To Kill a Mockingbird Questions & Answers

The mockingbird symbolizes innocence and harmless goodness that should be protected. Atticus explains this idea directly when he tells Scout, “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird,” and Miss Maudie adds that mockingbirds “don’t… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Dill runs away because he feels unwanted and lonely at home. After his mother remarries, he believes that his parents “don’t want much to do with him,” so he… read more

Scout is six years old at the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird and nine years old by the end. The story follows her over about three years, showing her growth from a young, innocent… read more

The book's narrator is Jean Louise Finch, known as Scout. Scout narrates the book in the first person, looking back on events from her childhood in Maycomb, Alabama. This means the novel is shaped by… read more

The novel is set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression. Maycomb is a small, close-knit Southern town where everyone knows one another’s business. It’s described as “an old town [...]… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Robinson dies when prison guards shoot him as he tries to escape. After he is wrongly convicted for the rape of Mayella Ewell, Tom is sent to prison… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley kills Bob Ewell. On Halloween night, Bob Ewell attacks Scout and Jem as they walk home in the dark. During the struggle, Mr. Ewell is stabbed to… read more

Several characters die, and each death is important to the novel’s themes of injustice and morality. Tom Robinson is the most significant death. After being falsely accused of rape and convicted by an all-White… read more

The novel ends with Bob Ewell attacking Scout and Jem on Halloween night, and Boo Radley saving them by killing Ewell in the struggle. As Scout and Jem walk home in the dark, someone… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Bob Ewell attacks Scout and Jem out of revenge and humiliation after Tom Robinson’s trial. After Atticus defends Tom Robinson, he exposes that Bob Ewell is lying and… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Maycomb’s “usual disease” is racism. Atticus uses this phrase when he talks about the Tom Robinson case and worries that his children might “catch” the same mindset as the… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra comes to stay mainly to provide what she sees as a proper “feminine influence” for Scout, but her arrival is also tied to the growing tension around… read more

Zeebo is Calpurnia’s adult son and a member of the Black community in Maycomb. He works as the town’s garbage collector and is also involved in leading music at church, guiding the congregation in call-and-response… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem find a series of small gifts hidden in the knothole of a tree near the Radley Place. Eventually, Scout and Jem realize that Boo Radley is… read more

The climax of the book is generally understood to be the trial of Tom Robinson, though some also consider Bob Ewell’s attack on Scout and Jem to be a second, later climax. The trial… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout learns to read and write at home, not at school, mainly through Atticus and Calpurnia. Atticus plays the biggest role early on. He spends time reading with… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Dill starts crying in the courtroom because he is deeply upset by the racist and demeaning way the prosecutor, Mr. Gilmer, treats Tom Robinson. As Mr. Gilmer questions… read more

The book is primarily a Bildungsroman (a coming-of-age novel) and a social novel. As a Bildungsroman, the book follows Scout Finch as she grows from a young child into someone with a deeper understanding… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus defines real courage as doing what is right even when you know you’re likely to fail. He explains this most clearly when he tells Jem that courage is… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem cries at the end of Chapter 7 because he realizes that Boo Radley has been secretly trying to connect with him and Scout—and that this connection has just… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Maudie tells Scout that Boo Radley is not a monster but a normal, kind person whose behavior has been misunderstood. When Scout asks about Boo, Miss Maudie… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the Ewell family lives behind the Maycomb dump, in a run-down cabin on the edge of town. Their home reflects their low social standing and isolation. It’s described as… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mrs. Dubose leaves Jem a single white camellia after she dies. Atticus gives the flower to him in a box shortly after her death, explaining that she wanted Jem… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem’s punishment for destroying Mrs. Dubose’s flowers is that he must go to her house every day after school and read to her for a month. After Jem… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley stays inside his house mainly because his family kept him isolated and because his life at home—and in Maycomb—gave him little reason to come out. As… read more

The novel's overarching lesson is that people must learn to see others with empathy and defend human dignity, even when their community is ruled by prejudice. Atticus teaches Scout this early after her difficult first… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell accuses Tom Robinson of rape because admitting the truth would expose that she had willingly touched and kissed a Black man, which are forbidden acts in Maycomb’s… read more

Throughout the novel, Scout changes from an impulsive, literal-minded child into someone who can recognize other people’s dignity, question prejudice, and imagine life from another person’s point of view. At the beginning, Scout is… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mr. Underwood’s editorial says that Tom Robinson’s death was cruel and senseless, like killing a harmless songbird. He writes the editorial after prison guards shoot and kill Tom… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout knows the verdict is guilty before Judge Taylor announces it because the jurors come back into the courtroom and do not look at Tom Robinson. As Atticus’s daughter… read more

Miss Caroline punishes Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird because Scout tries to explain Walter Cunningham’s poverty and pride, but Miss Caroline thinks Scout is being rude or troublesome. On Scout’s first day of… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem "broke the remaining code of our childhood" by telling Atticus that Dill has run away and is hiding in the Finch house, choosing responsibility for Dill’s safety over… read more

