Name, Block #: _________________________________________
Honors English 9
Date: _____________
To Kill a Mockingbird
Critical Eye: Ch. 17-23
As you read:
Key Plot and Character Developments (description and analysis)
Page(s):
Key Theme Developments (theme/passage description and explanation)
Theme: in literature, the author’s opinion of the main idea or message of a text. Usually, themes are
not directly stated. Rather, they are conveyed through the development of a text’s plot, characters,
tone, figurative language, etc—many parts of a text contribute to the creation of themes. Themes are
not equivalent to morals, but they may express a viewpoint or truth about life. Our themes of focus in
this novel are:
1. Act with empathy and tolerance
2. Show courage and heroism
3. The importance of education and growing up
NEXT SIDE
Key Rhetorical Devices (term and explanation—possible terms include, but are not limited
Page(s):
to, foreshadowing, symbol, metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, etc.)
After you read:
What was your favorite passage (give quotation and pg. number) from this section of the text?
Why?
What confused you about this section of the text? What questions do you have?
Reader-Response:
Please attach a 2 paragraph response to ONE of the following reader-response questions:

What is the most important word in the text? What is the most important phrase
in the text? What is the most important aspect of the text? Why? (you may
choose to address one or all of the above questions)

Does this text call to mind any other literary work (poem, play, film, story, song—
any genre)? If it does, what is the work and what is the connection you see
between the two?

How did you respond to the text—emotionally or intellectually? Did you feel
involved with the text or distant from it? Why?

What memory does the text call to mind—of people, places, events, sights,
smells, or even of something more ambiguous, perhaps feelings or attitudes?
Please explain.

If you were asked to write an essay about your reading of this text, upon what
would you focus? Why?