To Kill A Mockingbird

Transcription

1 To Kill A Mockingbird Guided Reading/Rereading Questions, Chapters 2-11 Name: You may use these questions to guide your reading oryour review of Part 1 of the novel. (Chapter 1 is covered in the Chapter 1 handout.) A good way to test your comprehension. RECORD PAGE NUMBERS as you review. This will allow you to find information quickly should you be required to write an essay. Chapter 2 1. List two things Scout gets in trouble for on the first day of school. 2. What are the Cunninghams like? Chapter 3 1. How does Scout attempt to solve her problem with Walter Cunningham? 2. How does Jem intervene in the conflict between Walter and Scout? 3. Why can t Walter Cunningham pass first grade? 4. Describe the Ewell family. Include 3 details from the novel. Chapter 4 1. List the gifts the children find in the knothole. Speculate on who is leaving the gifts. 2. How has the Boo Radley game changed?

2 3. When Scout rolls into the Radley front yard in the tire, what does she hear? Speculate on why this is significant. 4. How is Jem changing? Give several specific ways. Chapter 5 1. What does Scout admire about Miss Maudie? 2. Reread Miss Maudie and Scout s conversation about Boo Radley. Explain Miss Maudie s statement, The Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of--oh, your father. What does she mean by this? What insight does this statement give you into Boo Radley? 3. In response to Scout s question about whether Boo is crazy, Maudie says: If he s not he should be by now. The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets--. What is she suggesting has happened to Boo Radley? 4. What is a foot-washing Baptist?

3 5. What new plan do the boys devise to get Boo Radley to come out? 6. What direct order does Atticus give to the children? Chapter 6 1. How do the children plan to spend Dill s last night in Maycomb? 2. What goes wrong with the children s escape plan? 3. At whom does Mr. Nathan think he has fired the gun? Relate this to a theme of the novel. 4. How do the children claim to have spent the evening? 5. What makes Jem decide to return to the Radley yard that night?

4 6. Reread pages Jem tells Scout, We shouldn a done that tonight (56). a. How is Jem changing? b. Analyze the quotation. What is implied about in terms of Jem s growth and maturity? Explain. Chapter 7 1. What does Jem Tell Scout about that night at the Radley s? 2. What new gifts do the children find in the knothole? 3. Why do you think Mr. Nathan filled the knothole of a healthy tree? 4. Why does Jem cry at the end of the chapter?

5 Chapter 8 1. Who dies this winter? 2. When Miss Maudie s house begins to burn, what other possibility is the Finch family worried about? 3. Who put a blanket around Scout the night of the fire? How do you know? 4. When Scout comes home with the mysterious blanket wrapped over her shoulders, Jem seemed to have lost his mind. He began pour out secrets right and left... What is it that Jem is trying to get Atticus to understand? 5. Explain how the motif of blind spots is important in this chapter (4-5 sentences). Chapter 9 1. Who is Tom Robinson? 2. What gift does Uncle Jack give the children?

6 3. What new habit has Scout picked up that bothers Uncle Jack? 4. What does cousin Francis tell Scout about Dill s home life? 5. Why does Scout fight her cousin after the Christmas dinner at Finches Landing? 6. What is Maycomb s usual disease? 7. What reasons does Atticus give for defending Tom Robinson? What is it about this case that strikes so deeply with what Atticus believes? Chapter How do the children view their father at the beginning of chapter 10? Quote evidence in your response. 2. What reason does Uncle Jack give for Atticus s unwillingness to teach the kids to shoot? 3. What crisis shows the children a surprising skill their father possesses? 4. Who is Heck Tate?

7 5. What is Atticus s old nickname? 6. Why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird? Explain. 7. Make a connection between Atticus shooting the mad dog and defending Tom Robinson. 8. At the end of the chapter, why does Jem say, Atticus is a gentlemen, just like me (99)? 1. Who is Mrs. Dubose? Chapter What does she say to Jem that leads him to lose his temper? 3. What is Jem s reaction to Mrs. Dubose s comments? 4. What punishment does Atticus issue as a result of Jem s actions?

8 5. What is the purpose of Mrs. Dubose alarm clock? 6. What do we learn of Mrs. Dubose illness and related addiction? 7. Quote what Atticus says about true courage. 8. Explain why Mrs. Dubose s actions fit the definition of true courage. What aspects of Scout and Jem s informal education are the focus of Part I of the novel? What lessons have they learned? How are their respective understandings of these lessons different? (What does Jem get that Scout doesn t get yet?) What hints are there of the world beyond their neighborhood? Make a few predictions about how the lessons learned in Part I might be applied in Part II, as Scout and Jem s world continues to widen, and along with this, their understanding of that world.

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