To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Keep track of your reading by logging the answers for each question. Note- If the answer is “False”- be
sure to note what makes it false! (Every question is worth 1 point if assigned for homework!)
Weightman (1996)
Chapter One1. T/F- The narrator is able to trace her lineage to Europe.
2. What was the name of Simon's homestead?
3. When Atticus went to Montgomery to read law, what tradition was broken?
4. T/F- Alexandra married an ambitious man.
5. Why did Atticus lose his first court case?
6. T/F- John Finch returned to Maycomb County because cotton didn't grow in Boston.
7. How many people lived in the narrator's house?
8. How did Jem's mother die?
9. How many houses separated Atticus's residence from the Radley place?
10. What was Dill's full name?
11. T/F- Scout was taller than Dill.
12. T/F- The malevolent phantom inside the Radley place was the culprit who mutilated people's
chickens.
13. T/F -The Radleys were new to Maycomb County.
14. T/F- Arthur is Boo Radley.
15. Who took Mr. Radley's place when he went under?
16. Who wanted to try and make Boo come out?
17. T/F- All three children touched the Radley place with their palms.
Chapter 2
1. T/F- Scout frowned upon the idea of beginning school.
2. T/F- Jem was happy to take Scout to school.
3. T/F- Scout's teacher, Miss Caroline Fisher, lived on the main residential street in town.
4. T/F- Miss Fisher accused Scout of being illiterate.
5. T/F- Calpurnia taught Scout to read.
6. T/F- Calpurnia was a softy when it came to rewarding Scout for her penmanship.
7. T/F- Walter's father was one of Atticus's clients.
8. T/F- Dr. Reynolds has a different financial relationship with the Maycomb County folks than does
Atticus.
9. T/F- Miss Caroline resorted to corporal punishment on the first day of class.
10. T/F- Sentimentality swelled within Jean Louise toward Miss Fisher because her teacher was
pretty.
Chapter 3
1. T/F- Scout promised not to jump on Walter again.
2. Why hasn't Walter Cunningham passed the first grade?
3. Why did Calpurnia request Scout's presence in the kitchen?
4. Where did Scout finish her dinner?
5. T/F- Atticus was swayed by Scout's petition to have Calpurnia fired.
6. What crawled out of Burris Ewell's hair?
7. Who else besides Miss Caroline told Burris to go home?
8. T/F- After Burris left, Miss Caroline resumed reading the cat story.
9. What did Calpurnia do to make up with Scout?
10. According to Atticus, when does one understand a person?
11. T/F- Atticus conveyed his disapproval about the truant lady and reassured Scout that the lady
would be reprimanded.
12. Name two favors that Maycomb County cut the Ewells.
13. State the bargain that Atticus struck with Scout.
14. T/F- That Jem spent a Saturday aloft in a treehouse is indicative that he was impressionable to
news print.
Chapter 4
1. T/F- Scout was favorably impressed with the Maycomb County school system.
2. What was in the knot-hole of one of the oak trees?
3. T/F- Calpurnia was summoned by Jem to force Scout to "spit it out right now."
4. T/F- Calpurnia's tyranny worsened during Scout's first year in school.
5. T/F- One of the Indian-heads was for Cecil Jacobs.
6. Who was the meanest old woman who ever lived?
7. Who was president of the L & N Railroad?
8. Why did Scout freeze?
9. Who played the part of Boo?
10. Who had the most to say about the Radleys than anybody in Maycomb?
11. T/F- Jem lied to his father about their Boo-Radley theatrics.
12. What was Scout's first reason for wanting to quit the Boo-Radley game?
Chapter 5
1. How would Jem avoid being accused of playing a game of which Atticus didn't approve?
2. T/F- Jem and Scout had unconditional reign of Miss Maudie's yard.
3. T/F- Dill was exempt from Miss Maudie's hidden talent.
4. According to Miss Maudie, who gets more like Jack Finch everyday?
5. T/F- Jack Finch bought Miss Maudie a goat 40 years ago.
6. T/F- Miss Stephanie Crawford's religious faith helped her forge an intimate bond with the children.
7. T/F- Some folks in the neighborhood knew of Stephanie's illicit relationship with Arthur (Boo)
Radley.
