all this?
166. What does Atticus think happened out there in the dark? What does he think Heck Tate is trying to do in
claiming Ewell fell on his knife? What is Heck really trying to do with this lie?
167. After Heck Tate leaves, Atticus must explain the lie to Scout. Why is this easier than he expects? (Consider the
whole book as you answer. Then look specifically at the conversation on the porch and find the one word
used by Tate that made it easy for Scout to see the necessity of the lie.)
Chapter 31
168. Describe the manner in which Scout walks Boo home.
169. What do you learn about the plot of The Gray Ghost?
170. Scout says that "we had given [Boo] nothing." Why is she wrong?
171. Why does Lee have Scout comment on the view from Boo's porch?
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