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To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide

Chapter 1

1. In what state does the novel take place?

2. What does the children’s father, Atticus Finch, do for a living?

3. From whose point of view is the story told?

4. Who is Calpurnia and what is she like?

5. What game does Dill invent

6. What did Arthur (Boo) Radley do (at age 33) that landed him temporarily in the county
jail?

7. According to Jem’s description, what does Boo look like?

8. What act of “courage” on Jem’s part ends the chapter?

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Chapter 2

9. On her first day of school, what does Scout get in trouble for? List three things.

10. How does Miss Caroline Fisher feel at the end of her first day? How do you know?

11. What are the Cunninghams like?

Chapter 3

12. How does Scout solve her problem with Walter Cunningham?

13. How does Jem solve Scout’s problem with Walter Cunningham?

14. Why can’t Walter pass the first grade?

15. What scared and shocked Miss Caroline?

Chapter 4

16. What is the first gift that appears in the hollow tree? What other gifts do the children
find?

17. What new facts does Dill offer about his father?

18. How has the Boo Radley game changed?

19. When Scout rolls into the Radley front yard in the tire, what does she hear?

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Chapter 5

20. What does Scout admire about Miss Maudie?

21. What do you learn about Uncle Jack?

22. What new plan do the boys devise to get Boo to come out? Why doesn’t it work?

23. What does Dill say that causes Scout to accuse him of lying?

24. What direct order does Atticus give the children?

Chapter 6

25. How do the children plan to spend Dill’s last night in Maycomb?

26. What goes wrong with the children’s escape plan?

27. At whom does Mr. Nathan think he has fired his gun?

28. How do the children claim to have spent the evening?

29. What makes Jem decide to return to the Radley yard that night?

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Chapter 7

30. What does Jem tell Scout about “that night” at Boo Radley’s?

31. What new gifts do they find in the knothole?

32. What ends the knothole gifts?

Chapter 8

33. Who dies this winter?

34. What “aberration of nature” frightens Scout?

35. What method does Jem devise to make a snowman?

36. Whom will Scout want to thank one day for keeping her warm on the night of the fire?

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Chapter 9

37. Who is Tom Robinson?

38. What gift does Uncle Jack give the children?

39. What new habit has Scout picked up that bothers Uncle Jack?

40. What does cousin Francis tell Scout about Dill’s home life?

41. Why does Scout fight her cousin after Christmas dinner at Finch’s Landing?

42. What is “Maycomb’s usual disease?”

Chapter 10

43. In Scout’s eyes, what is Atticus’s chief fault?

44. What reason does Uncle Jack give for Atticus’s unwillingness to teach the kids to
shoot?

45. What crisis shows the children a surprising skill their father possesses?

46. Who is Heck Tate?

47. What is Atticus’s old nickname?

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Chapter 11

48. What makes the children hate and fear Mrs. Dubose?

49. What two comments specifically infuriate Jem to the point that he can’t control his
temper?

50. What does Jem do to get revenge?

51. What is his punishment?

52. What did Mrs. Dubose vow to do before she died?

Chapter 12

53. What is the purpose of this Sunday’s collection at First Purchase African Methodist
Episcopal church?

54. Why are Jem and Scout so welcome in this church?

55. Why can’t Helen Robinson get work?

56. What do the children notice about Calpurnia’s behavior in her church community?

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Chapter 13

57. Why has Aunt Alexandra come?

58. Why does Aunt Alexandra get angry with Atticus?

59. What does Atticus tell the children about being Finches?

60. Explain the caste system in Maycomb.

61. How does Alexandra change Atticus and the family?

Chapter 14

62. When Alexandra finds out that the children attended church with Calpurnia, what does
she want Atticus to do?

63. “Then Jem rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood.” What violation
causes Scout to make this comment?

