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Guided Reading Chapters 22-31
Despite the fact that some of the novel is summarized, you will still be
responsible for the entire novel in your essay and on your exam. You are
expected to answer each question in complete sentences. Your answers
should be thoughtful and demonstrate your understanding of the text.
Failure to do so will result in 0 points.
Chapter 22
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Feral

Bleakly
1. Although Atticus did not want his children in court, he defends Jem's right to know what has happened.
Explain, in your own words, Atticus's reasons for this. (Look at the speech beginning, “This is their
home, sister.”)
2. This story is set in the 1930s but was published in 1960. Have attitudes to racism remained the same or
have there been any changes (for the better or worse) since then, in your view?
3. Why does Bob Ewell feel so angry with Atticus? Do you think his threat is a real one, and how might he
try to “get” Atticus?
Chapter 23
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Furtive

Adamant

Sordid
4. What is Atticus's reaction to Bob Ewell's challenge? Should he have ignored Bob, retaliated, or
done something else?
5. Why does Aunt Alexandra accept that the Cunninghams may be good but are not “our kind of folks?”
Do you think that people should mix only with others of the same social class? Are class-divisions good
or bad for societies?
6. At the end of this chapter, Jem forms a new theory about why Boo Radley has never left his house in
years. What is this? In your opinion, how likely is it to be true? Support your answer.
Chapter 24 Summary
It's the end of August, and Aunt Alexandra is hosting a missionary tea at the Finch house.Unusually, she's letting Calpurnia serve,
rather than controlling every detail like she usually does. Doubly unusually, Scout is indoors—Jem is occupied in teaching Dill to
swim, and they're skinny-dipping so they won't let her come along. Scout offers to help Calpurnia serve, and gets to carry in the
silver coffee pitcher. Aunt Alexandra, pleased Scout is (1) wearing a pink dress, and (2) managing to carry something without
spilling it, asks her to join them. Miss Stephanie Crawford asks Scout if she wants to be a lawyer when she grows up, since she's
already taken to attending trials. Scout tries to be polite, but Miss Stephanie keeps needling her. So finally, Scout replies that she
doesn't want to be a lawyer, just a lady.
Ooh, burn.
Scout takes up conversation with Mrs. Grace Merriweather, who had reported to the group on the Mruna tribe, whom J. Grimes
Everett is trying to convert to Christianity. J. Grimes Everett's saintly behavior is apparently Mrs. Merriweather's favorite topic,
and she goes on about him at great length. Eventually Mrs. Merriweather is distracted by a conversation going on next to her.
She makes a comment about the need to "forgive and forget," and to help an unknown woman "lead a Christian life for those
children from here on out" Scout asks if she's talking about Mayella Ewell, but Mrs. Merriweather says no, she's talking about
Helen Robinson (though she doesn't actually know the woman's name).
Mrs. Merriweather talks about how distressing it is when the colored help is cranky about something, and how it's important to
remind them that Jesus was never cranky about anything so they should strive to do the same. Mrs. Farrow replies that there's
nothing white people can do to change the inherent immoral nature of the black man. Unless they're trying to convert them in
Africa, apparently.
Mrs. Merriweather continues that she won't name names, but there are some "good but misguided" people in Maycomb who think
they're helping but are really just making trouble. Miss Maudie breaks in to say, "His food doesn't stick going down, does it?"
(24.48), and a daydreaming Scout can tell she's very angry, though she doesn't understand why.
Aunt Alexandra smooths things over with more cake, and turns the conversation in less dangerous directions, while also shooting
Miss Maudie a thank-you look which Scout notices but again does not understand.(Translation: Mrs. Merriweather was smacktalking Atticus, and Miss Maudie put her in her place.)
Scout wonders if she'll ever be able to function in this world of ladies whose rules make so little sense to her, especially compared
to the male world. Finally, Atticus comes home. He's not looking too good. In the kitchen, he tells Scout, Aunt Alexandra, and
Miss Maudie that Tom Robinson is dead. He tried to climb over the prison fence right in front of the guards and was shot, no
fewer than seventeen times.
After Atticus leaves with Calpurnia to tell Helen, a stunned Aunt Alexandra and Miss Maudie sit in the kitchen with Scout. Aunt
Alexandra is mad at the town that puts the responsibility of doing the right thing on Atticus's because they're too scared to do it
themselves. Miss Maudie says that "the handful of people in this town with background" share the principles he's working to
uphold, and are grateful to Atticus for fighting on the side of the angels. Aunt Alexandra composes herself and they go back in to
face the tea party, acting as if nothing is wrong. Scout joins them in their effort to keep up a ladylike attitude.
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Squalor

