Chapter 31 Summary and Analysis to Kill a Mockingbird: Quizzes Chapter 1 Questions and Answers
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Chapter 31 Summary and Analysis Summary Chapter 31 tells of Boo’s visiting Jem and of Scout’s taking him home. She remembers the past and realizes that they have in effect been Boo’s children through time. She goes to Jem’s room and falls asleep as Atticus reads to her. She knows, as Atticus tucks her in, that he will be there through the night and in the morning. Discussion and Analysis The denouement (ending) of To Kill a Mockingbird is a closed, settled one. There is nothing else to be resolved. All the conflicts are ended: Boo is a friend, Ewell is dead, Scout has given in to sleep, and for the moment the family is safe from society and its pressures. The maturational motif is evident again when Scout says that “there wasn’t much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra.” Scout has matured and has learned to stand in others' shoes. The repetition of a statement by Atticus is important here: “you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes.” This statement serves to weave Part One and Part Two together. To Kill a Mockingbird: Quizzes Chapter 1 Questions and Answers Study Questions 1. Describe Calpurnia as Scout depicts her in Chapter 1. 2. What does Dill dare Jem to do? 3. What events led to Arthur’s being shut into the house? 4. Pretend you are writing a description of Maycomb for a travel magazine of the 1930s. Describe the town in detail. 5. The townspeople of Maycomb have some fears and superstitions about the Radley Place. Describe these fears and superstitions. 6. Whose idea was it to make Boo come out of the house? 7. How important is bravery to Jem? 8. Mr. Connor is described as “Maycomb’s ancient beadle.” What is a beadle? 9. What goal do the children plan to achieve before the end of the summer? 10. Describe some of the customs of the town of Maycomb. Answers 1. Calpurnia has been the cook for the Finch family since Jem was born. Scout describes Calpurnia as all angles and bones, nearsighted, and owning a wide, hard hand which she used to discipline Scout. Scout says Calpurnia is “always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as well as Jem . and calling me home when I wasn’t ready to come.” Chapter 31 Summary and Analysis 41 2. Dill dares Jem to touch the Radley house. 3. Arthur and some other boys formed a group which was the nearest thing that Maycomb had ever had to a gang. They hung around the barbershop, rode the bus on Sundays to go to the movies, attended dances at the “gambling hell,” and experimented with whiskey. 4. Maycomb is a small Southern town where the residents all know one another. The citizens are primarily law-abiding people. The class system is in effect and there is segregation evidenced by the statement that the sheriff hadn’t the heart to put Arthur in “jail alongside Negroes.” 5. The people of Maycomb say that Arthur goes out at night after the town is asleep. Many people fear the Radley Place and cross the street to avoid it. Any lost ball in the Radley’s yard remains there. 6. It was Dill’s idea to make Boo come out of his house. 7. Scout says that Jem always takes a dare. Bravery is of great importance to him. It is because of his need to be brave that Jem runs into the Radley yard and slaps the house. 8. A beadle is a crier or officer of the court. Mr. Connor is evidently a bailiff of the court. 9. Before the end of the summer the children run out of ideas for play. Dill gives them the idea to make Boo Radley come out of his house. 10. On Sundays the people of Maycomb go visiting; the ladies wear their Sunday best for this event. The Radleys do not participate, however; they keep their shades drawn to discourage visitors. The pace on Sundays in Maycomb is slow; the citizens scorn activities like picture shows on Sundays. When serious illness comes to a family, sawhorses are put up to cut down on traffic and noise. Straw is put in the street to cut down the noise of those who must use the street. The primary social events in the town are church-related activities. Chapter 2 Questions and Answers Study Questions 1. Who is Scout’s first grade teacher? 2. What is the Dewey Decimal System? 3. What events lead to the conflict between Scout and Miss Caroline? 4. Why is Mrs. Blount, the sixth-grade teacher, angry with Miss Caroline? 