To Kill a Mockingbird Reflective Reading Questions Chapters 27-31
10.RL.KID.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development
10.RL.KID.3 Analyze how complex characters, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text to
impact meaning.
10.RL.CS.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning text structure, plot structure, and/or time manipulation
create effects such as mystery, tension, or surprise
Essential Questions: How does society shape one’s ideals and values?
How do our experiences affect the way we view others?
Directions: Answer each of the following reflective questions as you read chapters 27-31.
Chapter 27 Overview
Though things appear to be settling down in Maycomb County, three out-of-the-ordinary events indirectly
relate to the Finch family. In chapter 27, we learn about these events and of Maycomb's preparations for
Halloween.
1. Explain the three small things that happen out of the ordinary that fall and how they
foreshadow potential danger.
a.
b.
c.
2. Why does Maycomb organize a Halloween pageant that fall?
Even though the children’s prank is more lighthearted and humorous, how do their
actions reflect the same kind of thinking that led the jury to convict Tom Robinson?
(Think about the social commentary that Harper Lee is making with the prank.)
3. How does Harper Lee create mystery and suspense with her line, “Thus began our
longest journey together”? What predictions can you make?
Chapter 28 Overview
The Halloween carnival in particular paints a picture of idyllic small-town life, as the whole point of the
event is to keep people safe and out of trouble. Cecil’s prank on Scout and Jem, however, flags for the
reader that the carnival cannot protect them everywhere—there are still places in their town where they
can be unsafe, whether just from a classmate’s prank or something more dangerous.
1. How do Harper Lee’s diction (word choice) and literary devices create the tone and
mood for this scene? Cite at least one piece of text evidence to support your analysis of
the tone and the mood she depicts.
A. Tone-
B. Mood-
2. Briefly summarize the attack on the children.
3. Throughout the attack, Scout is unable to see anything. How does Lee’s decision to
make Scout unable to see impact the reader’s experience of the scene? How does this
help establish mood?
Chapters 29, 30, and 31 Overview
To Kill a Mockingbird portrays a society that is supremely, staggeringly unfair, the South in
the 1930s in a small town where racism is a part of the fabric of society. Some people do
nothing to create change, but fortunately, a few decide to do what they can to fight for
justice and equality, even though they think it’s mostly hopeless. While the novel doesn’t
sugarcoat the results, it does suggest that doing something to make life a little fairer, even if
it seems like it’s not having any effect, is still worthwhile and admirable.
(Source: Shmoop.com)
1. How does Scout come to realize that it was Boo Radley who helped carry Jem home?
Provide specific text evidence to support your answer.
2. For the majority of chapter 30, Atticus believes that Jem killed Bob Ewell. What does his
reaction to this idea reveal about his character?
Provide at least two pieces of dialogue that support your answer?
a.
b.
3. Justify Sheriff Tate’s decision to “let the dead bury the dead.”
4. Who becomes the next symbolic mockingbird? With that realization and her words,
“ Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” how has Scout grown up
in this bildungsroman novel?
5. Answer the following Essential Questions based on the lessons that Harper Lee has
taught the reader throughout the novel:
A. How does society shape one’s ideals and values?
B. How do our experiences affect the way we view others?