Chapter 1: Exposition: Flushing Out Characters
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Jem
Scout
Atticus
Calpurnia
Alexandra
Jot down a brief description of the characters below
6) John
10) Mr. Nathan Radley
7) Mrs. Henry
11) Arthur (Boo)
Lafayette Dubose
Radley
8) Dill (Charles Baker
12) Miss Stephanie
Harris)
Crawford
9) Aunt Rachel
Chapter 2
As you read, try to think about what Harper Lee thinks of Scout’s teacher, Miss Caroline, and
the “new” educational system she’s bringing to Maycomb.
1. Why do you think that Jem has change rattling around in his pocket as we walks to
school?
2. How old is Miss Caroline? How is she described by Scout
3. After listening to Miss Caroline’s book about cats, why does Scout say that most of the
children were “immune to imaginative literature”? What kind of writing would this class
be more comfortable listening to? Why?
4. Why does Miss Caroline want Atticus to stop “teaching” Scout? What is ironic
(somewhat funny) about this?
5. What is the Dewey Decimal System?
6. What mistake did Miss Caroline make when dealing with Walter Cunningham during
lunch?
7. Why isn’t Miss Caroline a successful teacher? Should Scout feel sorry for her? Why or
why not?
Chapter 3: --more school! Scout’s education. . .
1. What does Scout do to Walter Cunningham at the beginning of the chapter? What does
that tell you about Scout?
2. What do Scout, Jem, and Walter reveal about the Radley Place?
3. What does Walter pour all over his vegetables and meat?
4. Why does Scout get in trouble? Who gets angry with her?
5. What is Calpurnia role in the Finch household?
Back at school . . . .
6. Who is Little Chuck Little? Describe him,
7. Who is Burris Ewell? Describe him.
8. Scout shares her day with her father, Atticus, and tells him that she doesn’t want to go
back to school. What great advice does Atticus give to Scout to help her get along “better
with all kinds of folks”?
9. What does Scout (and the reader) learn about the Ewells from Atticus?
10. How are the Ewells different from the Cunninghams?
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Chapter 4: The Radley House
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What is Scout saying about Alabama’s new educational system? What lines suggest
this?
What does Scout find in an oak tree at the edge of the Radley lot?
What do Scout and Jem find in the tree a few days later?
According to Dill, what has he been doing with his father?
What superstition does Jem describe when discussing Hot Steams? Do you have any
superstitions that you believed in as a child? (Ex. Step on a Crack, Break your Mother’s
Back).
What play do the children put on over the course of the summer?
By the end of the chapter, what does Scout reveal about her “tire” episode at the
Radleys? What does this suggest?
Chapter 5:
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Describe the shift in relationship between Scout and Jem/Dill. Why the shift?
Describe Miss Maudie Atkinson.
What’s the difference between Baptists and “foot-washing” Baptists, according to Miss
Maudie?
What does Scout find confusing about the difference between Miss Maudie and Miss
Stephanie?
What does the following quote mean: “There are just some kind of men who—who’re so
busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one . . .” (50)?
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Chapter 6:
Describe Mr. Avery and ALL of his behaviors (you’ll need to read carefully!!).
What happens when Jem tries to see Boo Radley?
How does Dill explain Jem’s lost pants?
Why does Scout say, “It was then, I suppose, that Jem and I first began to part
company. Sometimes I did not understand him, but my periods of bewilderment were
short-lived. This was beyond me” (63)? In your own words, explain what she doesn’t
understand.
5. Read the last two paragraphs as told by Scout. Based on her description of Jem, what do
you sense Jem feels on his journey to the Radley Place at night? What do you sense he
feels upon his return to his bed?
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Chapter 7:
At the beginning of the chapter, why does Scout leave “moody” Jem alone?
What do readers learn about the night Jem returns to the Radley Place to collect his
pants?
3. What five items do Scout and Jem find in the tree by the Radleys?
4. When going to put a “Thank you” note in the tree, what do the children realize?
5. Who did this to the tree and why?
6. Why is Jem crying at the end of the chapter? Scout doesn’t quite understand why, do
you?
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Chapter 8:
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Who dies at the beginning of the chapter?
What strange occurrence comes to Maycomb County?
Who is Eula May and what does she tell the Finches?
What superstition do the people of Maycomb County have about why snow falls?
What do Scout and Jem take from Miss Maudie’s yard?
What do Jem and Scout make in their yard? How? What/Who does it resemble?
What happens that evening?
What is the one possession Atticus carries from Miss Maudie’s house? What does
this tell you about Atticus?
What neighbor is almost stuck in his house?
Where do the fire trucks come from? What does this tell you about southern
communities?
What “surprise” does Scout have around her shoulders? Where does Atticus think it
came from?
How does Miss Maudie intend to bring in money to pay for her new house?
What does Miss Maudie keep secret from Miss Stephanie?
Chapter 9
1. What does the phrase in the second sentence “was the beginning of a rather thin time for
Jem and me” suggest/imply? In other words, what do you imagine a “thin time” is like
for Scout?
2. Why does Scout fight with Cecil Jacobs?
3. Why does Scout pay a nickel for the “privilege” of rubbing her head against Miss
Rachel’s cook’s son? (86)
4. What do we learn about Tom Robinson?
5. Why does Atticus take the case?
6. According to Atticus, will he win the case?
7. Why does Scout begin cussing?
8. What do readers learn about Dill from cousin Francis?
9. What does Uncle Jack do to Scout? Why?
10. What advice does Atticus give to Uncle Jack about how to treat children?
11. Why do you suppose that Judge Taylor appointed Atticus to defend Tom Robinson?
Chapter 10:
1. How old is Atticus? How is his different than Scout and Jem’s classmates’ fathers? How
does this make Jem feel?
