To Kill a Mockingbird
Study Guide Questions
Directions: Keep these questions in your notebook. In your own words, answer the following questions in complete sentences on your own sheet of paper. Be ready to turn in your answers on checkpoint days.
Chapter 16
1. Describe Aunt Alexandra’s opinion of Atticus Finch’s household. Give two specific examples of things she thinks are wrong?
2. When Scout asks how Mr. Cunningham could act the way he did if he was a friend, how does Atticus explain his behavior?
3. Why is everyone going to the courthouse?
4. Describe Dolphus Raymond and the things he does that the children find strange.
5. How did Jem explain mixed children?
6. Describe the seating arrangements in the court.
Chapter 17
1. Who is Mayella Ewell?
2. According to Sheriff Tate’s testimony, what injuries did Mayella Ewell have?
3. Describe the Ewell family and the way they live.
4. What type of first impression do you get of Mr. Ewell?
5. Why did Atticus ask Bob Ewell to write? What did he show the court by doing this?
Chapter 18
1. What is Mayella afraid of when she takes the stand?
2. Summarize Mayella’s testimony.
3. What important information did Mayella reveal about her father?
4. What is wrong with Tom Robinson’s left arm?
5. Who does Atticus imply beat Mayella?
Chapter 19
1. Summarize Tom Robinson’s testimony.
2. What conclusion does Scout draw about Mayella?
3. Who is Mr. Link Deas? What did he say about Tom Robinson?
4. What reason did Tom Robinson give for helping Mayella Ewell? What was the reaction to his reason?
5. How did Dill react to hearing the testimony? Why?
Chapter 20
1. Scout says that “Mr. Dolphus Raymond was an evil man”. Is she right? Explain.
2. In
most states of the
3. Explain, in your own words, Atticus's views on people's being equal.
Chapter 21
1. What does Jem expect the verdict to be? Does Atticus think the same?
2. What is unusual about how long it takes the jury to reach a verdict? Is the verdict predictable or not?
3. As Scout waits for the verdict, she thinks of earlier events. What are these and how do they remind us of the novel's central themes?
Chapter 22
1. Although Atticus did not want his children in court, he defends Jem's right to know what has
happened. Explain, in your own words, Atticus's reasons for this. (Look at the speech beginning, “This is their home, sister”.)
2. Miss Maudie tells Jem that “things are never as bad as they seem”. What reasons does she give for this view?
3. This story is set in the 1930s but was published in 1960. Have attitudes toward racism remained the same or have there been any changes (for the better or worse) since then?
4. Why does Bob Ewell feel so angry with Atticus?
Chapter 23
1. What do you think of Atticus's reaction to Bob Ewell's challenge? Should he have ignored Bob, retaliated, or done something else? What would you have done?
2. What is “circumstantial evidence”? What has it got to do with Tom's conviction?
3. What does Atticus tell Scout about why the jury took so long to convict Tom?
4. Why does Aunt Alexandra accept that the Cunninghams may be good but are not “our kind of folks”? Do you think that people should mix only with others of the same social class? Are class divisions good or bad for societies?
5. At the end of this chapter, Jem forms a new theory about why Boo Radley has never left his house in years. What is this? In your opinion, how likely is it to be true?
Chapter 24
1.
Do you think the missionary ladies are sincere in worrying
about the “Mrunas” (a tribe in
2. Compare the reactions of Miss Maudie and the other ladies when Scout says she is wearing her “britches” under her dress.
3. Explain briefly how Tom was killed. What is Atticus's explanation for Tom's attempted escape?
4.
How, in this chapter, do we see Aunt Alexandra
in a new light? How does Miss Maudie support her?
Chapter 25
1. How does Maycomb react to the news of Tom's death?
2. Explain the contrast Scout draws between the court where Tom was tried and “the secret courts of men's hearts”. In what way are hearts like courts?
3. Why did Jem not want Scout to tell Atticus about Bob Ewell's comment? Was this a wise thing to ask her to do?
Chapter 26
1. In her lesson on Hitler, Miss Gates says that “we (American people) don't believe in persecuting anyone”. What seems odd about this claim?
2. Why does Scout's question upset Jem? Is there a simple answer, or any answer, to the question “How can you hate Hitler an’ then turn around an’ be ugly about folks right at home?”
3. Create your own question. Your question cannot be answered with a yes or no.
Chapter 27
1. What three things does Bob Ewell do that alarm Aunt Alexandra?
2. Why, according to Atticus, does Bob Ewell bear a grudge? Which people does Ewell see as his enemies, and why?
3. Create your own question. Your question cannot be answered with a yes or no.
Chapter 28
1. Comment on the way this chapter reminds the reader of earlier events in the novel.
2. Why does Jem say that Boo Radley must not be at home? What is ironic about this? (Is it true? Does he really mean it? Why might it be important for him and Scout that Boo should not be at home?)
3. Scout decides to keep her costume on while walking home. How does this affect her understanding of what happens on the way?
4. Why had Atticus not brought a chair for the man in the corner? Who might this stranger be?
Chapter 29
1. What causes the “shiny clean line” on the otherwise “dull wire” of Scout's costume?
2. What explanation does Atticus give for Bob Ewell's attack?
3. What does Heck Tate give as the reason for the attack?
4. Do you think the sheriff's explanation or Atticus's is the more likely to be true?
Chapter 30
1. Who does Atticus think caused Bob Ewell's death?
2. Why does Heck Tate insist that Bob Ewell's death was self-inflicted? In what way is this partly true?
3. Is Heck Tate right to spare Boo the publicity of an investigation? Give reasons for your answer.
4. Create your own question. Your question cannot be answered with a yes or no.
Chapter 31
1. How do the events of the final chapters explain the first sentence in the whole novel?
2. Comment on the way the writer summarizes earlier events to show their significance.
3. How does Scout make sense of an earlier remark (the one on the front wall of the classroom) of Atticus's as she stands on the Radley porch?
4. How much of a surprise is it for Scout to discover what Boo Radley is really like? Has the story before this point prepared the reader for this discovery?
5. At the end of the novel, Atticus reads to Scout. Comment on his choice of story. Does it have any connection with themes earlier in the novel and in its ending?
6. Give your impressions of the book. What did you like, not like, and what did you learn as a result of reading this novel?