Summer Assignment
Mrs. John
10th grade Honors English
200 points
Read the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. As you read, keep a dialectical journal of questions and connections
that you would like to discuss in class. Note pages numbers as you are reading so you can refer to the text
during class discussions. The idea behind the journal is for you to take note of important moments and to
actively engage with the text through questioning the text and thinking about its meaning. You may organize
those thoughts and questions in whatever format you feel will be most useful to you. Keep in mind that part
of the organization ought to be accessibility—how quickly can you find the question or the thought in order
to discuss it or write about?
Use context clues and a dictionary for unfamiliar terms. Research any unknown references and allusions.
Read the attached questions that correspond with the chapters you have just finished. Answer these
questions and be ready to use these as starting points for our discussions in class. Be sure to note textual
evidence and page numbers where appropriate.
Possible Essay Topic:
Do you read the novel as a hopeful or hopeless commentary on the state of our human relations? In other
words, does Harper Lee offer readers a hopeful view of humanity or a hopeless view of humanity? Support
your opinion using specific textual evidence from the last two pages of the novel, and any other moments in
the novel that deal with the motif of “sight”.
**You will be writing during the first week of school. There is NO essay due when you arrive.
The answers to the guide questions and the dialectical journal are due the first day of class. If you
come to class without having read the novel or unable to write the essay, you will move to an Academic
English course.
Contact Information over the summer:
Email: [email protected]
**Please remember, the answers to these questions and your dialectical entries must be uniquely your
own.**
Questions by Chapter
(Record your answers on separate paper and attach all answers to this question sheet.)
Chapters 1—5:
1. In Chapter One, Scout says Atticus told her “there’s other ways of making people into ghosts.” What does this mean?
2. Scout’s first day of school is quite ironic. Discuss the irony surrounding her situation and explain what type of irony Lee uses.
3. One of the major themes of this novel arises toward the end of Chapter Three. What statement becomes central to the novel
and what exactly is Atticus suggesting by repeating this statement?
Chapters 6—10:
4. At the end of Chapter Seven, we understand that the tree is not actually dying on the Radley property. Metaphorically, what is
suggested instead? Why is Jem crying?
5. The motif of “it ain’t time to worry yet” will be sustained throughout the novel. What mood is created from this motif?
6. Atticus says at the beginning of Chapter Nine, “simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason
for us not to try to win.” Why would you still try at something if you knew you were already defeated? Who do we see as an
example of this premise later in the novel (who tries even though already defeated)?
Chapters 11—15:
7. In Chapter Eleven, how does Atticus diffuse the power behind a painful racist comment: “n***-lover”? What does he suggest
people realize about the labels they place on one another?
8. In Chapter Twelve, Harper Lee describes the First Purchase African M.E. Church in detail. What is her subtle commentary
really about when she says “Negroes worship in it on Sundays and white men gambled in it on weekdays”?
9. Why is the cemetery next to this church a “happy cemetery”? What type of phrase is this?
10. What was the primary reason for Maycomb’s existence?
11. Why doesn’t Atticus discipline Jem for refusing to go home from the prison?
Chapters 16—20:
12. At the beginning of Chapter Sixteen, Scout is crying because her thoughts blend two visions of Atticus: one at the prison
“folding his newspaper and pushing back his hat” and the other “in the middle of an empty street, pushing up his glasses.” What is
the second moment alluding to? Why does Harper Lee blend these two moments in Scout’s mind? What are we as readers
supposed to symbolically see?
13. Why is Atticus’ use of “Miss” and Ma’m” misconstrued by Mayella?
14. What single term reveals the prejudice Gilmer has toward Tom Robinson? What is “it” that makes Dill sick and have to leave
the courtroom?
Chapters 21—31:
15. While Atticus’ closing remarks to the jury occur in a courthouse, where else could you imagine this speech taking place?
Why?
16. At the end of Chapter Twenty-One, explain the symbolic statement Scout makes: “it was like watching Atticus walk into the
street, raise a rifle to his shoulder and pull the trigger, but watching all the time knowing the gun was empty.”
17. Consider these two statements from Chapter Twenty-Two: “We’ve made it this way for them, they might as well learn to
cope with it” and “’It’s like bein’ a caterpillar in a cocoon, that’s what it is’ he said, ‘Like somethin’ asleep wrapped up in a warm
place.’” What does Atticus mean they have to learn to cope with “it”? And what is asleep in a cocoon according to Jem?
18. In the last pages of the book, Scout says she would never lead Boo home. What is the deeper suggestion?