8. T/F- The children's note to Boo was non-offensive.
9. T/F- Atticus, after reading the note, asked his son to stop tormenting Boo.
10. What was the oldest lawyer's trick on record?
Chapter 6
1. Why did the kids spit themselves dry?
2. What sound shattered the neighborhood?
3. How did Dill explain the loss of Jem's pants to the crowd in front of the Radley place?
4. T/F- Boo Radley was seeking revenge against the interlopers.
5. T/F- Scout protested against Jem going after his pants.
6. T/F- Mr. Nathan Radley had to use the other barrel before the night was over.
7. T/F- Jem's mission to retrieve his pants was successful.
Chapter 7
1. What did Jem find unusual about his britches?
2. T/F- After a three-day waiting period, Jem and Scout considered everything they found in the knothole to be their property.
3. Why wasn't the letter delivered?
4. What was Nathan Radley's ulterior motive for cementing the knot-hole?
Chapter 8
1. T/F- Mrs. Radley's death was a disappointment to Jem and Scout.
2. Why was school closed?
3. What was the "slushy operation"?
4. The snowman was a caricature of which neighbor?
5. T/F- The fire (Miss Maudie's) devoured Mr. Avery.
6. T/F- After her house burnt to the ground and the fire trucks left, with whom did Miss Maudie stay?
7. Who put the brown woolen blanket around Scout?
8. T/F- Miss Maudie was bitterly pessimistic about rebuilding her house.
Chapter 9
1. T/F- Atticus had warned Scout to hold her temper in and refrain from fighting.
2. Which black man is Atticus defending?
3. What did Atticus ask Scout to do at school when she hears ugly talk about her dad defending a
nigger?
4. Who told Cecil Jacobs that "that nigger oughta hang from the water-tank"?
5. T/F- Scout withstood Cecil's name calling and felt noble about it.
6. What words did Uncle Jack not want to hear from Scout?
7. What did Jem and Scout get for Christmas?
8. Talking to Francis gave Scout what kind of sensation?
9. Why did Scout split her knuckle to the bone on Francis's front teeth?
10. T/F- Uncle Jack gave Scout a spanking without hearing her side of the story.
11. T/F- Atticus told his brother that Scout's hotheadedness was a childish phase that would pass with
time.
12. T/F- Atticus, when he spoke of the prejudice (Maycomb's usual disease) that makes reasonable
people go stark raving mad when it comes to Negroes, knew Scout was eavesdropping.
Chapter 10
1. T/F- Atticus was reluctant to be tackled by Jem.
2. T/F- That Atticus sat in the livingroom and read aroused the admiration of his children.
3. Why was it a sin to kill a mockingbird?
4. Which neighbor spoke highly of Atticus's legal talents?
5. T/F- Uncle Jack admonished Jem for pointing his gun at Miss Maudie's rear end.
6. T/F- Atticus out-did Cecil Jacobs's father in the touch football game.
7. Who informed Atticus about Mr. Harry Johnson's mad dog, old Tim Johnson?
8. Who informed Miss Rachel and Miss Stephanie Crawford about the mad dog?
9. T/F- Heck Tate had to prevent Boo from trying to shoot the dog himself.
10. Who was the first to address Atticus by his old nickname?
11. T/F- Atticus didn't want Scout bragging about his marksmanship at school on Monday.
12. T/F- Scout and Jem had renewed respect for their father.
Chapter 11
1. Why did the Finch children dislike passing by Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose's house?
2. Atticus advised his son to act like a gentleman toward whom?
3. What did Atticus do that made Scout think he was the bravest man who had ever lived?
4. T/F- Jem bought his sister a real baton.
5. T/F- Because Mrs. Dubose would accuse Atticus of lawing for niggers, Scout secretly planned to
shoot her home with her air-rifle.
