Name & No.
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English III & IV
Questions to answer while reading To Kill a Mockingbird
For the following questions, please answer in complete sentences when the answer
requires more than a name or word for an answer.
1. Who is telling the story? Jean Louise (Scout) Finch
2. What happened when Arthur Radley was a teen? hen !rthur ("oo) #adle$ was a teen,
he was hanging out with the wrong crowd. %e got in trou&le with the law for distur&ing
the town with his 'gang( of friends. !fter, he didn)t lea*e the house, most li+el$
&ecause his father made him sta$ home.
,. What game did Jem, !out and "ill en#oy playing, $ut whi!h they hid %rom their %ather? Jem,
Scout, and -ill en.o$ed acting out pla$s of &oo+s or stories that the$ +new. /heir
father, !tticus, didn)t appro*e of them acting out the li*es of the #adle$s, so the$ hid it
from him.
0. Why didn&t Atti!us turn down the assignment to de%end 'om? !tticus didn)t turn down the
assignment &ecause he wasn)t going to do less than his &est. %e accepted the difficult
and threatening challenge of defending /om in the court case &ecause he wanted to
maintain his self1respect and &e a&le to hold his head up high. 2t was a matter of his
personal honor, and he wasn)t going to gi*e that up to appease the popular crowd.
3. Who was (oo Radley? "oo #adle$ was the Finch)s reclusi*e neigh&or. /he three
children were afraid of him &ecause he seemed creep$ and there were rumors of him
eating small animals. #eall$, he is a talented, innocent man who was emotionall$
damaged &ecause of his father and societ$. Jem and Scout e*entuall$ understood him
&etter. !fter reali4ing how cruel the world is, Jem seemed to understand wh$ "oo
didn)t want to &e a part of it, and Scout saw things from "oo)s perspecti*e after he
sa*ed her and Jem from 5r. 6well.
7. Why did !out say at the end o% the $oo) that to %or!e (oo Radley into the pu$li! eye would
$e li)e )illing a mo!)ing$ird? She had gi*en meaning to what her father had said earlier
in the &oo+. She understood that putting trou&le on people, who don)t deser*e it,
would &e li+e +illing an innocent, harmless &ird. Forcing "oo #adle$ into the pu&lic
e$e, when he clearl$ had &een a*oiding it, would &e a punishment he didn)t deser*e.
8. Why was 'om arrested? /om was arrested &ecause he was accused of raping a white
girl, 5a$ella 6well. 2n realit$, he had re.ected the ad*ances of 5a$ella, and her and 5r.
6well falsel$ accused him of hurting her.
9. When the men !ame to the #ailhouse and %ound Atti!us sitting under the light, what had they
$een planning to do? /he mo& of men had planned to ta+e what the$ &elie*ed to &e
.ustice into their own hands, &$ whate*er means necessar$. /he$ wanted to +ill /om
#o&inson, and the$ would ha*e in.ured or e*en +illed !tticus, who was protecting /om,
to do so.
:. Why didn&t they? /he mo& was approaching !tticus, and Scout inter*ened. She spo+e
to one of the men, whom she recogni4ed as 5r. ;unningham. She reminded him of the
times her father had helped him, and told him that she +new his son, alter. 5r.
;unningham called dispelled the group, and no one was hurt.
1<. Who )illed *r. Ewell? 2t is not directl$ stated, &ut it is implied that "oo #adle$ +illed 5r.
6well while sa*ing the li*es of Jem and Scout. %owe*er, for #adle$)s sa+e, the official
report said that 5r. 6well fell on his own +nife and died.
11. Who is +alpurnia and what is her role in the %amily? ;alpurnia wor+s for the Finch famil$
as a coo+. She helps the famil$ an$ wa$ she can and pro*ides a motherl$ presence for
the children.
12. What is the %ather&s o!!upation? !tticus was an elected law$er for the state legislature.
1,. With whom did Jem, !out and "ill sit during 'om&s trial? /he$ sat in the &alcon$ with
#e*erend S$+es, the leader of ;alpurnia)s church.
10. Who atta!)ed Jem and !out on the way home %rom the s!hool %un!tion on ,alloween? 5r.
"o& 6well, one of the men who !tticus went up against and tried to refute in court.
