English I
To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide
Ms. Couch
Characters: Know each character and be able to match him/her to a description.
Quotes: Name the speaker of the following quotes. For the test, also know the significance of each
quote.
________________________“Thank you for my children, Arthur.”
________________________“Secretly, Miss Finch, I’m not much of a drinker, but you see they could
never, never understand that I live like I do because that’s the way I want
to live.”
________________________“Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a
sin to kill a mockingbird.”
________________________“Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”
________________________“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his
point of view--until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
________________________“... there's just some kind of men you have to shoot before you can say
hidy to 'em. Even then, they ain't worth the bullet it takes to shoot 'em.”
________________________“Hey, Boo.”
________________________“Cry about the simple hell people give other people - without even
thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even
stopping to think that they're people, too.”
________________________“I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in
the house all this time…it's because he wants to stay inside.”
________________________“I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I’m still sheriff of Maycomb County
and Bob Ewell fell on his knife.”
________________________“The way that man called him ‘boy’ all the time and sneered at
him...Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that--it just makes me
sick.”
________________________“As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of
your life, but let me tell you something, and don't you forget it –
whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is,
how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is
trash.”
English I
To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide
Ms. Couch
________________________“I tell you there are some good but misguided people in this town...Folks
in this town who think they’re doing right, I mean.”
________________________“There ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so
I'm gonna join the circus and laugh my head off.”
________________________“I don't know, but they did it. They've done it before and they did it
tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it - seems that only
children weep.”
________________________“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.”
________________________“Whether Maycomb knows it or not, we're paying the highest tribute we
can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple.”
________________________ “Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and
chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in
return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had
given him nothing, and it made me sad.”
________________________ “Let the dead bury the dead.”
________________________ “In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom
Robinson.”
________________________ "I felt sorry for her, she seemed to try more 'n the rest of 'em.”
________________________ "Miss Jean Louise, Stand up. You're father's passin'.”
________________________ “He took advantage of me. An' if you fine, fancy gentlemen ain't gonna
do nothin' about it, then you're just a bunch of lousy, yella, stinkin'
cowards...”
Symbols: What do each of the following items or events symbolize?
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Mrs. Dubose’s last camellia to Jem
Mad dog
Scout’s overalls
Tom Robinson’s trial & death
Character of Stoner’s Boy in The Gray Ghost
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Boo’s gifts to the children in the knothole
Ladies Missionary Circle
Mockingbird
Lynch mob
Mayella’s geraniums
Matching: Covers characters, quotes, and symbols.
True/False: Covers events, characterization, and actions of the characters.
Multiple Choice: Covers theme, setting, events, motives of the characters.
Fill-in-the-Blank: Focus is mainly on symbolism and theme--how the characters demonstrate it in the
story.
Vocabulary: Matching & multiple choice
English I
To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide
Ms. Couch
Things you ought to know:
Item to know
ANSWER
Setting:
Time period (years)
City/state
Events going on in world
Point-of-View of story
First-person or third person (Circle one)
Narrator
Themes:
tolerance of others
racism/prejudice
hypocrisy
having a clear conscience/doing
the right thing
friendship
maturity/coming-of-age
courage
“man’s inhumanity to man”
religion (mainly “Christian”)
Lesson Scout learns in the end:
Give examples of how each theme listed is shown or presented
in the novel.
English I
To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide
Ms. Couch
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION (will help identify symbols of the flowers):
Geraniums symbolize stupidity and foolishness (which is why Miss Maudie would not dare have any on
her property). Additionally, red (or scarlet) geraniums symbolize consolation. And since the color
red/scarlet in itself symbolizes a wrongful act, one can interpret that Mayella's geraniums
foreshadowed her immoral/heinous consolation--comfort received after a loss from a wicked or
wrongful act. Tom's inevitable death is the loss, her false accusation that caused his death is the
immoral act, and her "comfort" or consolation is not having the daily reminder that she "tempted a
Negro."
Note that some guides will suggest that the geraniums were the one “pretty” thing in an ugly place.
They were surrounded by garbage and nothing was taken care of, but Mayella did take pride in those
flowers & she did try to make things nice. Scout even comments on them. But, in my opinion, this
goes against Mayella’s character. If she truly cared and had some pride, she would have told the truth
in the trial. It may not have saved Tom’s life (they still would have found him guilty, I’m sure), but it
would symbolize she did have a heart. But she never did this. Therefore, I believe the red geraniums
symbolized her guilt of her own immoral act of accusing Tom of rape, and her immoral “comfort” she
will receive after he is dead & gone.
Camellias are Alabama’s state flower; ironically, they are not native to Alabama--they are Asian. They
are a shrub from the tea family.
Mrs. Dubose’s camellias and snow-on-the-mountain flower was a clear reference to racism: The
Knights of the White Camellia*. Jem trying to destroy them (just as Atticus had to kill the rabid dog)
was an attempt to kill racism. However, Mrs. Dubose informs him you can’t kill them by just damaging
them, you have to pull them up by the roots to kill them (indicating you can’t change those racists who
are old, set in their ways like her--you’ve got to start fresh and influence the youth to make a change in
the world--which is what Harper Lee is attempting with her book).
Atticus teaches Jem that he will have to face racists with courage and convictions, not destruction.
He is also trying to prepare him for a battle he knows he will lose (Tom’s case), but he’s not going to let
that stop him from trying his hardest to win. He doesn’t want Jem to give up and use violence as a
solution.
*The Knights of the White Camellia was a secret group associated with the KKK. Their main
objective was to terrorize, intimidate, and kill African Americans.
Harper Lee makes a strong connection between the German Nazis and Racists in American. The way
whites treated blacks is similar to the way the Nazis treated Jews and minorities. Many hate groups
begin as simple political groups, urging members to join for a common good or cause. However,
students should be aware of any organization that begins to turn negative or alienates a group of
people. The Nazis were able to convince a nation of people to turn against their own because they
placed blame on that group of people for all the woes their country was suffering. Always remember
that a group of people is never the cause for the country’s misgivings: we cannot blame a religion, a
race of people, or other groups such as immigrants for a country’s sufferings. Often, those who are
slinging the mud are the ones with the dirty hands. (Those who place the blame on others are often
found to be the guilty party and are covering up for their own crimes.)