6. To show his wrath for Mrs. Dubose, what did Jem do?
7. What did Jeremy have to do for one month?
8. As a reward for completing their first day's session with Mrs. Dubose, what did Atticus bring the
kids?
9. T/F- Atticus avoided answering Scout's question about what a nigger-lover was.
10. T/F- By the end of his reading episode with Mrs. Dubose, Jem had learned to curb his resentment
toward her insults.
11. T/F- Mrs. Dubose kicked the morphine habit.
12. Atticus would have insisted that Jem read to Mrs. Dubose because he wanted his son to see an
alternative view of what?
Part 2
Chapter 12
1. T/F- Scout gravitated toward Calpurnia partly due to the imposition of Jem's changing values.
2. T/F - Scout continued to look condescendingly upon Calpurnia.
3. Why was Scout temporarily crushed?
4. T/F- Because of their reading habits, Jem and Scout were acutely attuned to the social strife in the
South and wanted to participate in the strikes in Birmingham.
5. Who tried to intimidate Calpurnia at her own church?
6. Who would be the beneficiary of today's collection at First Purchase?
7. T/F- Jem and Scout were duly impressed with Zeebo's singing talents.
8. T/F- "The Impurity of Women doctrine" that Rev. Sykes mentioned was new to Scout.
9. T/F- Church was over only after Rev. Sykes "sweat the amount ($10.00) due out of his flock."
10. T/F- When asked by Scout what Tom had done, Calpurnia dodged the question and declined to
answer.
11. T/F- For Calpurnia, adjusting her language was simply a matter of blending in with the dominant
crowd, preventing or reducing negative repercussions.
12. T/F- Aunt Alexandra was the phantom who told Boo to get out of the swing.
Chapter 13
1. T/F- Aunt Alexandra was visiting in order to bring some "feminine influence" to Scout.
2. T/F- The Finch neighbors welcomed Aunt Alexandra.
3. T/F- Aunt Alexandra's criticisms of various people always went unchallenged by Atticus.
4. What would cause "a ripple in the quiet stream of family resemblance," but not enough to upset the
"caste system in Maycomb"?
5. T/F- Aunt Alexandra asked Atticus to speak with his children before their bedtime because they
had misinformation about their cousin(s).
6. T/F- Once Atticus [instead of Aunt Alexandra] asked his children to behave like a lady and a
gentleman, to live up to the Finch name, and to behave accordingly, both Jem and Scout felt entirely
better.
7. It "takes a woman to do" what kind of work?
Chapter 14
1. T/F- Jem developed a rash from his sister's constant presence.
2. T/F- Atticus gave Scout the legal, as opposed to the layman's, definition of rape.
3. T/F- Calpurnia had not told Atticus about having taken the children to her church.
4. T/F- Atticus demanded an apology be rendered from Scout to Aunt Alexandria because the former
was curt.
5. T/F- Atticus unequivocally stipulated whom Scout was to obey.
6. What pronoun did Scout misconstrue?
7. T/F- Scout objected to Jem's didactic ways.
8. What did Scout step on?
9. T/F- Dill had second thoughts about helping Scout battle with her brother.
10. Who told Atticus about Dill's presence in the Finch household?
11. T/F- The view of Jem as a traitor, held by Dill and Scout, did not subside into civility as the
evening hours passed.
12. T/F- Dill tried to rape Scout.
Chapter 15
1. T/F- The lemon-drop plan was not enacted.
2. Where did Mr. Heck Tate want to move Tom Robinson to avoid trouble from the "Old Sarum
bunch"?
