To Kill a Mockingbird Study Questions

Chapter 1

1. What do you learn about Dill's character?

2. What, briefly, has happened to Arthur “Boo” Radley?

3. Why does the Radley place fascinate Scout, Jem and Dill?

Chapter 2

1. Why is Scout so looking forward to starting school?

2. Why does Jem not want anything to do with Scout at school?

3. What qualities make Miss Caroline poorly suited for her teaching position?

Chapter 3

1. Who is Calpurnia? What is her place in the Finch household?

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 and how does it relate to what happens in this chapter?

3. What do you learn in this chapter about the Ewells?

Chapter 4

1. What superstitions do the children have in connection with the Radley house?

2. What kind of game or play do the kids make up about Boo Radley?

3. What might be the cause of the laughter from inside the house?

Chapter 5

1. What do the children think of Miss Maudie Atkinson?

2. What does Miss Maudie tell Scout about Boo?

3. What reasons does Atticus give for the children not to play the Boo Radley game?

Chapter 6

1. Why does Scout disapprove of Jem's and Dill's plan of looking in at one of the Radleys' windows?

2. What does Mr. Nathan Radley claim to know about the intruders in his garden?

3. Why does Dill's explanation of Jem's state of dress almost land him in trouble?

Chapter 7

1. When Jem tells Scout about getting his trousers back, he tells her of something strange. What is this?

2. Does Jem still fear the gifts in the tree? Give reasons for your answer.

3. When the children plan to send a letter to the person who leaves the gifts, they are prevented. How does this happen?

Chapter 8

1. Why does Atticus save Miss Maudie's oak rocking chair?

2. When Atticus asks Scout about the blanket around her shoulders, what does Jem realize?

3. What is the “near libel” which Jem puts in the front yard? How do Miss Maudie and Atticus react to it?

Chapter 9

1. Scout and Jem have “mixed feelings” about Christmas? What are these feelings and why?

2. When Francis talks to Scout he reveals an unpleasant feature of Aunt Alexandra. What is this?

3. Does Scout learn anything from overhearing Atticus's conversation with Uncle Jack? What might this be?

Chapter 10

1. In this chapter Atticus tells his children that “it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”. What reason does he give for saying this?

2. Why does Heck Tate not want to shoot Tim Johnson?

3. 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?

Chapter 11

1. What does Mrs. Dubose say about the children's mother? How does Jem feel about this?

2. Why, in Atticus's view, was Mrs. Dubose “a great lady”?

3. 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?

Chapter 12

1. What new things does Scout learn here about how the black people live?

2. What does Scout learn from Calpurnia's account of Zeebo's education?

3. Explain why Calpurnia speaks differently in the Finch household, and among her neighbours at church.

Chapter 13

1. Why does Aunt Alexandra come to stay with Atticus and his family? What is she like?

2. How does Aunt Alexandra involve herself in Maycomb's social life?

3. What does Aunt Alexandra think about breeding and family. Why does Atticus tell them to forget it?

Chapter 14

1. Why does Alexandra think Atticus should dismiss Calpurnia? How does Atticus respond to the suggestion?

2. Why is Scout pleased when Jem fights her back? Why is she less pleased when he tells Atticus about Dill?

3. Why did Dill run away?

Chapter 15

1. What was (and is) the Ku Klux Klan? What does Atticus say about it?

2. How does Jem react when Atticus tells him to go home, and why?

3. What persuades the lynching-party to give up their attempt on Tom's life?

Chapter 16

1. What “subtle change” does Scout notice in her father?

2. What sort of person is Dolphus Raymond?

3. How does Reverend Sykes help the children see and hear the trial?

​Chapter 17

1. What does Atticus show in his cross-examination of Sheriff Tate?

2. What do you learn from Bob Ewell’s evidence?

3. Why does Atticus ask Bob Ewell to write out his name? What does the jury see when he does this?

Chapter 18

1. How does Mayella act in court?

2. How does Mayella react to Atticus's politeness? Why does she act like this?

3. Did you find her version of the events believable or unbelievable? Explain why.

Chapter 19

1. What made Tom visit the Ewell's house in the first place?

2. Why does Scout think that Mayella Ewell was “the loneliest person in the world”?

3. How does Dill react to this part of the trial? Why?

Chapter 20

1. In most states of the USA people who drink alcohol in public places are required to hide their bottle in a paper bag. Why does Dolphus Raymond hide Coca-Cola in a bag?

2. What, according to Atticus, is the thing that Mayella has done wrong?

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?

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. Why does Dill say that he will be a clown when he grows up? Do you think he would keep this ambition for long?

Chapter 23

1. How did Atticus react to Bob Ewell's challenge? Should he have ignored Bob, retaliated or done something else?

What is “circumstantial evidence”? What has it got to do with Tom's conviction?

2. What does Atticus tell Scout about why the jury took so long to convict Tom?

3. 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? How likely is it to be true, in your opinion?

Chapter 24

1. Do you think the missionary ladies are sincere in worrying about the “Mrunas” (a tribe in Africa)? Give reasons for your answer.

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.

Chapter 25

1. How does Maycomb react to the news of Tom's death?

Comment on the idea that Tom's death was “typical”?

2. Explain the contrast Scout draws between the court where Tom was tried and “the secret courts of men's hearts.”

3. Why did Jem not want Scout to tell Atticus about Bob Ewell's comment?

Chapter 26

1. In her lesson on Hitler, Miss Gates says that “we (American people) don't believe in persecuting anyone”. What seems odd to the reader about this claim?

2. Why is Scout puzzled by Miss Gates' disapproval of Hitler?

3. Why does Scout's question upset Jem?

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. What was the purpose of the Halloween pageant? What practical joke had persuaded the grown ups to have an organized event?

Chapter 28

1. Why does Jem say that Boo Radley must not be at home? What is ironic about this?

2. Scout decides to keep her costume on while walking home. How does this affect her understanding of what happens on the way?

3. 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?

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 then publicity of an inquest? Give reasons for your answer.

Chapter 31

1. How do the events of the final chapters explain the first sentence in the whole novel?

2. How does Scout make sense of an earlier remark of Atticus's as she stands on the Radley porch?

3. How much of a surprise is it to find what Boo Radley is really like? Has the story before this point prepared the reader for this discovery?