To Kill a Mockingbird

Study Guide Questions

 

Directions: Keep these questions in your notebook. Answer the following questions in complete sentences on your own sheet of paper. Be ready to turn in your answers on checkpoint days.

 

Chapter 1

  1. What do you learn about Maycomb, Atticus Finch, and his family?
  2. What do you learn about Dill’s character?
  3. Briefly describe what has happened to Arthur “Boo” Radley?
  4. Why does the Radley place fascinate Jem, Scout, and Dill?
  5. What do you notice about the narrative voice and viewpoint in the novel?

 

Chapter 2

  1. Why does Jem not want anything to do with Scout at school? Is his behavior typical of an older brother? Explain.
  2. What do you think of Miss Caroline Fisher as a teacher? What are qualities that make her good or not so good at her job?

 

Chapter 3

  1. What is Walter Cunningham like? What does his behavior during lunch suggest about his home life?
  2. Atticus says that you never really understand a person “until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” What does this mean? Is it an easy thing for Scout to learn?
  3. What do you learn about the Ewells in this chapter?
  4. How are the Cunninghams different from the Ewells?

 

Chapter 4

  1. Why do the children make Boo’s story into a game?
  2. What do they do in this game? Do you think the game is an accurate version of what happens in the Radley’s home?

 

Chapter 5

  1. What does Miss Maudie tell Scout about Boo? How does this compare with what Scout already believes?
  2. Scout claims that “Dill could tell the biggest ones” (lies) she ever heard. Why might Dill have told such lies?
  3. What reasons does Atticus give for the children not to play the Boo Radley game? Do you think he is right? Explain your answer.

 

Chapter 6

  1. Why does Scout disapprove of Jem’s and Dill’s plan of looking in at one of the Radley’s window?

 

Chapter 7

  1. When Jem tells Scout of getting his trousers back, he tells her of something strange. What is this?
  2. Can you find any evidence that Jem is beginning to understand more than Scout about Boo Radley? What do you think this is?

Chapter 8

  1. Why do people in Maycomb think the seasons changed?
  2. Why does Scout quiz Atticus about his visit to the Radley house? How much does Atticus tell her?
  3. What is the “near libel” that Jem puts in the front yard? How do Miss Maudie and Atticus react to it?
  4. When Atticus asks Scout about the blanket around her shoulders, what does Jem realize?
  5. Explain what Atticus means by telling Jem not to let his discovery “inspire” him to “further glory”? Is there any reason why Jem might now do as his father says?
  6. How does Miss Maudie react to the fire?

 

Chapter 9

  1. How well does Atticus feel he should defend Tom Robinson? Is it usual for (white) lawyers to do their best for black clients in Alabama at this time? Explain.
  2. Uncle Jack Finch tells Scout that she is growing out of her pants. What does this mean and why might he say it?
  3. Does Scout learn anything from overhearing Atticus's conversation with Uncle Jack? What might this be?
  4. Read the final sentence of this chapter. Explain in your own words what it means and why it might be important in the story.

 

Chapter 10

  1. Scout says that “Atticus was feeble”. Do you think that this is her view as she tells the story or her view when she was younger? Does she still think this after the events recorded in this chapter? Explain.
  2. In this chapter Atticus tells his children that “it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”. What does he mean?
  3. Why does Heck Tate not want to shoot Tim Johnson?
  4. Near the end of this chapter Atticus cuts off Heck Tate as he is speaking to Jem. What might Heck have been about to say, and why would Atticus want to stop him from saying it?
  5. Jem and Scout have different views about telling people at school how well Atticus can shoot. Explain this difference. Which view is closer to your own?

 

Chapter 11

  1. What request does Mrs. Dubose make of Jem? Is this a fair punishment for his “crime”?
  2. Explain in your own words what Atticus thinks of insults like “nigger-lover”. How far do you agree with him?
  3. Why, in Atticus's view, was Mrs. Dubose “a great lady”?
  4. Atticus says that Mrs. Dubose is a model of real courage rather than “a man with a gun in his hand”. What does he mean? Do you think he is right?
  5. Chapters ten and eleven are the last two chapters in the first part of the book. Explain why Harper Lee chooses to end the first part here.