To Kill A Mockingbird Chapter 1 Summary

To Kill a Mockingbird
Study guide answers

Chapters 1-3
1. Atticus Finch is a lawyer and the father of Jean Louise (Scout) and Jem Finch. Scout Finch is the narrator of the story. Jem is the brother of Jean Louise. Maycomb is the city and county where the story takes place. Calpurnia is the maid and nanny of the Finch kids. Dill is the kid that comes to Maycomb every summer and plays with the Finches. The Radley place it the house where the Radleys live. Stephanie Crawford knows everything about everyone's family history and lives near the Finches. Arthur Radley is the mysterious man that never leaves the Radley place (only at night) everyone always tell strange stories about him. Miss Caroline Fisher is Maycomb’s first grade teacher. Walter Cunningham is one of
Scout’s classmates. He is a Cunningham. Burris Ewell is also one of Scout’s classmates and is an Ewell.
2. Dill dared Jem Finch to go touch the Radley places front porch.
3. Scout’s first crime at school is already knowing how to read.
4. It was Calpurnia’s fault that Scout could already write.
5. Scout tried to explain why Walter did that and Miss Caroline didn't like what Scout said so she got in trouble.
6. She meant that the Finches were better than the Cunninghams and she didn't have to treat Walter like company. Calpurnia’s response was to treat everyone that walks through the door with every bit of respect.
7. Miss Caroline made the mistake of offering Walter something that he wasn't going to be able to pay back and telling Burris Ewell to go home for the day.
8. If an officer would enforce the law on the Ewells they would actually be worse off than they are without their father.
Chapters 4-7
1. They found some gum and to old Indian pennies
2. Mrs. Dubouse is an old lady that lives on the same street as the finches and makes fun of the kids as they walk by.
3. When it was her turn in the wheel he gave an extra hard push and she ended up at the Radley place.
4. Dill, Jem, and Scout reenacted the life of Boo Radley
5. Miss Maudie is a neighbor of the Finches and likes having the kids around.
6. She says they have the right to do whatever they want as long as they don't invade anyone else's privacy.
7. The kids want to invite him to come outside and play with them, but Atticus tells them to respect Mr. Arthur (Boo) Radley’s decision to stay indoors.
8. Jem went to the Radley house to look through the window to see if he saw anyone and then one of the Radley folk come out and shoot a gun in the air. Jem then panics and runs through the back yard and crawls under the fence and looses his pants. When he returns he finds that his pants are stitched and hung over the fence.
9. They found a broken watch, a ball of twine, and a bar of soap resembling themselves.
10. Because Mr. Nathan Radley plugged the hole and said that the tree was dying.
Chapters 8-9
1. Miss Maudie’s house burned down. She was optimistic about it and said she could rebuild the house so she could have more room for her flowers.
2. Cecil Jacobs was a boy at school who first made Scout learn that her dad was defending a black man.
3. Scout and Francis got in a fight over her dad defending a black man.
Chapters 10-11
1. Scout taught Uncle Jack how to listen to two sides of a story instead of siding with someone. Atticus taught him that the tactics he used only confused kids and that he needed to tell them the truth.
2. Atticus had to shoot a mad dog and the kids learn Atticus’ secret talent.
3. Jem took Scout to buy her baton then when he walked back to the house Jem lost it and went to Mrs. Dubouse’s flowers and annihilated them.
4.
Jem’s punishment was to go read for Mrs. Dubouse for a whole month.
5. He learned that Mrs. Dubouse was sick and used Jem to stay clean before she died.
Chapters 12-14
1. Jem is growing up and isn't playing childhood games with Scout anymore. He tries to act more grown up.
2. Lula is the woman at Cal’s church that makes Jem and Scout feel unwelcome. Zeebo is the man who leads the church in singing hymns and is Cal’s son. Reverend Sykes is the Preacher of the church.
3. She learns that Cal acts like a black person when she is around black people and she acts like a white person when she's with Jem and Scout and Atticus.