3. T/F- The group of men who visited Atticus's house on Saturday were his friends.
4. T/F- Scout sensed the peril surrounding her father.
5. To where was Tom moved?
6. What did Atticus do after supper that Jem and Scout thought peculiar?
7. T/F- Jem wanted to go downtown alone, but Scout and Dill wound up going along.
8. What was a miniature Gothic joke?
9. Why did Atticus need the extension cord?
10. T/F- The men from the four dusty cars hid Tom from Scout's view.
11. From amongst the semi-circle, whom did Scout recognize?
12. T/F- Scout was the catalyst that helped disperse the crowd.
13. Who would have fired from above had the gang of men not shuffled off?
14. Both Scout and Jem made faulty assumptions in this chapter. List as many as you can.
Chapter 16
1. Why did Aunt Alexandra spew out waves of disapproval at the breakfast table?
2. T/F- Aunt Alexandra objected to Atticus's communicative habits.
3. T/F- Atticus felt he was exempt from having "blind spots."
4. T/F- Atticus encouraged his children to see the human, personal side of individuals that constitute
a mob instead of giving in to group anger by matching it with insensitivity.
5. Who explained the histories of some Maycomb County folks to whom?
6. Who objected to Miss Maudie Atkinson's yard?
7. What was the specific business of the court on the first morning when so many people attended?
8. On what drink was Mr. Dolphus Raymond sipping?
9. T/F- Jem showed Dill what a mulatto child looked like.
10. Normally, who were the court's only spectators?
11. Who "seemed to be all farmers"?
12. T/F- Judge Taylor's casualness often led to a chaotic courtroom.
13. T/F- Judge Taylor's only bad habit was smoking a cigar in the courtroom.
Chapter 17
1. What two major points did Atticus score in his favor during Heck Tate's testimony?
2. T/F- The Sheriff's testimony was found to be rather dull, leaving the audience in a relaxed mode.
3. Where did the Ewells live?
4. What made the ground around the Ewells' cabin look like the playhouse of an insane child?
5. What was Mr. Gilmer’s trademark?
6. How did Mr. Bob Ewell describe his daughter's screaming?
7. T/F- The crassness with which Robert Ewell described the alleged rape caused quite a stir in the
courtroom, forcing Judge Taylor to use his gavel.
8. How did Bob Ewell regard Atticus?
9. T/F- Atticus asked Mr. Ewell some of the same questions that he had asked Heck Tate.
10. T/F- Establishing that Bob Ewell was left-handed was good enough to convince Scout that the
father had raped his daughter.
Chapter 18
1. T/F- Mayella Violet Ewell was somewhat of a delicate girl who probably couldn't take the trash out.
2. T/F- The nineteen-year-old Mayella misconstrued routine courtesy.
3. T/F- Atticus was able to build a portrait of Mayella's home life.
4. What habit brought Mr. Ewell into suspicion?
5. Once Tom stood up, the obvious became clear: that a crippled man would have difficulty beating up
Mayella. What did Atticus do next and how did Mr. Gilmer react?
6. T/F- Judge Taylor sustained Mr. Gilmer's objection and would not allow Atticus to further enrage
Mayella.
7. Judge Taylor felt who was browbeating whom?
8. T/F- Judge Taylor held Mayella in contempt of court for accusing the gentlemen of the court of
being "'yellow stinkin' cowards.'"
9. T/F- Mr. Gilmer seemed to be prosecuting half-heartedly.
10. What is Atticus's perception of Judge Taylor?
11. How did Mr. Robinson injure his left arm?
Chapter 19
1. What slipped off the Bible?
2. Why did Tom have to serve his 30 days for disorderly conduct?
3. T/F- Tom did bust up an old dresser for Mayella, but it was prior to Nov. 21.
4. Scout felt Mayella was lonelier than who?
5. T/F- Scout found herself believing Tom partly due to the absence of whining in his voice.
6. T/F- Tom fixed the old door by putting it back on its hinges.
7. T/F- Mayella, who initiated the kissing, ordered Tom to reciprocate.
8. T/F- Bob Ewell said, "'You goddamn flamin' whore; I told you to fix the frickin' door, and don't you
be kissin' nigger Tom no more.'"
