To Kill a

Mockingbird
By Harper Lee

Reading Schedule:
1. Ch. 1 & 2 due _Tuesday, 5/12_
2. Ch. 3 & 4 due _Wednesday, 5/13_
3. Ch. 5 & 6 due _Thursday, 5/14_
4. Ch. 7 & 8 due _Friday, 5/15_
5. Ch. 9 due _Monday, 5/18_
6. Ch. 10 & 11 due _Tuesday, 5/19_
Quiz on Part 1 (Ch. 1-11) _Tuesday, 5/19_

*You are responsible for having all of the work

completed on the due dates. “Not having your book at
home” is not an excuse, as there is a link to the text on
my teacher website.
About the Author of To Kill a Mockingbird:
Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama, a city of about
7,000 people in Monroe County. Monroeville is in southwest Alabama, about halfway between
Montgomery and Mobile.
She is the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee.
Harper Lee attended Huntingdon College 1944-45, studied law at the University of Alabama
1945-49, and studied one year at Oxford University. In the 1950s she worked as a reservation
clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City.
In order to concentrate on writing, Harper Lee gave up her position with the airline and
moved into a cold-water apartment with makeshift furniture. Her father's sudden illness forced
her to divide her time between New York and Monroeville, a practice she has continued.
In 1957 Miss Lee submitted the manuscript of her novel to the J. B. Lippincott Company.
She was told that her novel consisted of a series of short stories strung together, and she was
urged to rewrite it. For the next two and a half years she reworked the manuscript with the help
of her editor, Tay Hohoff, and in 1960 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was published, her only
published book. In 1961 she had two articles published: "Love - In Other Words" in Vogue, and
"Christmas To Me" in McCall's. "Christmas To Me" is the story of Harper Lee receiving the gift
of a year's time for writing from friends. "When Children Discover America" was published in
McCall's in 1965.
In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two people named by President Johnson to the
National Council of Arts. Also named to the 26 member council was artist Richard Diebenkorn
Jr.
There has not been as much published on the doings of Miss Lee since 1966.

The Book
Books, as we all know, have very short shelf lives these days. Most new books remain on
bookstore display tables for only a few weeks, and on the shelves for a few months at best.
When Oprah Winfrey chose Wally Lamb's SHE'S COME UNDONE for her book club a while
back, the publisher had to print a new edition of the book because it was absolutely
unavailable. To obtain a book two years after publication is rare; for a book to be accessible
forty years after it was first published is close to miraculous.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is that rare book. Since its publication in 1960 it has never
been out of print. And with good reason --- it is one of the finest novels written in this century,
and one of the most widely celebrated and read.
And the question arises, from time to time, whatever happened to its author, Harper
Lee? After she wrote the book, she dropped out of sight. She granted a few interviews in 1961
when the film was made, but since then very few people have seen her, and those who have, if
asked, will politely change the subject.
A few years ago, when a 35th anniversary edition of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD was
being prepared, a publisher asked her to write an introduction for the book. She wrote, "Please
spare 'Mockingbird' an Introduction. As a reader I loathe Introductions. To novels I associate
Introductions with long-gone authors and works that are brought back into print after decades
of interment...'Mockingbird'...has never been out of print and I am still alive...It still says what
it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble."
We do know that she was born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama, and that she lived
next door to Truman Capote. They were childhood friends, and that friendship continued until
his death in 1984.
She traveled to Kansas with him to help him with his research when he was writing IN COLD
BLOOD.
We also know that Lee lives in New York, while her sister still lives in Monroeville. She
visits her sister frequently and is sometimes seen having lunch or shopping at the local Piggly
Wiggly. But no one can (or is willing) to talk about her.
In an era when authors become instant celebrities, appearing on countless talk shows
and at book readings and signings, she is an enigma.
But I think we can learn a lot about her by reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I think it
is more autobiographical than we realize --- I suspect that she is Scout, that Atticus Finch is her
father, and that her dear friend Truman Capote is Dill. That is probably all she wants us to
know, and all we need to know.
--- Judith Handschuh
© Copyright 2003, Teenreads.com. All rights reserved.

