To Kill A Mockingbird

1. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions for Chapters 1-13 Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

2. 1. He misses his mother and since he is old enough to remember her, he goes off to be alone. • 2. Mr. Radley believed his son’s “crime” of driving around backwards in a borrowed car and of locking the town’s beadle in an outhouse was a disgrace. He said that he would make sure that his son never caused any problems again. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

3. 3. Walter is too poor and too proud to take a quarter from Miss Caroline. The Cunningham's get along with what they have and they never take anything they cannot repay. Scout has embarrassed the teacher with her comments about Walter and she is not pleased. • 4. Atticus tells his daughter that “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.” To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

4. 5. Atticus tells her that the Ewell’s are the disgrace of Maycomb. They live like animals and the rules are bent for them because they are in a sad state. Bob Ewell spends his relief money on green whiskey and his children go hungry. • 6. He treats them as small adults and he has dignity and respect for them. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

5. 7. Scout finds two pieces of Wrigley’s Double Mint chewing gum without their outer wrappers. The second time they find two old and polished Indian head pennies-1906 and 1900-in a ring box. • 8. First, she has heard someone laughing inside the Radley house and second she believes Atticus knows about the game and does not approve of what they are doing. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

6. 9. He intends to stick a note through the shutters into Boo Radley’s house. The note will say that the children will not hurt him if he comes out and that they will buy him ice cream. • 10. A shadow wearing a hat appears near Jem. Jem freezes and then runs away. As all three children scamper through the collard patch, a shotgun fires. Jem loses his pants on the wire fence. He leaves them behind but returns to get them so that Atticus does not suspect him of being in the Radley yard. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

7. 11. When Jem retrieves his pants, they have been folded across the fence and the pants have been mended. • 12. They find a ball of grey twine, two carved figures in soap, gum, a tarnished spelling medal, and a pocket watch that no longer works. Jem is sad because Nathan Radley has cemented up the knot-hole and this has stopped the communication between Jem and his benefactor. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

8. 13. A brown blanket is placed on her shoulders as she watches the fire. She does not notice the blanket until Atticus comments about it. Boo Radley has come out to protect “his children” from the cold. • 14. He knows that he is not a person to be afraid of and that he also knows that Boo is a kind person. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

9. 15. Atticus decides to defend Tom because the case is a matter of doing what is right even though Atticus knows he cannot win because of the social and moral code of the South. • 16. Atticus tells Scout to keep her head held high and to put her fists down. She is to fight with her head rather than with her fists. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

10. 17. This case will be difficult for the Finch family because Atticus will be forced indirectly to fight some of his friend’s values in the community. Many people will not approve of what Atticus is doing. • 18. The rest of the family is mortified over Atticus’ behaviour and that Atticus will be the ruination of the whole family. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

11. 19. Atticus tells Jack that when children ask you something, a person must be truthful with them and also must not make a production of it. • 20. Christ says the words to God as he waits to be taken prisoner in the Garden of Gethsemane. “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39) To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

12. 20-continued... Christ does not want to go through what he is about to face and he asks God if there is a way out. He understands that he will obey God’s will. Uncle Jack also understands that Atticus does not want to go through with the Tom Robinson trial; there is no other way for Atticus and he and his family must suffer. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

13. 21. Atticus does not want the children to shoot mockingbirds because they do no harm. They sing and bring pleasure to people but they do not eat gardens or nest in corncribs. It is wrong to harm or kill something that does nothing but bring others pleasure. • 22. Atticus uses old shooting skills and kills a dog that has rabies. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

14. 23. Atticus is “civilized in his heart”. Atticus believes that God has given him a talent that has provided him with an unfair advantage over most living things. He does not shoot until he has to. • 24. Atticus says that the Robinson case “is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience” and that in order to live with himself, he must deal with his own conscience. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

15. 25. The children have been staying longer every day as Jem reads to Mrs. Dubose. Jem no longer resents her insults and now has an expression of “polite and detached interest” on his face. Mrs. Dubose is not able to hurt him as she once has done. • 26. Atticus believes that courage is not a man with a gun in his hand but rather occurs when a person knows he is licked before he begins To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

16. 26-continued...but he begins anyway and sees the situation through no matter what. Mrs. Dubose knows she is dying yet her goal is to die free from her addiction to morphine. She does precisely that by slowly weaning herself off her pain-killers. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

17. 27. The flower symbolizes Mrs. Dubose’s strength. She was almost destroyed by her morphine addiction and she chose to fight and be conscious until the end of her life. Her addiction to morphine did not destroy her although her illness did. Jem holds the flower and recognizes the example that Mrs. Dubose has set for them. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

18. 28. Calpurnia takes the children to her church. It is located in the Quarters outside the Southern town limits. It was paid for from the first earnings of the freed slaves. Negroes worship in the church on Sundays and white men gamble in it on weekdays. • 29. She has come to help the children become very proper and to represent their family well. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.

19. 30. Atticus tells the children that they are “not from run-of-the-mill people” and that they should try to live up to their family name. To Kill A Mockingbird Questions Program of Studies: 2.1-Construct meaning from text and context.