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TKAM discussion

Chapter 1—

1. What is the setting of the story?

2. What is the relationship between the narrator (identified later as Scout or Jean Louise) and her brother
Jem and their father?

3. Who is Dill?

4. When the “routine” of Jem, Scout, and Dill’s summer becomes tiresome, what idea does Dill have?

5. How has Mr. Radley seen to it that his younger son Arthur (Boo) causes “no further trouble” in
Maycomb?

6. After Mr. Radley dies, what changes occur at the Radley Place?

7. What does the reader know for certain at this point about Boo Radley?

8. What is the root of the children’s fascination over Boo?

9. What dare of Dill’s does Jem finally accept?

Chapter 2—

1. Scout makes three mistakes during her first day at school in the first grade. What are her mistakes, and
why do they make Miss Caroline so angry?

2. Why are the professional people poor in Maycomb the present time?

3. What is (briefly) the Dewey theory of “progressive” education?

4. What is the WPA, and why won’t Mr. Cunningham work for it?

Chapter 3—

1. Calpurnia lectures Scout on manners when Scout criticizes Walter’s manners. What does this event
relate about both Calpurnia and Atticus in regard to their feelings about others?

2. Burris Ewell, Walter Cunningham, and Chuck Little are all from extremely poor families. However, there
are great differences both in appearance and in attitudes, particularly between the Cunninghams and the
Ewells. What are those differences? Why do you suppose they exist?

3. Atticus tells Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of
view. . . until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” What does Scout begin to realize at this point?
 4. Why does Atticus say that the law is rigid for “common folk” but that it is bent in certain ways for the
Ewells?

5. What is the compromise that Atticus suggests?

Chapter 4—

1. In what specific ways does Scout criticize the school she is attending?

2. Where do you suppose the gum and the pennies are coming from and why?

3. Dill is not only a highly imaginative child, he is, in fact, an outright liar. Why do you think he lies? What is
your evidence?

4. Scout has two reasons for wanting to quit the “Radley game.” What are they?

Chapter 5—

1. What are three adjectives to describe Miss Maudie. Cite specific evidence.

2. When Miss Maudie shows her disgust with (of) “foot-washing” Baptists, is she actually putting down all
Baptists or a particular point of view. Explain.

3. Explain Miss Maudie’s statement: “. . .sometimes the Bible in the hands of one man is worse than a bottle
of whisky in the hand of—oh, of your father.”

4. Paragraph Atticus’ speech about the Radley’s right to privacy.

5. What is the “oldest lawyer’s trick on record”?

Chapter 6—

1. What are the reasons given by Jem and Dill for trying to peek in the Radley window on this particular night?

2. What final statement by Jem makes Scout finally go along with the plan?

3. After the incident, Jem’s real desire is not just to recover his pants but also to keep on good terms with
Atticus. What does this reveal about his relationship with his father?

Chapter 7—

1. What is the condition of Jem’s pants when he finds them? Why does their condition frighten him further?

2. What is the significance of the gifts in the tree at this point?

3. Why does Mr. Nathan Radley fill the hole with cement at this point?

Why does Jem cry over it?