To Kill A Mockingbird

Question 1

What are the symbols in this book?

Answer 1

1. Mockingbird
2. Knothole
3. Rabid Dog

Question 2

What does the mockingbird symbolize?

Answer 2

It represents the killing or harming of something innocent. Killing a mockingbird is a sin because they do nothing wrong. This can be compared to Tom Robinson being shot and accused for doing nothing.

Question 3

What does the knothole in the tree symbolize?

Answer 3

This represents friendship between Boo Radley and the kids. He gives them gifts in the knothole for the kids.

Question 4

What does the rabid dog symbolize?

Answer 4

Atticus killing the dog with a gun is not real courage because he had an unfair advantage over the dog. Real courage is trying to do something when you know you can’t complete it.

Question 5

What are the 8 themes in the book?

Answer 5

Racism/ Prejudice, Social Classes, Equality vs Inequality, Morality, Family Relationships, Life In A Small Southern Town, Maturing, Family Ancestry

Question 6

What 5 things make the novel unified?

Answer 6

Story takes place in one setting, Novel has one narrator, Story covers a short amount of time, Key phrases are repeated, Different parts intermingle.

Question 7

What are the different parts of the plot?

Answer 7

1. Story of the kids relationship with Atticus while he is preparing for the trial and while the kids grow older and more mature.
2. Story of the kids relationship with Boo Radley.
3. Story of the trial of Tom Robinson.
4. Story of the town of Maycomb.

Question 8

Where and when was Harper Lee born?

Answer 8

1926 in Monroeville (which becomes Maycomb)

Question 9

When did Harper Lee die?

Answer 9

February 2016.

Question 10

When did TKM get a Pulitzer Prize?

Answer 10

1960

Question 11

What is the story of Go Set a Watchman?

Answer 11

Lee wrote this book first but the publisher rejected it. She published it in 2015 as a prequel to TKM.

Question 12

How is this book a flashback?

Answer 12

It starts and ends with the same event. Scout retells the events leading up to Jem breaking his arm.

Question 13

What is the time of the novel?

Answer 13

1932-1935, during the Great Depression. Scout is 6 and Jem is 10 at the beginning.

Question 14

What is corroborative evidence?

Answer 14

Undeniable evidence.

Question 15

What is striking the jury?

Answer 15

Any person on the jury with connection to any person in the case will be selected.

Question 16

What is hearsay?

Answer 16

To repeat someone else’s word. This is not allowed in court and instead you are supposed to testify as to what you saw.

Question 17

What is charging the jury?

Answer 17

When the judge instructs the jury on what law should be abided by.

Question 18

What is the significance of the “Cry about the simple hell…” line?

Answer 18

Raymond tells Dill and Scout that they will be accustomed to the world eventually and things won’t surprise them anymore which is referencing how Tom Robinson is treated in court.

Question 19

Summarize Atticus’s closing argument.

Answer 19

He states that the case should have never happened because it is only prejudice. There is no medical proof that Mayella was raped. Mayella broke a code in society by kissing a black man. He states that all men should be treated equally in court.

Question 20

What makes Atticus a good father?

Answer 20

He does not raise his voice or talk down to the kids. He lets them figure out their problems instead of telling them what to do.