To Kill a Mockingbird Comprehensive Study Guide

Character Profiles and Roles

• Scout (Jean Louise Finch): The protagonist and narrator of the story, experiencing events as a young child while reflecting back as an adult.

• Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch): Scout's older brother who undergoes significant maturation throughout the narrative.

• Atticus Finch: Scout and Jem's father; a respected attorney in Maycomb who is appointed to defend Tom Robinson.

• Dill (Charles Baker Harris): Scout and Jem's close friend who visits Maycomb every summer from Mississippi.

• Calpurnia: The Finch family's Black cook and maternal figure who helps raise Scout and Jem.

• Arthur "Boo" Radley: The mysterious town recluse who is shut up inside his home and viewed as a local "monster" by rumors, but secretly displays acts of kindness.

• Miss Caroline Fisher: Scout's rigid first-grade school teacher who is new to Maycomb's ways.

• Miss Maudie Atkinson: An open-minded neighbor who shows respect to everyone by calling them by their true names and treats Arthur Radley with dignity.

• Tom Robinson: The Black man accused of a crime, whom Atticus defends in court.

• Uncle Jack Finch (Dr. John Hale Finch): Atticus's younger brother, a doctor who visits during the holidays.

• Aunt Alexandra: Atticus's sister, a very traditional Southern woman focused on family pride and social propriety.

• Heck Tate: The sheriff of Maycomb County.

• Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose: An elderly, infirm neighbor fighting a severe morphine addiction.

• Walter Cunningham: A proud classmate of Scout's from an impoverished farming family.

• Francis Hancock: Scout's cousin who blindly repeats prejudiced statements learned from adults.

• Mr. Avery: A neighborhood resident who attributes abnormal events, such as harsh weather, to children's misbehavior.

• Nathan Radley: Arthur "Boo" Radley's older brother who takes over the Radley household and cuts off Boo's contact with the outside world.

Historical Context and Setting

• Time Period: The narrative takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression.

• Family Origins: Scout and Jem's family originally stems from Finch's Landing.

• Definition of Setting: Setting encompasses both the time and the place in which a narrative unfolds.

• Jim Crow Laws: Systemic segregation laws dictated social structure; an explicit example of these racial boundaries is that a Black man and a White woman could not legally marry.

• Real-Life Historical Inspiration: The narrative and legal trial are directly inspired by the real-life historical trial of the Scottsboro Boys.

• Effects of Setting on the Narrative:

  • Educational Segregation: All students attending Scout's school are White because the story takes place well before desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement.

  • Economic Impact: The Great Depression devastated rural communities; local farmers like the Cunningham family were hit the hardest by the economic collapse.

Literary Terms, Devices, and Techniques

• Exposition: The structural introduction of a story that establishes four fundamental components: characters, setting, relevant context/ideas, and historical context.

• Inference vs. Implication: An author implies (hints at meaning indirectly), whereas the reader must infer (deduce meaning from evidence).

  • Example: Describing Mr. Radley as a "foot-washing Baptist" implies that he is a strict, severe, and rigidly religious man.

• Characterization:

  • Indirect Characterization: Revealing a character's traits through actions, thoughts, or speech.

    • Example: "Jem stayed moody and silent for a week."

  • Direct Characterization: Expressing character traits directly through explicit commentary.

    • Example: "Atticus ain't ever whipped me since I can remember."

• Tone: The specific attitude expressed by the author or character toward a particular subject.

• Mood: The overarching feeling, atmosphere, or emotion evoked within the reader by the literary work.

• Creation of Tone and Mood: Authors accomplish tone and mood through deliberate word choice and concrete details.

• Narrative Perspective: The novel employs two distinct perspectives simultaneously: the reflective voice of adult Scout looking back on her youth, and the immediate first-person perspective of child Scout.

• Symbol: An object, person, situation, or action that conveys a deeper conceptual meaning beyond its literal definition.

• Simile: A figure of speech comparing two distinct things using explicit comparative words such as "like" or "as."

  • Example 1: "Smoke was rolling off our house like fog off a riverbank."

  • Example 2: "Just as the birds know where to go when it rains, I knew when there was trouble."

• Metaphor: A figure of speech that directly compares two unrelated things without utilizing "like" or "as."

• Personification: A figure of speech that assigns human traits, emotions, or actions to non-human objects or abstract concepts.

  • Example: "Fire silently devoured Miss Maudie's house."

Key Plot Details and Events

• Schoolhouse Incidents:

  • Miss Caroline instructs Scout to cease reading at home with Atticus.

  • Walter Cunningham refuses Miss Caroline's offer of a quarter for lunch because the Cunningham family refuses to accept anything they cannot pay back.