Apprehensive
7. Do you think the missionary ladies are sincere in worrying about the “Mrunas” (a tribe in Africa)? Give
reasons for your answer.
8. What is your opinion of the Maycomb ladies, as depicted in this chapter?
9. Explain briefly how Tom was killed.
10. How, in this chapter, do we see Aunt Alexandra in a new light? How does Miss Maudie support her?
Chapter 25
11. a. How does Maycomb react to the news of Tom's death?
b. Comment on the idea that Tom's death was “typical.”
12. Why would Jem not want Scout to tell Atticus about Bob Ewell's comment?
Chapter 26 Summary
When school had started again that fall, Scout was no longer afraid of the Radley Place, and she was even a
little embarrassed that she'd been a part of the attempts to harass Boo Radley. She still wanted to see him, but
she fantasized that if she did, they would talk as if they'd seen each other every day of their lives. So much had
happened since that summer that Boo seemed a lifetime ago. Although the Robinson case was over, it left a
residue and it seemed to Scout that the adults in Maycomb talked to their children about the case. She felt as if
the parents insisted that their children be nice to Scout and Jem in spite of Atticus because it wasn't their fault he
was their father. So Scout and Jem were also forced to behave respectably as they had learned in the Dubose
days. Despite their distaste for Atticus, it seemed that the townspeople had no problem re-electing him to the
state. This contradiction prompted Scout's conclusion that people were just peculiar and it was better to stay
away from them in general, so she didn't think about people unless she was forced to.
One day at school Cecil Jacobs presented his current event concerning Adolf Hitler and his incarceration of
Jews. Miss Gates, Scout's teacher, discussed this injustice and crime against humanity, lecturing the children at
great length about how wrong it was for Hitler to persecute them that way.
That night Scout was confused about something, some discrepancy in what she'd heard that day. She questioned
Atticus about whether it was right to hate Hitler, and he told her that it's never right to hate anybody. Then she
started to ask Atticus something, but decided that Jem would be better for this question she couldn't articulate.
She went to talk to Jem about it and she explained what Miss Gates had told her class at school that day. Then
she asked Jem if it was wrong to persecute anyone. When he answered yes, she told him that she'd overheard
Miss Gates talking to Miss Stephanie on the way out of the courthouse at Tom Robinson's trial. Miss Gates had
said that what happened served those blacks right because they'd been getting above their station and needed to
be taught a lesson. Scout hadn't been able to understand how someone could hate Hitler so much for what he
was doing and then be so hateful to the people of her own community. Jem didn't answer her because he was
furious. He shook her and told her not to ever talk about that night to him again. His quick anger scared her, and
she ran downstairs to climb in Atticus' lap. Atticus had overheard Jem's outburst and explained to Scout that he
was just trying to forget something for a little while until he could sort it all out. He was sure that when Jem had
sorted through it, he'd be himself again.
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Spurious

Recluse
13. In her lesson on Hitler, Miss Gates says that “we (American people) don't believe in persecuting
anyone.” What seems odd to the reader about this claim?
14. Why is Scout puzzled by Miss Gates' disapproval of Hitler?
15. Why does Scout's question upset Jem? Is there a simple answer, or any answer, to the question (“How
can you hate Hitler an’ then turn around an’ be ugly about folks right at home?”)
Chapter 27
By the middle of October, Bob Ewell gets a job with the WPA, one of the Depression job programs, and loses it
a few days later. He blames Atticus for “getting” his job. Also in the middle of October, Judge Taylor is home
alone and hears someone prowling around; when he goes to investigate, he finds his screen door open and sees a
shadow creeping away. Bob Ewell then begins to follow Helen Robinson to work, keeping his distance but
whispering obscenities at her. Deas sees Ewell and threatens to have him arrested if he doesn’t leave Helen
alone; he gives her no further trouble. But these events worry Aunt Alexandra, who points out that Ewell seems
to have a grudge against everyone connected with the case.
That Halloween, the town sponsors a party and play at the school. This plan constitutes an attempt to avoid the
unsupervised mischief of the previous Halloween, when someone burglarized the house of two elderly sisters
and hid all of their furniture in their basement. The play is an “agricultural pageant” in which every child
portrays a food: Scout wears a wire mesh shaped to look like ham. Both Atticus and Aunt Alexandra are too
tired to attend the festivities, so Jem takes Scout to the school.
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Notoriety

Purloined
16. What three things does Bob Ewell do that alarms Aunt Alexandra?
a.
b.
c.
17. Which people does Ewell see as his enemies, and why?
18. What was the purpose of the Halloween pageant? What practical joke had persuaded the grown- ups to
have an organized event?
Chapter 28
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Irascible
19. a. Scout decides to keep her costume on while walking home. How does this affect her understanding of
what happens on the way?
87. b. Draw Scout in her costume.
20. Who might this strange man be?
Chapter 29 Summary
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Turmoil
21. What causes the “shiny clean line” on the otherwise “dull wire” of Scout's costume?
Chapter 30
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Connived
22. Who does Atticus think caused Bob Ewell's death?
23. Why does Heck Tate insist that Bob Ewell's death was self-inflicted? In what way is this partly true?
24. Is Heck Tate right to spare Boo the publicity of an inquest? Give reasons for your answer.
25. How does the writer handle the appearance, at the end of the story, of Boo Radley?
Chapter 31
Vocabulary: List the definition and part of speech for each of the following vocabulary words.

Raling

Silhouetted
26. How do the events of the final chapters explain the first sentence in the whole novel?
27. How does Scout make sense of an earlier remark of Atticus's as she stands on the Radley porch?
28. a. How much of a surprise is it for find what Boo Radley is really like?
b. How has this been foreshadowed earlier in the novel?
Pe rs onal Re s pons e- Respond to each of the following questions. Write in complete
sentences. None of these questions should be answered in less than 3 sentences.
Harper Lee’s novel is full of interesting and richly painted characters. Which character was
your favorite and why?
Many readers have said that reading To Kill a Mockingbird “made a difference” in their lives. How did the
novel affect you? Write a personal response about how the novel affected your ideas of personal courage in
the face of injustice. Refer to elements of the plot and specific characters to support your comments.
Did the ending of the novel surprise you? If you were the author, would you have ended the story
differently? Explain