To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide Questions: Answer each question thoroughly, giving specific support from the text (this means
quotes with page numbers) whenever possible. Chapter One Describe the character (s) using details from the book-consider physical, social, emotional, mental and moral characteristics. Name Description Scout Finch Jem Finch Atticus Finch Calpurnia Dill Boo Radley 1 Why does Scout (the narrator) emphasize that they are Southerners and tell about the Finch family history? 2 Describe Maycomb, Scout’s hometown. Use specific details from the book. 3 Describe the Radley Place. Use specific details from the book. What predictions can you make based on this description? How do people in the town feel about the house and its inhabitants? Be sure to answer all part of the question. 4 From whose point of view is the story told? What is unique about this point of view? 5 How might this point of view affect the story? Chapter Two and Three 6 Describe the character(s) using details from the book-consider physical, social, emotional, mental and moral characteristics. Name Description Miss Caroline Walter Cunningham Burris Ewell 7 What does Jem explain to Scout at the beginning of this chapter? What does that show about his character in this story? 8 What does Miss Caroline think of Scout’s reading and writing abilities? What does this reveal about Miss Caroline? About Scout? 9 Why does Walter Cunningham lie about not having his lunch and refuse to borrow a quarter from Miss Caroline? 10 What does Sout’s attempt at explaining the Cunninghams to Miss Caroline reveal about her character? What does her explanation reveal about the community? 11 What does Atticus reveal about his character in his dealings with Mr. Cunningham, Walter’s father? 12 “By the time we had reached our front steps Walter had forgotten he was a Cunningham” (31). What do you think Scout means by this? 13 What does Scout mean when she says about Walter, “...he’s just a Cunningham” (33)? 14 What does Calpurnia’s reaction to Scout’s outburst at the dinner table reveal about her position in the house? About Calpurnia as a person? 15 What does the cooties incident reveal about the Ewells? How is Burris Ewell different from the other poor children like Walter Cunningham and Little Chuck Little? 16 What laws are the Ewells allowed to break? Why do the “common folk” of Maycomb allow them to break these laws? From this incident (and what you’ve read of the book so far) what societal “classes” exist in Maycomb? 17 What dos the conversation between Atticus and Scout at teh end of the chapter reveal about their relationship? 18 “First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (39). 19 What does Atticus mean by this? What does this statement show about him as a person? Chapters Four and Five 20 Describe the character(s) using details from the book-consider physical, social, emotional, mental and moral characteristics. Name Description Miss Maudie 21 Re-read “Finders were keepers...but money was different” (47). Why are certain things allowed in their “ethical” culture, but money is different? 22 What does Miss Maudie reveal about Atticus when she says, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” (61) and why is this a compliment? 23 In what ways does Jem try to demonstrate that he is older and more knowledgeable than Scout? 24 How do we see that Jem is still more immature than he believes he is? 25 What does Scout learn about Arthur “Boo” Radley from Miss Maudie? 26 What does Atticus do when he dinds Jem and Dill trying to give Boo Radley a note through the shutters? Why does he act this way?
