To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide
Chapter 1
1. Who did Scout say “started it all?” When did Jem say it all started? Who did Scout
say it really began with if you took a broad view of it?
2. Why was it odd that Atticus and his brother left Finch’s Landing?
3. What crime did Atticus’s first clients commit? Be specific.
4. What fascinated Dill? What game did he get the idea for?
5. How did Arthur “Boo” Radley get in trouble with the law when he was a teenager?
6. What did Boo do fifteen years later to get in trouble with the law?
7. What did Dill bet Jem that he couldn’t do?
Chapter 2
1. After their first summer with Dill, what big event in Scout’s life happened?
2. What rules did Jem give Scout while they were at school?
3. What did Scout’s class think about Miss Caroline’s talking cat story?
4. What did Scout get in trouble for before lunch on her first day of school?
5. Why wouldn’t Walter Cunningham accept the quarter that Miss Caroline offered him?
Chapter 3
1. Why did Scout catch Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard and rub his nose in the
dirt?
2. Why is Jem suddenly brave in front of the Radley place?
3. What did Scout first think that Miss Caroline was screaming about and what was she
really screaming about?
4. Why is Burris Ewell at school?
5. What is the “simple trick” that Atticus tries to teach Scout?
6. What is the compromise that Atticus and Scout come to?
7. How does Atticus get Jem to come down from the treehouse?
Chapter 4
1. Where did Atticus and his brother go to school?
2. What does Scout find in the knot-hole of the oak tree in front of the Radley place?
3. What do Jem and Scout find in the knot-hole the second time? What was in it?
4. According to Dill, who is his father and what does he look like?
5. What is a “Hot Steam?”
6. Where does Scout end up when Jem pushes her in the tire?
7. What did Scout hear from the Radley house the day she rolled in the tire?
Chapter 5
1. What was Jem’s plan if Atticus found out they were playing “Boo Radley?”
2. What did Dill ask Scout to do early in the summer and then forget about?
3. How does Miss Maudie know that Boo Radley is alive?
4. According to Miss Maudie, what do “foot-washing Baptists” believe?
5. What were Jem and Dill planning to do when Scout catches them talking in the back
yard?
6. How does Scout catch Dill in a lie about his father?
7. What problem did Jem have when it came to getting the note on the house?
Chapter 6
1. What were Jem and Dill going to do when they went for a walk?
2. What did Jem see when they lifted him to the windowsill?
3. What happens to Jem when he crawls through the fence?
4. What did Mr. Radley think he was shooting at?
5. What was Dill’s explanation for Jem not having his pants?
6. What does Jem want to do to get his pants back?
7. Why does he want to do it?
Chapter 7
1. How was the second grade for Scout?
2. What two things were odd about Jem’s pants when he went back to get them?
3. What was in the knot-hole this time?
4. What do Jem and Scout find in the knot-hole that October?
5. What did they find less than two weeks later?
6. What did they find the following week?
7. What was their biggest prize yet?
8. What do the children decide to do for whoever is leaving the stuff in the knot-hole?
9. What happened to the knot-hole before they could deliver the letter?
10. What does Atticus say about the tree?
Chapter 8
1. What happened that autumn that was strange for Maycomb County?
2. Who died that winter?
3. Since school was closed, what did Jem and Scout decide to do?
4. How do Jem and Scout build their snowman?
5. Why does Atticus wake Jem and Scout in the middle of the night?
6. Who put the blanket on Scout’s shoulders?
Chapter 9
1. What is the name of the man that Atticus is defending?
2. What does Calpurnia say about him?
3. What reasons for defending him does Atticus give to Scout?
4. What does Atticus say that every lawyer gets at least once in his life?
5. What did Scout do for the first time when confronted by Cecil Jacobs?
6. Who was Francis and how was he related to Scout?
7. What did Uncle Jack want Scout to stop doing while he was there?
8. What did Atticus write Uncle Jack to get the kids for Christmas?
9. What does Scout do to Francis at Christmas time?
10. What does Atticus tell Uncle Jack about the upcoming court case?
11. What did Scout realize about her eavesdropping many years later?
Chapter 10
1. How old was Atticus?
2. What was the word that got around about Scout?
3. What birds did Atticus tell them not to shoot and why?
4. What was Scout shooting at across the street when Atticus came home?
5. Who was Tim Johnson?
6. Who does Calpurnia warn about the dog?
7. Who was Heck Tate?
8. What does Mr. Tate plan to do with the dog?
9. Why does shooting the dog have to be a “one shot job?”
10. Who does Mr. Tate give the gun to?
11. What does Miss Maudie call Atticus when it is all over?
12. What is the reason that Atticus doesn’t hunt anymore, according to Miss Maudie?
13.Why doesn’t Jem want Scout to tell anyone in the schoolyard about Atticus’ talent?