  • Scout argues against compulsory school attendance by pointing out that the Ewell family is permitted to break school attendance laws.

• The Radley Knothole Discoveries:

  • The very first gift Jem and Scout discover inside the Radley oak tree knothole is two pieces of chewing gum.

  • When Nathan Radley fills the knothole with cement, Jem cries because he is confronted with the cold, deliberate cruelty of adults severing his connection with Boo Radley.

• Rumors and Interactions with Boo Radley:

  • Three prominent local rumors regarding Boo Radley state that: 1) he peers into people's windows at night, 2) his breath freezes and kills flowers, and 3) he eats raw squirrels and cats.

  • Scout becomes terrified while playing the dramatic roleplay game "Boo Radley" because she hears someone quietly laughing inside the Radley house.

  • Scout begins spending more time on Miss Maudie's porch because Jem and Dill exclude her from their activities and call her a "girl."

  • The children sneak onto the Radley property late at night specifically to get a glimpse of Boo Radley.

  • When Jem flees the property, his pants get caught on the wire fence; upon returning later to retrieve them, he is shaken to find them crudely stitched up and neatly folded across the fence.

• Winter Weather and the House Fire:

  • Mr. Avery claims that unseasonal snow is caused directly by misbehaving children.

  • During the night of Miss Maudie's house fire, Scout is frightened after realizing that Boo Radley secretly draped a blanket around her shoulders while she stood outside in the cold.

• Atticus's Defense Expectations:

  • Atticus accepts Tom Robinson's defense even though he explicitly acknowledges that he will not win the case due to ingrained racial bias.

Major Themes, Symbolism, and Moral Lessons

• The Symbolism of the Mockingbird:

  • Atticus explicitly instructs never to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds do not destroy gardens or nest in corncribs; they exist solely to sing music for people to enjoy.

  • The mockingbird symbolizes pure innocence and gentle individuals who cause no harm to the world.

  • In the narrative, both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley (Arthur Radley) serve as human mockingbirds.

• Definitions of Bravery:

  • Atticus asserts that Mrs. Dubose is the bravest person he knows because she strove to break her morphine addiction and die free of it, despite knowing the process would be excruciating and that no one would judge her if she failed.

  • This directly mirrors Atticus's own moral dilemma: he proceeds with defending Tom Robinson despite knowing that victory is culturally impossible, refusing to give up simply because the battle is uphill.

• The Pervasiveness of Bias and Prejudice:

  • A central theme is that bias and prejudice exist across all levels of society and actively destroy innocence and human happiness.

  • Prejudice appears across multiple settings:

    • Francis echoes racial slurs learned directly from his grandmother (Aunt Alexandra).

    • Mrs. Dubose targets Atticus with harsh racial commentary.

    • Schoolchildren repeat prejudiced arguments regarding Tom Robinson's trial.

Questions and Discussion

• What does the argument between Scout and Francis teach regarding prejudice?

  • Prompt: What does the argument between Scout and Francis teach us about prejudice? What does Francis say that shows this?

  • Response: The conflict demonstrates that prejudice is learned and passed down from older generations. Francis repeats his grandmother's (Aunt Alexandra's) racial slurs, referring to Atticus as a "nigger-lover" who is ruining the family, proving that children internalize and repeat the biased views of the adults around them.

• What is Atticus's rule regarding mockingbirds, and who represents them?

  • Prompt: What does Atticus say about killing a mockingbird? What does a mockingbird symbolize? Who represents the mockingbird or mockingbirds in the story?

  • Response: Atticus states that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because they do nothing but make music for people to enjoy. A mockingbird symbolizes pure innocence. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley represent mockingbirds in the story.

• Why does Atticus consider Mrs. Dubose brave, and how does this connect to his own life?

  • Prompt: Why does Atticus say Mrs. Dubose is the bravest person he knows? How does this connect to Atticus's own situation?

  • Response: Atticus considers Mrs. Dubose the bravest person because she fought to break her morphine addiction and die clean, even though it was painful and no one would blame her for giving up. This connects to Atticus taking Tom Robinson's case: he fights for truth and justice even though he knows societal bias will cause him to lose, refusing to surrender simply because defeat is probable.

• How is the theme of bias and prejudice demonstrated throughout the text?

  • Prompt: What is a theme you have noticed in the novel? Where have you seen that theme in the story?

  • Response: Bias and prejudice are pervasive forces that destroy happiness and innocence. This theme is illustrated in Francis repeating family slurs, Mrs. Dubose's verbal attacks, the insults from children at Scout's school, and the community's harsh judgment regarding Tom Robinson's trial.