English 9
To Kill a Mockingbird
Allusions and Idioms
Name_________________________
Period _____ Date_______________
Directions: Prior to reading To Kill a Mockingbird, choose two allusions and one idiom from the
lists below. Research to find their meanings. For allusions, write a paragraph for each term,
giving definitions, references, explanations, history, or any other information. Include a picture
or example if appropriate. For the idiom, refer to the sentence in which it appears, and explain
what it means in general. Prior to the class reading of the chapter in which each of your choices
appear, share your information. (25 pts.)
Allusions
Chapter 1
Andrew Jackson
Battle of Hastings
Cornwall
Dracula (film)
flivver
Jamaica
John Wesley
Merlin
nothing to fear but fear itself
Chapter 2
Bullfinch
Dewey Decimal System
the crash
union suit
Lorenzo Dow
Chapter 3
Man who sat on a flagpole
Chapter 4
Indian-heads
One Man's Family
Chapter 5
Old Testament pestilence
Second Battle of the Marne
Chapter 7
Egyptians walked that way
Chapter 8
Bellingraths (Walter and Bessie)
Lane cake
Rosetta Stone
Chapter 9
House of Commons
Missouri Compromise
Mount Everest
Chapter 10
mockingbird
Chapter 11
Dixie Howell
Ivanhoe/Sir Walter Scott
Chapter 12
castile/Octagon and Hoyt's Cologne
bread lines
Garden of Gethsemane
sit-down strikes
Shadrach
Chapter 13
Lydia E. Pickham
Chapter 15
battlement
flying buttresses
Notre Dame Cathedral
Jitney Jungle
snipe hunt
Allusions, continued
Chapter 16
Greek revival columns
straight Prohibition ticket
William Jennings Bryan
Braxton Bragg
Chapter 17
fountain pen
icebox
Model -T Ford (on blocks)
Chapter 18
cotton gin
Mr. Jingle
Chapter 20
Rockefeller (John D.)
Chapter 24
Mrs. E. Roosevelt/tryin' to sit with 'em
Chapter 25
English Channel
Chapter 26
holy-roller
Elmer Davis
Uncle Natchell story
Chapter 27
National Recovery Act
WPA
Ladies' Law
Robert Love Taylor
dog Victrolas
Idioms
Chapter 5
acid tongue in her head,
get (Miss Maudie's) goat
Chapter 7
walked on eggs
Chapter 9
bowed to the inevitable
drew a bead on him
on tenterhooks
set my teeth permanently on edge
sure as eggs
Chapter 10
tooth and nail
tribal curse
break camp
Chapter 11
stood as much guff
when the chips are down
slow fuse
'druthers
Chapter 13
traveled in state
Chapter 15
he had seen the light
Chapter 16
blind spots
Chapter 17
counting his chickens
Chapter 19
looked daggers
Chapter 22
give the lie
runner
Chapter 24
blue in the face, fighting the good fight
Chapter 30
into the limelight