To Kill a Mockingbird Final Essay Test
You will write four essays during class on Friday, October 18. You will need to use your Mockingbird
book in crafting your essays. I recommend that you mark quotes/passages that you plan to use in your
essays. You will not be allowed to use any notes during the test. Please bring plenty of loose-leaf
notebook paper and several reliable writing implements.
Essay #1
Pick one of the following episodes from the novel:
Shooting the rabid dog
Reading to Mrs. Dubose
Turning away the lynch mob
Going to school for the first time
Celebrating Christmas with the Finch family
Going to church with Calpurnia
Talking to Dolphus Raymond outside the courthouse
Hearing the verdict from Tom Robinson’s trial
Attending the Missionary Society tea
Discuss what happens during the episode, what Scout learns (or fails to learn), and how the episode
develops the novel’s larger themes. Use textual evidence (quotes) to illustrate and support your ideas.
Then, relate the episode to an experience from your own childhood. Describe your experience and
explain its significance. Compare and contrast your experience and learning with Scout’s.
Essay #2
What was the social climate in America during the 1930s (when the novel takes place) and/or during the
1960s (when the novel was published)? Please use at least three of the following historical details in
your essay:
Plessy v. Ferguson
Brown v. The Board of Education
The Dolls Tests
Jim Crow laws and the “separate but equal” doctrine
Lynching
The eye-color experiment from A Class Divided
Essay #3
Compare and contrast Tom Robinson’s fictional trial with the historical Scottsboro trial. Make at least
five points of comparison or contrast.
Essay #4
Choose one of the following questions to answer. Use at least three quotes from the novel to illustrate
and support your idea.
How does To Kill a Mockingbird critique injustice and prejudice?
How does the novel advocate for tolerance, justice, or change?
The novel begins with the epigraph: Lawyers, I suppose, were children once. In what ways does
this quote reflect the novel’s overall messages or themes?
The novel is told from the point of view of a child. How does this serve the novel’s overall
message or meaning?
Does the novel show a hopeful or sorrowful outlook?
All essays will be evaluated on the clarity, perceptiveness, and development of your ideas.