Chapter 11
1. Whose house did the children have to pass to get to town?
2. What does Atticus say about Mrs. Dubose?
3. What does Mrs. Dubose accuse Jem of doing?
4. What did Jem do in retaliation for Mrs. Dubose’s comments about Atticus?
5. What did Atticus make Jem do when he got home that night?
6. What does Mrs. Dubose want Jem to do?
7. What happened when the alarm clock went off?
8. What happened when Atticus went to Mrs. Dubose’s house one evening?
9. What were Mrs. Dubose’s fits about?
10. Why did Atticus want Jem to go read to Mrs. Dubose?
Chapter 12
1. Why didn’t Dill arrive at the beginning of that summer?
2. Why did Atticus leave for two weeks?
3. What had happened “a rainy Sunday when [Scout and Jem] were both fatherless and
teacherless?”
4. What is Calpurnia’s solution to the church problem?
5. What is Calpurnia’s response when Lula says, “they got their church, we got our’n?”
6. How does the rest of the congregation feel about the children being at their church?
7. Why do you think the Reverend Sykes introduced Jem and Scout by saying “You all
know their father?”
8. What is the collection for that week going towards?
9. What does the Reverend do when collection is over?
10. What is the response from the congregation?
11. What does Reverend Sykes tell Jem and Scout about Atticus?
12. What is Tom Robinson accused of?
13. Who taught Calpurnia to read?
14. Who was on the porch of their house when the children arrived home?
Chapter 13
1. Why is Aunt Alexandra staying with them?
2. According to Aunt Alexandra, what did every family in Maycomb have?
3. What was Alexandra’s opinion concerning how fine a family was?
4. Why do the people of Maycomb bear a resemblance to each other?
5. How does Aunt Alexandra want the children to behave?
6. Who does Atticus say he gets more like everyday?
Chapter 14
1. What was Jem “positively allergic” to?
2. How does Atticus define rape?
3. When she returned from the bathroom, who did Scout think that Alexandra and Atticus
were talking about?
4. Who were Atticus and Alexandra really talking about?
5. What does Alexandra want Atticus to do with Calpurnia?
6. Why did Scout attack Jem in Jem’s room?
7. What does Atticus say when Scout asks if she has to mind Jem now?
8. What did Scout think she stepped on as she passed her bed and what was it really?
9. What does Jem do that breaks the remaining code of their childhood?
10. What is Atticus going to do about Dill at the moment?
11. What was the rule on small children traveling a distance alone on the railways?
12. Who wakes up Scout in the middle of the night?
13. According to Dill, why did he runaway?
14. What does Dill suggest to Scout that they get?
15. According to Dill, why has Boo Radley never run away?
Chapter 15
1. What was Dill’s new “foolproof” plan to make Boo Radley come out of his house?
2. What were the two reasons grown men stood outside in the front yard in Maycomb?
3. What does Atticus say when Link Deas tells him he has everything to lose from this
case?
4. When Scout returns from walking Dill home, what had Atticus and Alexandra been
“fussing” about?
5. What is Jem scared about?
6. What did Atticus do on Sunday evening that interested Scout and Jem?
7. What are two “peculiarities” Atticus has?
8. Where do the children find Atticus?
9. What do the men that show up at the jailhouse want?
10. What does Scout realize when she jumps to the middle of the ring of men?
11. Who does Scout recognize from the crowd of men?
12. What, in your opinion, made the men leave the jailhouse when they did?
13. Who talks to Atticus from the jail window?
Chapter 16
1. What is the change that Scout begins to notice in her father?
2. What does Scout say about the first day young Walter Cunnigham comes back to
school?
3. What does Dill report when he comes in that morning?
4. Why is there a steady stream of people coming by their house on a Monday?
5. Describe the atmosphere of the courthouse square when the children go downtown.
6. What is it that everyone thinks Mr. Dolphus Raymond is drinking out of a bag?
7. What does Scout find out about Atticus and this case from the Idlers’ Club?
8. Who do the children run into when they are trying to get into the courthouse?
9. Where do the children end up sitting?
10. What did the jurors look like?
11. Who was on the witness stand when the children got to their seats?
Chapter 17
1.What was different about Heck Tate’s appearance today?
2. What did Heck find at the “crime scene?”
3. Which eye did the girl have blackened?
4. What was wrong with her neck?
5. Who was next called to the stand?
6. Name three things in the Ewell’s front yard.
7. What is Bob Ewell’s first answer to the question “are you the father of Mayella Ewell?
8. Summarize Mr. Ewell’s account of the evening the “crime” took place.
9. What does Bob Ewell try to do as soon as Mr. Gilmer is done questioning him?
10. What is the first question Atticus asks Ewell?
11. What was the second question he asked?
12. What seemed to be Atticus’s purpose in asking if Mr. Ewell could read and write?
Chapter 18
1. Who is Mayella Violet Ewell?
2. Who does Mayella say she is afraid of?
3. What did Mayella say her father was “hollerin’” when he arrived?
4. What is the first question Atticus asks Mayella?
5. Why was Atticus asking simple questions about Mayella’s life?
6. What does Mayella say when he asks her if her father ever beat her?
7. What is the question Atticus asks that makes Mayella involuntarily jump?
8. What does Mayella answer when Atticus asks if she remembers Tom beating her about
the face?