Answer the following questions about the previous article:

1. In what year was Harper Lee born?

2. How many children were in her family?

3. What did she study while attending the University of Alabama?

4. Why did she give up her job at Eastern Airlines?

5. What happened when Harper Lee first submitted her manuscript in 1957?

6. According to this article, has Harper Lee ever published another book?

7. What do we know about Harper Lee since 1966?

8. What makes To Kill a Mockingbird different from most other books?

9. How did Harper Lee respond when she was asked to write an introduction for the 35th
anniversary edition of the book?

10. Math Question: How old is the book this year?

11. Who was her childhood friend, and what did she help him research (as an adult)?

12. In what two places does Harper Lee live?

13. What does autobiographical mean?

How is the book autobiographical?
Describe each of these THEMES as they apply to To Kill a Mockingbird:

Learning and Personal Growth:

Courage and bravery:

"It’s when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it
through no matter what" (112). – Atticus Finch

Danger of prejudice: race, gender, and social class:

The coexistence of good and evil:

Describe each of these SYMBOLS as they apply to To Kill a Mockingbird:

1. Mockingbird:

2. Tim Johnson:

3. Miss Maudie’s fire:

4. Watch, chain, and knife:

5. Boo Radley:

6. Scout’s costume:
List of Characters
Describe the following characters as you read To Kill a Mockingbird:
Name Important Information about the Character

Jean Louise “Scout”

Finch

Jeremy Atticus “Jem”

Finch

Atticus Finch

Charles Baker “Dill”

Harris

Arthur “Boo” Radley

Miss Maudie Atkinson

Bob Ewell

Calpurnia

Walter
Cunningham (son)
Name Important Information about the Character

Aunt Alexandra

Mayella Ewell

Tom Robinson

Link Deas

Mrs. Henry Lafayette

Dubose

Nathan Radley

Heck Tate

Mr. Underwood

Mr. Dolphus Raymond

Mr. Walter Cunningham

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Vocabulary for Chapters 1 – 11

1. assuage (p.3): to lessen or to calm; "...Jem's fears of never being able to play football
were assuaged..."

2. dictum (p.4): a formal statement of principle; "So Simon, having forgotten his teacher's
dictum on the possession of human chattels, bought three slaves...”

3. covey (p.18): a group; "...Jem cut me from the covey of first-graders in the
schoolyard.”

4. tranquility (p. 24): peacefulness; serenity; "She was furious, and when she was furious
Calpurnia's grammar became erratic. When in tranquility, her grammar was as good
as anybody's in Maycomb.”

5. auspicious (p. 30): favorable, positive; "The remainder of my schooldays were no more
auspicious than the first.”

6. tacit (p. 42): silently agreed upon; "Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we
could play on her lawn...”

7. quibbling (p. 49): a type of arguing where you avoid the main point by bringing up
petty details; "Jem decided there was no point in quibbling, and was silent.”

8. ramshackle (p. 52): loose or rickety; about to fall apart; "...a ramshackle porch ran
the width of the house...”

9. whittle (p. 60): to use a knife to cut away thin shavings of wood; " 'Who do we know
around here who whittles?' "

10. aberrations (p. 63): a deviation, or a moving away from, something that is normal;
"Jem and I were burdened with the guilt of contributing to the aberrations of
nature..."

11. caricatures (p. 67): a representation of a person where certain features of that person
are exaggerated or distorted; " 'You can't go around making caricatures of the
neighbors.' "

12. wary (p. 78): to be cautious on your guard against something; "...we were never wary
of his sharp nose and chin."

13. provocation (p. 86): to excite some sort of feeling; often anger or irritation; " 'not
unless there's extreme provocation connected with 'em.' "

14. inconspicuous (p. 89): to not attract attention; "With these attributes, however, he
would not remain as inconspicuous as we wished him to..."

