Mockingbird Study Guide

To Kill a Mockingbird Study Guide: Chapters 1-3

Chapter 1

Assuaged 3

Piety 3

Taciturn 4

Dictum 4

Chattels 4

Unsullied 4

Imprudent 5

Industry 5

Entity 6

Revelation 7

Eccentric

Malevolent 8

Repertoire 8

Vapid 8

Predilection 9

Domiciled 10

Chapter 2

Indigenous 16

Seceded 16

Illicitly 17

Hookworms 19

Delegation 20

Confer 20

Entailment 20

Vexations 21

Mortification 21

Sojourn 22

Chapter 3

Dispensation 23

Iniquities 25

Contemptuous 27

Contentious 27

Diminutive 27

Grim 29

Fractious 29

Amiable 29

Judiciously 31

Populace 31

Compromise 31

Concede 31

Disapprobation 31

Gravely 32

Chapters 1-3 Study Questions

1. Identify Atticus Finch, Jean Louise (Scout) Finch, Jem Finch, Maycomb, Calpurnia,

Charles Baker (Dill) Harris, The Radley Place, Stephanie Crawford, Arthur (Boo)

Radley, Miss Caroline Fisher, Walter Cunningham, and Burris Ewell.

2. What did Dill dare Jem to do?

3. What was Scout's first "crime" at school?

4. What was Calpurnia's fault?

5. Why did Scout rub Walter Cunningham's nose in the dirt?

6. Scout said, " He ain't company, Cal, he's just a Cunningham." What did she mean by

that, and what was Cal's answer?

7. What two mistakes did Miss Caroline make on the first day of school?

8. Why didn't the Ewells have to go to school?

9. When do you first find out the speaker’s name?

10. When are you first introduced to the idea of empathy? What is this discussion about?

Chapter 4-7

Chapter 4

Auspicious 32

Tyranny 34

Gingerly 34

Unanimous 35

Scuppernongs 35

Arbitrated 37

Melancholy 39

Evasion 40

Quelling 41

Chapter 5

Benign 42

Tacit 42

Chameleon 42

Magisterial 42

Benevolence 43

Morbid 43

Placidly 46

Tormenting 49

Inquisitive 49

Edification 49

Quibbling 49

Chapter 6

Collards 52

Ramshackle 52

Obliged 52

Teetered 53

Solitary 53

Commotion 54

Dismemberment 55

Magnified 55

Malignant 55

Waning 56

Desolate 57

Chapter 7

Shuddered 58

Appeal 58

Ascertaining 61

Cleaved 61

Palate 61

Rendered 61

Meditative 62

Chapters 4-7 Study Guide

1. What did Scout and Jem find in the Radleys' tree?

2. Identify Mrs. Dubose.

3. How did Jem get even with Scout for contradicting him

about "Hot Steams?"

4. What was the Boo Radley game?

5. Identify Miss Maudie.

6. What does Miss Maudie think of the Radleys?

7. Why do Dill and Jem want to give Boo Radley a note?

What does Atticus say when he finds out about their plan?

8. How did Jem lose his pants? What did he find when he

went back for them?

9. What else did Jem and Scout find in the Radleys' tree?

10. Why would there be no more surprises in the tree?

To Kill A Mockingbird Chapters 8-9

1. What happened to Miss Maudie's house? What was her reaction?

2. Identify Cecil Jacobs.

3. What "disaster" happened at Christmas between Scout and Francis?

4. What did Uncle Jack learn from the disaster?

Unfathomable 63

entrusted 64

procured 66

libel 67

perpetrated 67

caricatures 67

triumphant 67

devoured 69

adjacent 71

quelled 71

perplexity 73

cordial 73

puny 73

common 75

ingenuous 77

fanatical 81

isolate 81

mortify 83

debating 84

gallant 86

evasion 87

acquainted 88

Chapters 10 & 11

What brave thing does Atticus do in chapter 10? Why are Jen and Scout shocked?

According to Ms. Maudie, why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird?

What did Jem do when Mrs. Dubose said Atticus “lawed for niggers”/

What was Jem’s punishment?