9. Once Mayella was blocking Tom's exit, what was Tom's basic predicament?
10. T/F- Mr. Link Deas's outburst left the door open for a possible mistrial.
11. Why was Dill crying?
12. What does "thin-hided" mean?
Chapter 20
1. T/F- Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a cynic, to the degree that he doesn't believe adults could understand
his way of living.
2. Why did Mr. Raymond entrust the reason for his pretentiousness to Scout and Dill?
3. T/F- Mr. Raymond knew the value of a man like Atticus and underscored Mr. Finch's stature for
Scout to remember.
4. T/F- Jem was confident that the defense would win.
5. In his closing argument, Atticus referred to a "time-honored code." What is that unwritten law, the
code that Mayella violated?
6. T/F- The stereotypes that all Negroes are x, y, and z, which often leads to bias and then to
prejudice, was such an imbedded part of the Maycomb psyche that Atticus did not challenge its
loopholes.
7. What institution theoretically assures Thomas Jefferson's dictate?
8. Why does Atticus suspect the jury system and say that it is not the ideal?
Chapter 21
1. Calpurnia's note was from whom, announcing what?
2. T/F- Dill's summer guardian knew where he was.
3. T/F - When the children returned to the courtroom, the jury had finished deliberating.
4. T/F- Rev. Sykes felt Judge Taylor was predisposed towards the defense.
5. T/F- If the jury rendered Tom not guilty, that would be a precedence for Rev. Sykes.
6. Scout felt that a consensus of group consciousness might accomplish what?
7. T/F- Scout's intuition told her that the defendant would be found guilty.
8. Why did Jem jerk repeatedly?
9. T/F- The attending blacks gave reverence toward Atticus as he passed by.
Chapter 22
1. Atticus told his sister that, “they might as well learn to cope with it.” What did he mean?
2. T/F- Miss Rachel wept at the verdict because her heart felt the permanence of the "stone wall."
3. What are the "snakes in the closet"?
4. Which neighbor was impervious to the fact that the Finch children were sitting in the Colored
balcony?
5. T/F- Miss Maudie's opinion of Atticus concurred with Dolphus Raymond's.
6. T/F- Miss Maudie was explicit about the lack of happenstance surrounding how Tom's attorney was
assigned.
7. State Jem's critique of the legal system.
8. T/F- That Dill wants to hide behind a clown's [sad] mask to laugh at people is a sign of his cynical
contempt towards adults.
9. Who pledged revenge against Atticus?
Chapter 23
1. T/F- Bob Ewell's name calling was sufficient enough to cause Atticus to carry his old pistol.
2. T/F- Atticus was adamant about instructing his children in the legitimacy and obligation for
Finches "to pay off a grudge."
3. T/F- Tom was moved to Chester County for a retrial because the rape statute was more lenient
there.
4. Atticus reminded Jem about what ugly facts of life?
5. According to Atticus, what constitutes white trash?
6. T/F- Atticus predictably foresaw the day when blacks would revolt.
7. What made Scout indignant?
8. How can serving on a jury be unpleasant?
9. T/F- The turnabout that a Cunningham relative displayed reinforced Aunt Alexandra's view of the
Cunningham stock.
10. How does Jem see the hierarchy of hatred?
11. Scout's view of the key element of background was what?
12. From Jem's perspective, why does Boo Radley want to stay inside?
Chapter 24
1. Why couldn't Scout go to Barker's Eddy, the swimming creek, with Jem and Dill?
2. Joining the dessert portion of the missionary circle was part of Aunt Alexandra's what for Scout?
3. T/F - During the social hour, Scout heard the ladies criticize Tom's wife, hired help, and the
northerners.
4. How would Scout take the wind out of the Missionary Society's proclivity for prejudice?
5. Why was Atticus's face white?
6. T/F- Aunt Alexandra mourned for the loss of one black man just as she would grieve for the loss of
many.