15. tranquil (p.102): calm; "...he had a naturally tranquil disposition..."

Glossary of Unusual Terms for Chapters 1 – 11 of To Kill a Mockingbird:

Merlin (p. 8): "Thus we came to know Dill as a pocket Merlin..." King Arthur's adviser,
prophet and magician.

Dewey Decimal System (p. 18): Jem tells Scout at recess that Miss Caroline's system of
teaching is something called the "Dewey Decimal System." Of course, Jem is wrong about this.
The Dewey Decimal System, devised by Melvil Dewey, is a way of shelving books in libraries; it
has nothing to do with the theories on progressive education of John Dewey, which are what
Miss Fisher has in mind. This is one of many occasions in the early part of the story when
Jem's explanations turn out to be amusingly inaccurate.

Hookworms (p. 19):"Walter Cunningham's face told everybody in the first grade he had
hookworms." A type of parasite. Hookworms usually enter the body
through bare feet and move through the body to the small intestines
where they attach themselves with a series of hooks around their mouth.
(This picture is magnified many times.)

Rosetta Stone (p.63): “Mr. Avery said it was written on the Rosetta Stone that when
children disobeyed their parents...the seasons would change." Discovered in Egypt in 1799, the
Rosetta Stone is a large block of basalt inscribed with a report of a decree passed in 196 BC.
Written in three languages, the stone gave historians many clues as to the meaning of Egyptian
Hieroglyphs.

Morphodite (p. 68): a comic pronunciation of the word hermaphrodite, which is an animal or
plant that has both male and female reproductive organs. In Chapter 8, Miss Maudie refers to
the snowman Jem and Scout built as a morphodite. To disguise the snowman's obvious and
unfortunate resemblance to Mr. Avery, the children borrow Miss Maudie's hat and hedge-
clippers. Their attempts to feminize the caricature fall short and Miss Maudie describes their
creation as "an absolute morphodite." (Perhaps Lee also uses the word to represent race
because of what the snowman is made of: white snow, brown dirt). It appears again, this time
in Chapter 14, when Scout parrots the phrase she heard, and screams at her older brother Jem,
"You damn morphodite, I'll kill you!" Interesting fact: Author Truman Capote (aka Dill)
used the word morphodite in The Grass Harp in 1951.

Ol' Blue Light (p. 76): " '...now in 1864, when Stonewall Jackson came around by -I beg your
pardon, young folks. Ol' Blue Light was in heaven then, God rest his saintly brow...' " A
reference to Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate lieutenant-general.

Jew’s Harp (p. 91): A small lyre-shaped folk instrument of uncertain age and origin that was
commonly used in Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages. It is thought
to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world; a musician
apparently playing it can be seen in a Chinese drawing from the 4th
century BC. The origin of the name is unknown as it has no apparent
connection to the Jewish people.
 To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Chapters 1-11

Background Information
Time and Place
The town of Maycomb, Alabama, the setting for the novel, is typical of southern towns in the 1930’s. Its
society reflects the strong class distinctions that were present in the Old South before the Civil War.
Whites and blacks did not socialize, but there were different levels within black and white society. At
the top, for example, were large landowners or educated professionals. The Finch family for example,
has connections to the land that go back more than a hundred years. Then there are middle-class
citizens, such as Sheriff Tate and Mr. Underwood, the editor of the newspaper. Poor whites are
represented by Scout’s classmate Walter Cunningham and the Ewell family. Equally poor is Tom
Robinson, the farm worker who goes on trial. Yet another level of black society is represented by
Calpurnia, the Finches’ maid, who has more formal education than many others. As you read, notice
the status of the characters. In particular, think about whether Atticus Finch exhibits attitudes that are
typical or atypical of members of his social class as they are portrayed in the novel.
First-Person Point of View
To Kill a Mockingbird is told from a first-person point of view – that is, the narrator uses “I” and “me”
to describe events in the novel. Although the narrator is an adult Scout Finch looking back at her
childhood, the perspective is limited to what she saw and felt at that time. Scout the 6-year-old often
does not understand the full meaning of what she observes, and her childlike perceptions are frequently
a source of humor, as when she says of her father, “Atticus was feeble. He was nearly fifty.” Yet even in
this instance, the narrator does not confine her vocabulary to that of a child. Here is another example
of how the narrator recalls childhood events with an adult vocabulary: “I wasn’t sure what Jem resented
most, but I took umbrage at Mrs. Dubose’s assessment of the family’s mental hygiene.”