64. What solution does Atticus offer to the problem of Dill’s presence?

65. Dill asks, “Why do you reckon Boo Radley’s never run off?” Why do you think he’s
never run off?

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Chapter 15

66. Why have the neighbors gathered in the Finch’s front yard?

67. Who is Mr. Underwood?

68. Where do the children find Atticus at 10pm on Sunday?

69. What is the mob’s intention?

70. How does Scout manage to end the danger?

71. At the end of the chapter, whom do we hear from for the first time?

72. What has Mr. Underwood been doing during the mob scene?

Chapter 16

73. In the eyes of the community, what is Dolphus Raymond’s problem?

74. Why isn’t Miss Maudie going to court?

75. What fact about Atticus’s defense of Tom Robinson does Scout learn from the Idler’s
Club?

76. Where do the children sit during the trial?

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Chapter 17

77. What is the first point that Atticus tries to make in court?

78. During the discussion of Mayella’s injuries, what key fact seems important to Atticus?

79. What detail in the description of the Ewell cabin makes the reader guess that perhaps
Mayella is different from the rest of her family?

80. Why does Atticus ask Mr. Ewell to write his name?

Chapter 18

81. What makes Mayella think Atticus is mocking her? What does this tell you about her?

82. What dramatic fact do we learn about Tom Robinson at the end of Mayella’s
testimony?

83. Atticus is trying to get Mayella to make a confession. What does he want her to admit?

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Chapter 19

84. According to Tom’s story, when did he “bust up the chiffarobe?”

85. On the day of Tom’s “crime,” where were the seven Ewell children?

86. When Mr. Ewell arrived on the scene, what did he see through the window that
infuriated him?

87. Who is Link Deas? What comment does he add to the proceedings?

88. What two points does Mr. Gilmer try to make in cross-examining Tom?

Chapter 20

89. What aspect of Mr. Raymond do the children find to be false?

90. What does Atticus say is the worst thing you can do?

91. What crime does Atticus say Mayella feels guilt for?

92. What “facts about Negroes” does Mr. Ewell rely on to make the jury bring in a guilty
verdict?

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Chapter 21

93. Why has Cal come to court?

94. How long was the jury out and why is this important?

95. How does Scout know that Tom has not been acquitted even before the jury reports?

96. What happens as Atticus leaves the courtroom?

Chapter 22

97. What does Atticus find in the kitchen the morning after the trial?

98. What is Bob Ewell’s response to the verdict?

99. Explain why “it’s not time to worry yet.”

Chapter 23

100. What are the children worried about at the beginning of the chapter?

101. Where is Tom Robinson in this chapter?

102. How does Atticus define “trash?” How does Alexandra?

103. List the categories in Jem’s social hierarchy. List Scout’s.

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Chapter 24

104. What does the “business” part of the Missionary Society consist of?

105. Why does Scout prefer the world of men?

106. Who are the “hypocrites” Mrs. Merriweather mentions and why does she
consider them hypocrites?

107. What news does Atticus bring to his family?

Chapter 25

108. How does Scout learn about Helen’s reaction to Tom’s death?

109. Mr. Ewell said that Tom’s death meant “one down and two more to go.” What
does he mean?

Chapter 26

110. Although she thought it had escaped his notice, Scout learns in this chapter that
Atticus has known of one of her “crimes” for a long time. Which one?

111. What strikes you as important about Miss Gate’s lesson on democracy?

112. What has Scout overheard that confuses her about Miss Gates view of Hitler?

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Chapter 27

113. What two services does Link Deas perform for Helen Robinson?

114. What is Scout’s Halloween costume? What are its drawbacks?

Chapter 28

115. Who scares the Finch children on the way to the pageant?

116. What is the first clue the children have that they are not alone on their walk
home?

117. Who are the four people under the tree?

118. How does Jem get home?

119. Who is the children’s attacker? How did he die?

Chapter 29

120. What unexpected advantage did the ham outfit supply?

121. What does Boo really look like?

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Chapter 30

122. Who killed Bob Ewell?

123. What was the murder weapon?

124. What does the switchblade Heck Tate uses for the demonstration have to do
with all this?

Chapter 31

125. Describe the manner in which Scout walks Boo home.

126. What do you learn about the plot of The Gray Ghost?

127. What does Scout’s statement—“I had never seen our neighborhood from this
angle”—tell you about the manner in which Boo has been living life?

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