9. What is revealed when Tom Robinson stands up?
10. What is the last question Atticus asks that gets no answer?
11. What happens in the courtroom after Mayella’s testimony?
12. What does Judge Taylor do when he comes back?
13. How many witnesses did Atticus have?
Chapter 19
1. What problem did Tom have while he was being sworn in?
2. What does Atticus get Tom Robinson to say about himself right away?
3. How is Tom’s account of the chiffarobe incident different than Mayella’s?
4. How does Tom contradict Mayella’s testimony concerning him coming inside the
fence?
5. According to Tom, what was the only disturbed furniture in the room?
6. Who was Bob Ewell talking to when he came into the room?
7. What subject does Mr. Gilmer go back to when he first starts to question Tom?
8. What does Tom say about Mayella’s version of events?
9. What happened to Dill that made Scout have to leave the courtroom with him?
10. Who did Scout and Dill meet out under the trees?
Chapter 20
1. What does Dolphus Raymond give to Dill to settle his stomach?
2. Why does Dolphus Raymond pretend to be a drunk?
3. Why does Dolphus Raymond tell Scout and Dill his deepest secret?
4. What does Dolphus Raymond say about Atticus?
5. What does Atticus do that he doesn’t usually do?
6. During Atticus’s speech the children see another “first.” What is it?
7. What did Atticus say to himself at the end of his speech?
Chapter 21
1. Who tells Atticus where the children are?
2. When Jem pleads with Atticus to let them stay what does he decide?
3. What was odd about the people in the courtroom while they waited for the jury to
return?
4. What is it that Scout looks for as the jury comes in that only a lawyer’s child could
know to look for?
5. What verdict does the jury return?
Chapter 22
1. What does Jem mutter all the way to the corner of the square?
2. What does Alexandra call Atticus that the children have never heard her do before?
3. Where did all the food that Calpurnia found around the doorstep come from?
4. What was Atticus’s reaction to it?
5. According to Miss Maudie, how did Judge Taylor try to help Tom Robinson?
6. What did Miss Stephanie tell the children had happened to Atticus?
Chapter 23
1. What was the only thing Atticus would say about the incident?
2. What did Atticus tell Jem about having a gun around?
3. What does Atticus say about Bob Ewell when Scout and Jem tell Atticus they are
worried about his safety?
4. What happens to Tom if he loses his appeal?
5. What does Atticus say about the men on a jury?
6. What does Atticus say about a white man who cheats a black man?
7. Who was the one man on the jury who took “considerable wearing down?”
8.What are the four kinds of folks in Maycomb according to Jem?
Chapter 24
1.Why were all the ladies at the Finches house?
2. Why did Miss Stephanie ask Scout if she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up?
3. Why does Scout feel more at home in her father’s world?
4. What does Atticus come home early for?
5. What does Scout do at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 25
1. According to Scout, what phase is her brother going through?
2. What did Helen Robinson do when Atticus told her the news?
3. How long was Maycomb interested in Tom’s death?
4. What did Scout mean by “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her
mouth and screamed?”
5. What, according to Stephanie Crawford, was Bob Ewell’s reaction to the news of
Tom’s death?
Chapter 26
1. What grades were Jem and Scout in when they go back to school?
2. What was Jem’s new obsession?
3. How had Scout’s feelings about the Radley place changed?
4. What would happen in Scout’s fantasy about seeing Boo Radley?
5. What was The Grit Paper?
6. According to Cecil Jacobs, what is “old Adolph Hitler” up to?
7. Why was Jem eating so many bananas and drinking milk?
8. What is Jem’s reaction when Scout brings up the courthouse?
Chapter 27
1.What happened to Judge Taylor?
2. What happened to Helen Robinson?
3. What had the Maycomb children done to Misses Tutti and Frutti Barber the previous
Halloween?
4. What was the response to this act the following year?
5. What was Scout supposed to do on stage at the pageant?
6. What was Scout’s costume made out of?
Chapter 28
1. What was strange about the weather?
2. What does Scout say about the Radley house now?
3. Who tried to scare Scout and Jem on their way to the High School?
4. What did Scout do when it was her cue to come on the stage?
5. Why doesn’t Scout take her costume off at the end of the show?
6. What do Scout and Jem think they hear on the way home?
7. When Scout realizes that there are four people in the area, whom does she call for?
8. According to Dr. Reynolds, how bad is Jem hurt?
9. Who attacked the children and what happened to him?
Chapter 29
1. Why couldn’t Atticus and Alexandra hear Jem yelling?
2. What injuries did Heck Tate find on Bob Ewell that could be explained by Scout’s
costume?
3. Who saved Jem and Scout?
Chapter 30
1. Why does Atticus say that Arthur Radley already knows Scout?
2. What is odd to Scout about the way Dr. Reynolds talks to Boo Radley?
3. What does Atticus mistakenly believe about the incident?
4. Why doesn’t Atticus want to hush up the situation?
5. When Heck says that he is not thinking about Jem, whom is he thinking about?
6. What does Scout mean when she says “it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird,
wouldn’t it?”
Chapter 31
1. What does Boo want to do before he leaves?
2. What does Scout imagine from the porch of the Radley house?
3. How long would Atticus stay in Jem’s room?