2. Who is Tim Johnson?
3. How is Tim walking?
4. Who is Heck Tate?
5. Who shoots Tim? Why? What do the children learn about their father?
6. What does Jem believe it means to be a “gentleman” or “civilized”? How has Jem grown
up in this chapter?
Chapter 11:
1. What does Mrs. Dubose do to antagonize Jem and Scout as they walk by her house?
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How does Atticus treat Mrs. Dubose? Why?
What does Jem do to the camellia bushes at Mrs. Dubose’s house? Why?
What are the terms of Jem’s “punishment”?
Describe Mrs. Dubose’s home.
As Jem reads to Mrs. Dubose, what does Scout notice about Mrs. Dubose?
How did the alarm clock/length of reading change over the course of Jem’s visits?
Atticus tells Jem that he wanted him to see what “real courage is” during his visits with
Mrs. Dubose. What makes her so courageous?
Chapter 12
1. How does Calpurnia address Jem now that he is twelve?
2. What did the cartoon in the Montgomery Advertiser suggest about Atticus?
3. Describe First Purchase Church
4. How does Lula behave when she sees that Calpurnia is bringing white children to her
black church? How did the members of the church take care of Lula?
5. Why are there no hymn books? What is linin?
6. Describe Reverend Sykes “unconventional” method of preaching/gathering money for
the church.
7. Who appears at Atticus’s house at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 13
1. How is it that “Aunt Alexandra fitted into the world of Maycomb like a hand into a
glove” (149)?
2. What does Aunt Alexander force Atticus to explain to his children at the end of the
chapter? Why is he uncomfortable? What does he realize by the end of the chapter?
Chapter 14:
1. Why does Scout get in trouble with Atticus at the beginning of the chapter?
2. What does Aunt Alexandra want Atticus to do with Calpurnia?
3. Scout steps on something warm in her room. She thinks that it is a snake. Who/what is
it?
4. What reason does Dill give to Scout about why he wants to be away from his foster
parents?
5. According to Dill and Scout, where do babies come from?
Chapter 15
1. Who shows up at Atticus’s house at the beginning of the chapter? Why?
2. What is Atticus’s “dangerous question” (166)?
3. Who is Mr. Underwood?
4. Why is Atticus reading the paper in front of the courthouse late at night?
5. Why does Jem refuse to take Scout and Dill home after Atticus pleads for him to do so?
6. Ultimately, what makes the drunken men leave the Maycomb jail?
7. Who was there to help Atticus should things get out of order?
Chapter 16
1. Why does Atticus suggest that “maybe we need a police force of children” (179)?
2. Who is Mr. Dolphus Raymond? What do we learn about him?
3. Who sat in which sections of the public courtroom?
4. Describe Judge Taylor.
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Chapter 17:
1. Who is the first person on the witness stand? What is his role in Maycomb? Do you
sense that he is biased in any way? In other words, is he intentionally trying to help or
hurt Tom Robinson?
2. What side of Mayella’s face had bruises?
3. Where else did Mayella have bruises?
4. Describe Robert E. Lee Ewell—both his attitude and his physical description.
5. What do we learn about the Ewell family?
6. What does Bob say happened on the evening of November 21?
7. Why does Atticus have Bob sign his name in front of the courtroom?
8. What is Scout trying to figure out at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 18:
1. Describe Mayella Ewell.
2. How old is she?
3. Why does she think that Atticus is mocking her?
4. What do we learn about Mayella’s life based on Atticus’s questioning on the top of page
208.
5. Why does it seem impossible that Tom raped Mayella?
Chapter 19
1. Why did Mayella ask Tom for favors?
2. What does Tom say on the witness stand that causes the trial to move against him?
Chapter 20
1. Who is Dolphus Raymond and what do the children learn from him?
2. What are the main points that Atticus makes in his closing remarks?
Chapter 21
1. How does Scout’s narration affect the way that readers are told about the outcome of the
trial?
Chapter 22
1. What does Atticus find when he wakes the morning after his trial?
2. According to Miss Maudie, what are the “baby steps” that Maycomb is taking?
3. What foreboding incident occurs at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 23
1. What is Jem’s understanding of why Boo Radley wants to remain inside of his house?
Chapter 24
1. Is there anything ironic about the ladies discussion of the Mrunas?
2. What change do you see in Scout?
3. What insight about Maycomb and Atticus does Maudie share with Aunt Alexandra?
Chapter 25
1. How does Mr. Underwood take a stand in this chapter?
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Chapter 26
1. What is ironic about the teaching that goes on in Scout’s classroom during this chapter?
Chapter 27
1.What three odd occurrences happen at the beginning of this chapter?
2. What is Scout’s role in her school play?
Chapter 28
1 How did Scout “ruin the pageant”?
2. What do you sense happens in the scuffle during Scout and Jem’s walk home?
Why are you as a reader somewhat unclear? What effect does this have?
Final Chapters:
1. How did Scout’s costume “save her life”?
2. What stranger is in Scout’s home?
3. Who does Atticus think Heck Tate is trying to protect? Who is Heck Tate actually trying
to protect? WHY?
4. In what way does the title of the text become important in the final chapters of the book?
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