Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Close Reading Organizer - Chapter 27 Sample

Answers
Directions: Read each summary entry and think about which themes listed in the
Themes Key apply to it, then color in those themes in the Theme Tracker. Next, write a
few sentences of Analysis to explain how the themes you chose apply to each summary
section.

Note: There is not always a definitive set of “correct” answers for which themes should appear in the
Theme Tracker. Answers that differ from the ones we propose below should therefore not automatically
be treated as incorrect, and in fact can serve as great discussion starters.

Themes Key
1 Good, Evil, and Human Dignity
2 Prejudice
3 Growing Up
4 Courage
5 Small Town Southern Life

Summary Theme Tracker Your Analysis

Just as Atticus promised, 1 2 3 4 5 Mr. Ewell’s behavior shows

things settle down in that Maycomb isn’t the safe
October. Three things place Scout once thought it
happen, however: first, Mr. was, as Mr. Ewell is clearly
Ewell gets a job with the out for revenge. His
WPA, but they fire him willingness to harass Helen
within days. Second, while Robinson in particular
Judge Taylor is home one shows that Mr. Ewell is
Sunday night while his wife willing to pick on vulnerable
is at church, he hears an individuals in order to make
odd scratching noise. He himself feel powerful and in
sees a shadow charge. Mr. Deas’s defense
disappearing and his of Helen, meanwhile,
screen door cut open. reminds Scout again that
Third, Mr. Deas makes a there are still people in
job for Helen Robinson in Maycomb willing to do the
his store. However, when hard thing and stand up for
Helen uses the main road what’s right.
to reach her job, Mr. Ewell
taunts her. When Mr. Deas
finds out, he threatens Mr.

1
Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______
Ewell, but the next
morning, Mr. Ewell tails
Helen to work and
whispers foully at her. One
more stern conversation
with Mr. Deas makes Mr.
Ewell stop.
This makes Aunt
Alexandra nervous, and
she doesn’t understand
why Mr. Ewell is behaving
this way when he won in
court. Atticus points out
that nobody really believed
him or Mayella, and
nobody thinks he’s a hero
like he wanted. He says
that Judge Taylor made
him look like a fool and
treated him
contemptuously.
Things return to normal at
school. Maycomb seems
back to itself, though
people remove pro-
National Recovery Act
stickers and, following last
year’s Halloween prank on
two sisters in which local
children hid all their
furniture in their cellar (the
only one in town),
Maycomb decides to put
on a carnival. Mrs.
Merriweather composes
a pageant about Maycomb
County’s agricultural
products and casts Scout
to play the part of a ham.
The local seamstress
makes Scout a costume
out of chicken wire, which
looks great but isn’t
something Scout can take
on and off herself. She
Atticus’s admission that
nobody believed Mr. Ewell
and Mayella reminds the
reader that Tom was
convicted simply because
of racism and nothing else
—and in Maycomb, acting
1 2 3 4 5
as Judge Taylor did puts
Taylor at risk, given the
intensity of people’s
prejudice.
1 2 3 4 5 While relatively benign in
the grand scheme of the
novel, notice that the
children play this prank on
the sisters simply because
they don’t fit the mold and
have a cellar when nobody
else does. In this sense, the
children are still targeting
those who are different and
creating pressure for them
to conform, even if in this
case, it’s more humorous
and lighthearted.
Regardless, at its core this
is the same kind of thinking
that led the jury to convict
Tom Robinson.
2
Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

assumes that everyone will

come, but Aunt
Alexandra and Atticus
refuse. Scout shows off her
costume and Jem takes
her to school.