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To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide #1
****Chapters 1-5****
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1. Briefly describe the narrator of the story, her family, and her background.
2. What is the setting of the story?
3. Describe Atticus Finch.
4. Who is “Dill” and what does he want Scout and Jem to help him do?
5. Who is Boo Radley? List the rumors told about him in Maycomb.
6. Miss Caroline has a “new” (for the 1930s) way of teaching. Does it work with Scout and her classmates?
Why or why not? What would your reaction be to this kind of teaching?
7. “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing” (18). What does Scout
mean when she says this?
8. On pages 19-22, Harper Lee paints the Cunningham’s family clearly with words. What kind of people are
they?
9. Scout feels that she has explained Walter’s problem clearly by stating that “he’s a Cunningham.” What
does this show about the community where she lives? What does this show about cross-cultural differences
and fitting into a new environment?
10. Why does Calpurnia request Scout’s presence in the kitchen at the lunch with Walter? What is her
message to Scout?
11. Describe the Ewells and why they are allowed to skip school after attending for the first day. Why might
Harper Lee include these scenarios involving people like Walter Cunningham and Burris Ewell? What
insight do they give into the society of Maycomb?
12. What is the “lesson” Atticus teaches Jem and Scout in chapter 3? (This will be important throughout the
novel—remember it!)
13. What caught Scout’s eye as she ran past the Radley place?
14. What did summer mean to Scout and Jem?
15. What begins to happen to the threesome of Jem, Scout, and Dill in chapter 5? Why does this change
occur?
16. Describe Miss Maudie Atkinson. What kind of relationship does she have with Scout? With the other
children?
17. What information does Miss Maudie offer about Boo Radley?
18. What do the children try to do at the Radley’s house in chapter 5? What is Atticus’s reaction?
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To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide #2
****Chapters 6-11****
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19. What was Mr. Avery’s amazing feat? How does this event demonstrate the theme of gender roles in the
novel?
20. Describe the events that take place in the evening during chapter 6. What did Nathan Radley and the
neighbors believe happened? What does this show about the people in this society and their attitudes?
21. Why does Jem go back to the Radley’s place that night?
22. How does Scout apply the lesson she learned from Atticus in chapter 3 to Jem?
23. What secret did Jem keep from Scout about what happened when he went back to the Radley’s? What was
the affect of this experience on him?
24. Who mended and folded Jem’s pants? How do we know? Why does this disturb Jem so much?
25. List the gifts that the children find in the tree hole:
26. Why do you think Jem was crying at the end of chapter 7? How has his attitude changed towards Boo?
27. What season opens chapter 8? What is unusual about it this year? How do Jem and Scout each react?
28. What brought the neighbors out in the middle of the night?
29. Who placed the blanket around Scout’s shoulders? Why is this significant both to the characters and to the
novel itself?
30. Why did Scout want to fight Cecil Jacobs? What is Atticus’s response?
31. Why is Atticus defending Tom Robinson?
32. Why does Scout not get along with Aunt Alexandria and Cousin Francis?
33. How does Uncle Jack show that he “doesn’t understand children?
34. At the end of chapter 9, Scout feels sure that she was meant to overhear Atticus’s conversation with Uncle
Jack. What important information do both Scout and the reader learn from this conversation? What does it
teach the reader about the characters?
35. Why do the children think of Atticus as being so old?
36. Why do Atticus and Calpurnia say “it’s a sin to shoot a mockingbird”? How might a mockingbird really be
a metaphor for something or someone else? (remember this for later, too!)
37. What do the children learn about Atticus after he deals with Tim Johnson? How does it change their view
of him?
38. What does Jem do to Mrs. Dubose and why?
39. How does Mrs. Dubose’s death affect Jem? Why?
40. What does Atticus say “real courage” is and why does he need to explain it to the children?
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To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide #3
****Chapters 12-22****
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41. What are some of the signs that Jem is changing in terms of his relationships? Why is this happening?
42. What valuable lessons do the children learn at the First Purchase African M.E. Church?
43. Why was there a collection taken up for Tom Robinson’s wife and children?
44. What has Tom Robinson been accused of doing? Why is this such a difficult case to defend?
45. How can one tell that Aunt Alexandria is preoccupied with her ancestry? Who is Cousin Joshua?
46. Why are the children so disturbed by Atticus’s little speech?
47. Read the last two lines of the chapter and explain what Scout means.
48. Why is it important to Atticus that the children respect Aunt Alexandria?
49. How does Aunt Alexandria feel about Calpurnia? Why? What is Atticus’s response?
50. Who/what is under Scout’s bed?
52. What are Dill’s parent’s really like? Why did he make up all those stories before?
53. Why is Heck Tate concerned in chapter 15? What is Atticus’s response?
54. How do the children know “something was up” when Atticus drove into town? Why is he going in so late
at night?