Reading Questions: Answer the following questions in detail. Feel free to read
through the questions before reading each section.

Chapters 1 & 2:
1. What do you learn in Chapter One about some of the main characters? Choose two and
explain why they were interesting or you think they will be important. Give DETAILS!!!

1.

2.

2. Why does the Radley place fascinate Scout, Jem, and Dill?
 3. What do you think of Miss Caroline Fisher as a teacher?

Why was Scout’s ability to read considered damage? Wouldn’t a teacher be excited to
have a student who could read? (Think about the times the story is set in.)

4. Who was responsible for teaching Scout to write? Why do you think that would be odd
considering the times?

5. Why wouldn’t Walter take the quarter from Miss Caroline? What do you learn about the
Cunninghams from this that Miss Caroline didn’t understand?

6. List two other events/details from Chapters 1-2 that you feel are significant (important):

1.

2.

Chapters 3 & 4:
1. What do you think of the way Atticus treats Walter?

What does Scout learn from Walter’s visit?

2. What does Scout think of current fashions in education?

3. Why do the children make Boo’s story into a game?

What do they do in the game?

 4. What might be the cause of the laughter from inside the Radley house?

Chapters 5 & 6:
1. What does Miss Maudie tell Scout about Boo?

How does this compare to what Scout already believes?

2. Scout claims that “Dill could tell the biggest ones” (lies) she ever heard. Why might Dill
have told such lies?

3. What was the plan that Jem and Dill conjured up?

Did they succeed? Why or why not?

4. What did Jem and Dill want to do on their “walk,” and what happened?

5. List two other events/details from Chapters 5-6 that you feel are significant (important):

1.

2.

Chapters 7 & 8:
1. How was school in the 1930’s different from school today?

2. When Jem tells Scout about getting his trousers back, he tells her of something strange.
What is this?

3. Can you find any evidence that Jem is beginning to understand more than Scout about
Boo Radley? What do you think this is?
 4. Why does Scout quiz Atticus about his visit to the Radley house? How much does
Atticus tell her?

5. Explain what Atticus means by telling Jem not to let his discovery “inspire” him to
“further glory.” Is there any reason why Jem might now do as his father says?

6. List two other events/details from Chapters 7-8 that you feel are significant (important):

1.

2.

Chapter 9:
1. Who is Atticus defending, and why does he say he could never hold his head up again if
he didn’t do this?

2. Describe Scout’s Christmas. What happens with Francis?

3. Does Scout learn anything from overhearing Atticus’s conversation with Uncle Jack?
What might this be?

Chapters 10 & 11:

1. What does Scout learn about Atticus in Chapter 10, and how does her view of him
change as a result?
2. In Chapter 10 Atticus tells his children that, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” What does
he mean?

3. Near the end of Chapter 10, Atticus cuts off Heck Tate as he is speaking to Jem. What
might Heck have been about to say, and why would Atticus want to stop him from
saying it?

4. Explain what happens between Jem and Mrs. Dubose.

5. What happened to Mrs. Dubose? What was the story behind her illness?

6. Atticus says that Mrs. Dubose is a model of courage rather than “a man with a gun in his
hand.” What does he mean?

Do you think he is right? Why or why not?

7. List two other events/details from Chapters 10 & 11 that you feel are significant
(important):

1.

2.