Mr. Dolphus Raymond pretends to be drunk in To Kill a Mockingbird because Maycomb can more easily accept him as a drunken outcast than as a White man who freely chooses to live with Black… read more

Judge Taylor tries to help Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird by making sure Atticus Finch defends him instead of assigning the case to an inexperienced lawyer. Judge Taylor never openly says that… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella Ewell is a 19-year-old White woman who looks impoverished, physically strong from hard labor, and only partly able to keep herself clean. At the trial, Scout notices… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mr. Cunningham won’t work for the WPA because taking a government job would leave no one at home to work his land. The Cunninghams are poor farmers, and… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus asks Bob Ewell to write his name so the court can see that Ewell is left-handed, which fits Mayella’s injuries and weakens the accusation against Tom Robinson. … read more

Harper Lee wrote the novel to explore racial injustice in the Depression-era South, tackling this topic through the fictional story of Scout Finch growing up in Maycomb, Alabama. The novel is closely connected to… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus treats Walter Cunningham with quiet respect, as a guest whose poverty does not make him less worthy of courtesy. When Jem brings Walter home for lunch, Atticus… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout’s part in the Halloween pageant is to play a ham. Mrs. Merriweather writes a pageant about Maycomb County’s agricultural products, and Scout is assigned to represent the… read more

Atticus compromises with Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird by agreeing to keep reading with her at home as long as she keeps going to school and does not tell Miss Caroline. The compromise… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Nathan Radley fills the knothole with cement most likely to stop Arthur “Boo” Radley from communicating with Jem and Scout through the gifts he has been leaving there. … read more

Scout fights Cecil Jacobs in To Kill a Mockingbird because Cecil taunts her about Atticus defending Tom Robinson, and Scout sees that as an insult to her father. Cecil tells their class that Atticus… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the prosecutor in Tom Robinson’s trial is Mr. Gilmer. He is the prosecuting lawyer, also called the solicitor, who represents the state’s case against Tom Robinson. Scout does… read more

Nathan Radley is Boo's older brother. Boo’s real name is Arthur Radley, and Arthur and Nathan are both sons of Mr. Radley. After Mr. Radley dies, Nathan comes back to the Radley house and takes… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Atticus do not return the blanket because returning it would expose Boo Radley’s secret kindness and might get him into trouble at home. During Miss Maudie’s… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Dill explains Jem’s missing pants by claiming that he won them from Jem in a game of strip poker. The lie comes right after Jem, Scout, and Dill… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout overhears Uncle Jack and Atticus talking about her fight with Francis, Uncle Jack’s mistake in punishing her, and Atticus’s coming defense of Tom Robinson. After Scout has… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem reacts to Tom Robinson’s guilty verdict with shock, anger, and deep heartbreak. He had been confident that Atticus would win because the evidence showed Tom could not have… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the Ewells are allowed special privileges because Maycomb has decided that enforcing ordinary rules on them is useless and that bending some rules may keep the Ewell children from… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout stops the mob by making Mr. Cunningham see himself as an individual person, a father, and a neighbor rather than as part of an anonymous crowd. The… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus explains to Scout that "the subtlety of Tom Robinson’s predicament" is that every possible response available to him in Mayella Ewell’s house could be twisted into proof of… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout describes Maycomb as an old, tired, slow-moving Alabama town marked by poverty and isolation. Her clearest description comes near the beginning: “Maycomb was an old town, but… read more

Atticus does pity Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird, but he still exposes her lie because Tom Robinson’s life depends on it. At the trial, Atticus treats Mayella with a politeness she… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Maudie doesn’t go to Tom Robinson’s trial because she refuses to join Maycomb’s public excitement over a Black man’s life being judged in court. She sees the trial… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, the falling action is the aftermath of Bob Ewell’s attack on Scout and Jem, when Boo Radley is revealed as their rescuer and Heck Tate decides to protect Boo… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Helen Robinson can’t get work because her husband Tom has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, and Maycomb’s racism makes employers unwilling to hire her. Before Tom’s trial,… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Maudie says that a "foot-washer" is an extremely strict Christian who takes the Bible literally and believes ordinary pleasures are sinful. Miss Maudie explains this when Scout… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Dill dared Jem to run up and touch the Radley house. This happens early in the novel, after Dill becomes fascinated with Boo Radley and the frightening stories… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem breaks his arm when Bob Ewell attacks him and Scout as they walk home from the Halloween pageant. Scout is still trapped inside her ham costume from… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout views Atticus as the person she loves, trusts, and gradually comes to see as morally brave, even though she first thinks he is old and unimpressive compared with… read more

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout beats up Walter Cunningham because she blames him for getting her punished on the first day of school. The trouble starts at lunch, when Miss Caroline notices… read more

Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson is a Black man in Maycomb who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell’s daughter. Atticus is appointed by the… read more