4. Aunt Alexandra was waiting for them at home. She had come to make Scout act more like a lady.
5. She knew a lot about the people that lived in Maycomb and she fitted right in with them. But Aunt Alexandra didn’t agree with the way Atticus raised the children.
6. Atticus tells the children to treat their aunt with respect and listen to her advice given to them. He also tells them that their relationship will always stay the same.
7. Jem and Scout start to split apart because Jem is maturing. Scout doesn't like when Jem tells her what to do, but when pride is at stake they join
together.
8. Dill ran away because his parents never paid attention to him.
Chapters 15-17
1. They wanted to make sure that Atticus and Tom Robinson were all right.
2. Walters mob wanted to hurt Tom Robinson because of what he did.
3. Because he saw that Scout, Jem, and Dill were with Atticus.
4. Dolphus Raymond was a white man that married a black woman and lives with the black community.
5. Tom Robinson is getting sued for raping Mayella Ewell. Mayella is the daughter of Bob Ewell and was a witness. Bob Ewell is the father of Mayella and also is a witness. Judge Taylor is the man that that in charge of Tom Robinson’s case. Mr. Gilmer is the prosecuting attorney.
6. The importance was that a left handed person hurt Mayella Ewell because the bruises were on the right of her.
Chapters 18-21
1. Mayella asked Tom if he can come and bust and old chiffarobe for her for a nickel. When she went in the house to grab the nickel Tom had followed her and grabbed her by the neck and hit her. He then threw her to the ground and started abusing her. Then her father came in and she fainted.
2. Tom was walking home one day and Mayella asked him if he could come in the house to fix a door. Tom said yes and he followed Mayella when suddenly Mayella grabbed to and kissed him. Tom wanted to leave so he pushed Mayella and ran away.
3. Tom’s left hand had been hurt in an accident. It was impossible for him to bruise Mayella’s right side and he couldn't have held her down if she was kicking and screaming.
4. They learn that that Mr. Raymond lives the way he wants and doesn't want other people to make his decisions for him.
5. He told the jury that “All men are equal.” He also said that only a left handed person could inflict the damage done to Mayella.
6. The jury said that Tom Robinson was guilty.
Chapters 22-25
1. Because it wasn't right for the jury to accuse Tom Robinson of raping Mayella just because he was dark skinned.
2. There were gifts from the African Americans of Maycomb telling Atticus thank you for trying to defend Tom Robinson.
3. Maudie had the two small ones for Dill and Scout and she gave Jem a slice of the big cake. This symbolized her accepting Jem as a young man.
4. Bob threatened that he would hurt Atticus some way.
5. Atticus just shook it off and said that Bob was all talk.
6. Because Walter Cunningham is trash.
7. Because Jem finally realizes that the world is an evil place.
8. It shows that she cares for the African Americans but she is very prejudiced around them.
9. Tom Robinson was in prison and one day during his time in the yard he made a mad dash towards the prison fence. The officers shot warning shots but once he got towards the top they shot him and killed him.
10. The kids learn that she really cares about Atticus and his health.
11. He compared his death to the useless killing of mocking birds.
Chapters 26-31
1. She would walk by his house and he would be sitting there on the front porch and Scout would walk by and talk to him.
2. She heard miss Gates at the court house talking and saying bad things. It just shows that Miss Gates is a hypocrite.
3. Judge Taylor was sitting in his house and then he heard someone outside his door. He gets scared and grabs his gun.
4. Helen walked the long way to work because Bob Ewell always yelled at her from his front porch.
5. She was a ham.
6. Because Scout was embarrassed because she screwed up her part in the play.
7. Bob Ewell came and attacked the kids and tried to kill them.
8. Arthur Radley saved the kids and killed Bob Ewell.
9. Because if Arthur killed Bob he would have to go to court. He said it would be better to let the “dead bury the dead.”
10. So that Arthur could look like a normal person to her instead of a crazy person.
11. She followed Atticus’ advice and out herself in the shoes of Boo Radley. She saw how the world looked from his perspective.