What did Jem learn from his encounter with Mrs. Debose?

Why did Atticus choose this punishment?

Contemporaries 89

Inconspicuous 89

Peril 91

Erratic 93

Vehemently 95

Simultaneous 96

Articulate 97

Meekly 98

Passé 99

Melancholy 99

Contradict 101

Umbrage 102

Acquisition 102

Rectitude 102

Skulked 103

Inaudible 103

Reconnaissance 105

Propensity 108

Cantankerous 111

Chapters 12 – 14

How does Jem change?
Identify Reverend Sykes, Lulu, Zeebo
What does Scout learn from Calpurnia?
Who was waiting for the kids when they came home from the church service? Why had she come?
“Aunt Alexandra fit into Maycomb like a hand in a glove, but never into the world of Jem and me.” Explain.
Atticus and Alexandra disagree about how to handle the children. How does Atticus handle the situation?
Describe Jem and Scout’s relationship during these chapters as Jem matures.
Why did Dill run away from home and back to Maycomb?

Vocabulary

Compensation

Emerge

Acquired

Ecclesiastical

Extract

Preoccupation

Pensive

Antagonize

Infallible

Chapters 15-17

1. What did Mr. Heck Tate's mob want?

2. What was the purpose of Walter Cunningham's mob?

3. Why did Mr. Cunningham's mob leave?

4. Identify Mr. Dolphus Raymond.

5. Identify Tom Robinson, Mr. Gilmer, Bob Ewell, Mayella Ewell, and Judge Taylor.

6. What was the importance of Mayella's bruises being primarily on the right-hand side of her face?

Chapters 18-21

1. What was Mayella's account of the incident with Tom Robinson?

2. What was Tom's side of the story?

3. What was Tom's handicap? Why was it important to his case?

4. What do Dill and Scout learn from Mr. Raymond?

5. What were Atticus' closing remarks to the jury?

6. What was the jury's verdict?

Vocabulary:

Chapters 15-17

Defendant 144

begrudge

oblivious 151

acquiescence 152

encumbered 155

dispelled 165

indulge 165

amiably 169

complacently 177

Chapters 18-21

stealthy 181

prejudice 181

irrelevant 182

subtlety 195

predicament 195

fraud 201

subsequent 203

pauper 205

Chapters 22-25. Chapters 26-31

obscure allegedly

pursuits persecuted

improbable assessment

inevitable consented

apprehension inconveniences

sustain

hypocrites

Chapters 22-25

1. Why did Jem cry?

2. What was " 'round the back steps" when Calpurnia came in on Monday morning?

3. What was the significance of Maudie's two little cakes and one large one?

4. Describe Bob Ewell's meeting with Atticus at the post office.

5. What is Atticus' reaction to Ewell's threats?

6. Alexandra doesn't want Scout playing with Walter Cunningham. Why not?

7. Jem said, "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." Why does he say that?

8. Mrs. Merriweather of the missionary circle complains about her cooks and field hands. What does that tell us about her?

9. What happened to Tom Robinson?

10. What more do we learn about Alexandra after Atticus and Calpurnia leave?

11. What did Mr. Underwood's editorial say?

Chapters 26-31

1. What was Scout's fantasy regarding Arthur (Boo) Radley?

2. What did Scout hear Miss Gates say at the courthouse? In class, Miss Gates said, "That's the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship.. . . We don't believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are

prejudiced." What does this tell us about Miss Gates?

4. What happened to Helen Robinson?

5. What was Scout's part in the pageant?

6. Why did Scout and Jem not leave the school until almost everyone else had gone?

7. What happened to Jem and Scout on the way home from the pageant?

8. Who saved Jem and Scout? Who killed Bob Ewell?

9. Why did Heck Tate insist that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife?

10. Scout arranged things so that "if Miss Stephanie Crawford was watching from her upstairs window, she would see Arthur Radley escorting [her] down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would do." Why did she do that?

11. As Scout leaves the Radley porch, she looks out at the neighborhood and recounts the events of the last few years from the Radleys' perspective. Why is that important?