55. How does Scout help Atticus? Why did this work?
56. Who is Mr. Underwood? How does he support Atticus?
57. Why do so many people head down to the courthouse? List the different groups/individuals that go there:
58. What attitude do people have about watching the trial?
59. Describe Mr. Dolphus Raymond. Why is he so unusual?
60. Describe Judge Taylor. Is he a good judge? Why or why not?
61. Who is the first witness? What part of his testimony does Atticus focus on? Why might this be so?
62. Who is the second witness? What kind of person is he?
63. What part of Bob Ewell’s testimony does Atticus focus on? Why might this be so?
64. What clever technique does Atticus use to “trap” Mr. Ewell?
65. Why does Mayella feel that Atticus is mocking her? What does this show about her and her life?
66. What is Mayella’s home life like? What kind of person is she?
67. Do you believe Mayella’s story? Why or why not?
68. In your own words, describe what you think happened between Tom and Mayella.
69. In chapter 19, Tom’s version of the story is told. Is Tom or Mayella more believable? Why?
70. On page 198, Dill starts crying. Explain why, thoughtfully:
71. After reading pages 199-201, explain Dolphus Raymond and his view of the world:
72. Summarize Atticus’s closing remarks. What does he mean when he says that not all men are created equal
but that the courts are “the great levelers”?
73. On page 208, what does Reverend Sykes say that foreshadows the verdict of the trial? Why is his comment
significant?
74. Why do you think the jury returned this verdict? What does this show about this society?
75. Why does Reverend Sykes say that the children should stand as their father passes after the trial is over?
76. Jem is in tears. Why?
77. The next day, Atticus is also moved to tears. Why? Why have all these gifts arrived?
78. What does Miss Maudie tell the children about people in the town that gives the more optimistic side of the
situation?
79. What does Miss Maudie mean when she says “we’re making a step—it’s just a baby step, but it’s a step”?
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To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide #4
****Chapters 23-31****
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80. Why did Bob Ewell spit in Atticus’s face?
81. On page 218, Atticus asks Jem to “stand in” Bob Ewell’s shoes. Why does he want his children to
regularly practice this technique?
82. On pages 220-221, Atticus has a conversation with his children about racism. What is his view of it? What
is his explanation for why people discriminate in areas of race and gender?
83. Explain Jem’s view of Maycomb’s society. He also decides that it’s how long your family’s been reading
and writing that gives someone advantages in life. Do you agree with his view? Why or why not?
84. Look at the last paragraph in chapter 23. What does Jem mean by this?
85. What is the purpose of the women’s “missionary teas”? What does this chapter show about the attitudes of
the women in this group (towards other cultures? Black people? Atticus?)
86. What do you think Miss Maudie meant when she said “His food doesn’t stick going down, does it?” to Mrs.
Merriweather?
87. What does Atticus mean when he says “Tom was tired of white men’s chances, and preferred to take his
own”?
88. Mr. B. B. Underwood wrote in the Maycomb Tribune that Tom’s death was like “the senseless slaughter of
songbirds.” Explain what you think his words mean:
89. In what way is Miss Gates a hypocrite? Why do you think this is?
90. What three events in chapter 27 were out of the ordinary, and why?
91. What costume would Scout wear to the Maycomb County Pageant?
92. What foreshadowing do we see in chapter 27?
93. Why do Jem and Scout head home so late?
94. List the events that happen that night when Jem and Scout are coming home from the pageant. Who did
what to whom in the scuffle?
95. Who does Scout point to in Jem’s room? Describe him. What is he doing there?
96. On page 276, Mr. Tate says, “there’s a black boy dead for no reason, and the man responsible for it’s dead.
Let the dead bury the dead this time, Mr. Finch. Let the dead bury the dead.” What is he trying to convince
Atticus to do? Why is Atticus so upset (he misunderstands what happened out there—how?)
97. Scout says that turning Boo in for murdering Mr. Ewell would be “sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird,
wouldn’t it?” What does she mean?
98. What made Scout sad when she thought about Boo?
99. Reread page 279 and the description of Scout’s thoughts as she looks out from Boo’s front porch. What is
she “seeing” in her mind? What is the importance of this passage? How does it relate to the idea of “standing in
[someone’s] skin”? What does this show about how Scout has grown and changed over the course of the novel?
100. What’s Atticus’s final message to Scout before she goes to bed? Do you agree? Why or why not? How
does it fit with the major theme(s) of the novel?
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