13. In what !ounty did the %amily li-e? /he Finch famil$ li*es in 5a$com& ;ount$ in !la&ama.
17. Where did the !hildren go with +alpurnia when Atti!us was away? /he children went with
;alpurnia to her church. =ne woman, Lula, was unwelcoming, &ut the ma.orit$ of
people accepted their presence with +indness, including #e*erend S$+es and >ee&o.
18. Where did the Ewells li-e? /he 6wells li*ed in a shac+ &ehind the dump.
19. What de%ense did Atti!us use when de%ending 'om? !tticus)s main defense was the fact
that 5a$ella was &eaten up with a left arm? /om #o&inson has no use of his left arm,
&ut 5r. 6well is left1handed. !tticus also points out that no one called a doctor for
5a$ella, so there must ha*e &een something shad$ going on. %e also allowed /om to
spea+ his own truth a&out what happened, which was a more &elie*a&le stor$.
1:. What so!ial or so!ietal issues did the author pinpoint through To Kill a Mockingbird? .at least
two/ =ne social issue that can &e o&ser*ed in To Kill a Mockingbird is an economic
issue. /he character of 5r. 6well demonstrates se*eral pro&lems with the societ$ he
li*es in &$ allowing his children to go hungr$, unclean, and misera&le while he spends
the mone$ from his relief chec+s on alcohol. /he societ$ of that time was economicall$
unsta&le, and e*er$one was affected. !nother social issue was the religious pre.udice
in the count$. 5audie !t+inson was &othered &$ a religious group for how she li*ed,
and the #adle$s were .udged and critici4ed for not going to church or &eing welcoming
on Sunda$s. /hese situations show the religious issues the count$ had that impacted
the societ$.
2<. Who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird? %arper Lee
21. What sort o% intera!tion did the !hildren ha-e with Arthur Radley? 2n the &eginning of the
&oo+, the children are afraid of #adle$, and the$ onl$ go around his house as a sort of
game. Jem and Scout find things in a tree &$ the house, &ut at the time, the$ don)t
reali4e the gifts are from #adle$. /he$ tr$ to write him a note, &ut @athan #adle$ puts
cement in the tree, putting a stop to the gift1gi*ing. !t the end of the &oo+, Jem and
Scout are attac+ed &$ 5r. 6well, and !rthur #adle$ sa*es their li*es and +ills 5r. 6well.
22. ,ow is the $oo) aptly named To Kill a Mockingbird? hen !tticus warns his +ids not to
shoot 5oc+ing&irds, he depicts them as innocent and causing no harm. !s the$
should not +ill one of these &irds, the$ should not cause trou&le or punish a person
who is uno&trusi*e and innocent. /hat line &ecame the title of the &oo+ &ecause there
are multiple eAamples of characters that are treated unfairl$ in the stor$. /he main
person depicted as a moc+ing&ird is !rthur #adle$, who is an eAample of someone
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that was wrec+ed &$ societ$, and didn)t need to go through further trou&le. !nother
&latant eAample of a moc+ing&ird is /om #o&inson, who was doing the &est he could
with what his situation offered, and was punished se*erel$ without cause. %e was
accused of terri&le things that he didn)t do, and he lost his life.
2,. Why did Jem ha-e to read %or *rs. "u$ose %or one month? !fter 5rs. -u&ose made a
hateful comment a&out !tticus, Jem was angered and destro$ed her plants. !tticus
made him apologi4e and do what she wanted him to, which was read to her e*er$ da$
for a month. !fterwards, !tticus said that he made Jem read to her to help her get
through her last da$s of life &ecause she had a morphine addiction.
20. What year or during what period in Ameri!an history was To Kill a Mockingbird pu$lished? To
Kill a Mockingbird was pu&lished in 1:7<. /his decade was a time when laws of
segregation were &eginning to &e disregarded, though racism was still a&undant and
widespread.
23. It has $een said that the Ala$ama woman who authored the $oo) !onsidered it to $e a simple
lo-e story. Would you agree? Why or why not? 2 disagree for two reasons. First, there
was no specific lo*e stor$ &etween main characters? the &oo+ didn)t re*ol*e around a
relationship, &ecause it was told from the perspecti*e of a +id. Second, the &oo+ has
the capacit$ for such deeper meaning. 2t deals with issues of pre.udice, honor,
propriet$, rights, hope, leadership, pride, equalit$? to call it a lo*e stor$ simpl$ doesn)t
do it .ustice. B=C2@2=@D
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