5. How does Scout learn to read? 6. The students in the class show some prejudice against Miss Caroline when she tells the class she is from Winston County, Alabama. Explain this prejudice. 7. How does Miss Caroline contradict herself about the use of imagination? 8. How does Miss Caroline contradict herself in her views on teaching reading? Chapter 1 Questions and Answers 42 9. How does Scout learn to write? 10. Describe the Cunningham family. Answers 1. Miss Caroline is Scout’s first-grade teacher. 2. The Dewey Decimal System is a way of arranging library books and materials. It is not a way to teach reading, as Jem mistakenly explains. 3. Scout finds disfavor with Miss Caroline, first of all, when she reads aloud from The Mobile Register and from My First Reader. Later, when Scout tries to explain the Cunningham philosophy, she angers Miss Caroline even more. 4. Miss Blount says the sixth grade cannot concentrate on their study of the pyramids because of the noise in the first-grade class. She is angry with Miss Caroline Fisher for allowing—and possibly contributing to—the chaos. 5. Scout learns to read by climbing into Atticus’s lap and watching his finger move underneath the print of whatever he might be reading. 6. Miss Caroline is from North Alabama, from Winston County. On January 11, 1861, when Alabama seceded from the Union, Winston County did not condone this action; it seceded from Alabama. The rest of the state was still angry with Winston County 70 years later. In addition, the rest of the state believed that the county “was full of Liquor Interests, Big Mules, steel companies, Republicans, professors, and other persons of no background.” 7. Miss Caroline reads a very imaginative story to the students about chocolate malted mice and cats with clothes. The farm children are not at all impressed with the story. Later when Scout is telling about a change in her family name, Miss Caroline will not listen. Miss Caroline admonishes Scout; “Let’s not let our imaginations run away with us, dear. .” 8. Miss Caroline says that Atticus “does not know how to teach”; yet Scout is reading well—even the stock-market quotations. She tells Scout that “It’s best to begin reading with a fresh mind.” Scout, however, is not a beginning reader but a good one. Miss Caroline advocates the Language Experience Approach which uses sight words on cards; she does not advocate the phonics method which uses the alphabet and has the students sound out words. Scout seems to know the letters and is reading by that method, but Miss Caroline wants to change her way of reading. 9. Scout learns to write at the kitchen table with Calpurnia setting her a writing task. Calpurnia would write the alphabet across the top of a tablet and then copy a Bible chapter beneath. Scout’s task would be to copy the material satisfactorily. A reward of a bread, butter, and sugar sandwich would be doled out if Calpurnia considered the task well-done. 10. The Cunningham family is a poor family. They are so poor that Scout believes that Walter “had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life.” Despite the lack of material possessions, the Cunninghams have a reputation to uphold. They never take anything they cannot pay back. They even refuse church baskets and scrip stamps. The family does not have much, but they get along with what they have. When they use Atticus’ services, they pay him back with stovewood, hickory nuts, smilax, holly, and turnip greens. The Cunninghams have pride in their land and go hungry to keep it and to vote as they please. Chapter 2 Questions and Answers 43 Chapter 3 Questions and Answers Study Questions 1. Describe Burris Ewell. 2. Little Chuck Little tells the teacher that Mr. Ewell is “right contentious.” What does this mean? 3. What events lead to Burris’s leaving school before the day is over? 4. Why does Atticus say that Scout is not to mention the compromise they made when she goes to school? 5. What is a cootie? 6. Why does Walter think he almost died the first year in school? 7. Why does Atticus say Scout should ignore Jem in the tree house? 8. When Walter gets near the Finch house, Scout says he “had forgotten he was a Cunningham.” What does she mean? 9. What does it mean to “climb into his skin and walk around in it?” 10. Tell what a compromise is and give an example. Answers 1. Burris was the filthiest human Scout had ever seen. His neck was dark grey and his nails were black into the quick. He was rude to the teacher and said that she could not make him do anything he did not want to do.