7. How do background and backbone intermingle in the equation to become a lady?
Chapter 25
1. Why did Scout conclude that Jem "was getting more like a girl every day"?
2. T/F- Dill left Maycomb having learned an extra skill.
3. What was Helen's reaction to the news of her husband's death?
4. T/F- The Ewells were contentious toward Atticus as he [and Calpurnia, Jem, and Dill] left Helen's.
5. T/F - Maycomb, at large, understood Tom's sense of futility, hence, his motivation for attempting to
escape.
6. T/F- Mr. Underwood's editorial, which stated that killing a cripple was a sin, similar to the
senseless slaughter of songbirds, encapsulated the core of Atticus's defense.
7. T/F- Due process of law, or the right to a fair trial, was undermined by "the secret courts of men's
hearts," or prejudice.
Chapter 26
1. T/F- Scout felt a flicker of regret for having disturbed the peace of a recluse.
2. T/F- Scout became cognizant that Atticus knew more about their trespassing onto the Radley Place
than she thought he did.
3. That Adolf Hitler came up as a current affairs topic made Scout wonder about whose hypocracy?
4. T/F- It was clear to Atticus that Tom Robinson's trial was not completely digested nor thoroughly
sorted in the minds of both of his children.
Chapter 27
1. T/F- Bob Ewell pestered Judge Taylor and Helen.
2. Who came to Mrs. Robinson's rescue?
3. Jem had thought Ewell was full of hot air. T/F - Atticus, too, felt that Bob Ewell was finished
playing out his grudge.
4. T/F- The hounds proved unreliable in locating Tutti's and Frutti's furniture.
5. T/F- Jem was disappointed that he could not be an agricultural product in Grace Merriweather's
pageant.
6. Why was Scout nonchalant about Atticus's or Aunt Alexandra's or Calpurnia's attendance at the
pageant?
Chapter 28
1. T/F- The singing mockingbird knew of Boo's absence.
2. Who jumped in glee as he scared Jem and Scout?
3. Cold spaghetti was used to represent the innards of a what?
4. T/F- Once Cecil mentioned the unsanitary element connected to the tub of bobbing apples, Scout
agreed because she wanted to show Cecil that her dad had taught her likewise.
5. What is a climber?
6. Who, showing a verisimilitude to Atticus, uplifted Scout when she felt bad for missing her cue?
7. T/F- Jem and Scout, trying to detect the mysterious rustling, also heard the sounds of a dog and a
hen.
8. What characteristics do we know about the attacker?
9. Who carried Jem to the safety of his house?
10. What garment did Scout get to wear?
11. Scout asked what question repeatedly?
12. T/F - Atticus, because he had underestimated the depth of Ewell's grudge, did not initially suspect
Bob as the attacker.
Chapter 29
1. T/F- Aunt Alexandra had a premonition about the evening's turn of events.
2. T/F- Heck Tate reiterated Mr. Gilmer's famous preface, "in your own words," when conducting his
interrogation of Scout.
3. What caused the "shiny clean line" on the dull wire of the remains of Scout's costume?
4. How did Heck Tate describe a man like Bob Ewell's kind?
5. T/F- Scout assumed it was Jem who had yanked Bob down off of her.
6. What blurred Scout's image of Arthur Radley?
Chapter 30
1. T/F- Scout noted her father's plain introduction of Mr. Arthur Radley.
2. T/F- Dr. Reynold's casual greeting towards Arthur helped humanize Boo's existence in Scout's
mind.
3. T/F- Aunt Alexandra's influence upon Scout was seen via the latter's cordial politeness towards
Boo.
4. Explain the curious contest of wills between Heck Tate and Atticus.
5. Explain how exactly Bob Ewell died. Be sure to give an account of both knives and all relevant
parties.
6. By acquiescing to Tate's tale of events, Scout demonstrated what kind of understanding?
Chapter 31
1. T/F- Boo allowed Scout to lead him to Jem's bed.
2. With regard to returning to the Radley Place, how did Scout show signs of becoming a lady?
3. While standing on the Radley porch, what did Scout learn from her reveries?
4. In "The Gray Ghost," Stoner's Boy symbolically represented whom?
Weightman (1996)