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 house. 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