To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Questions/Answers
To Kill a Mockingbird Questions
1. Boundaries/Limitations: What is the nature of a boundary/limitation? What are they designed to do? What characters are bound/limited throughout To Kill a Mockingbird and how do they break those boundaries in the novel? Give specific examples to support your thought.
The nature and design of a boundary/limitation is to restrain someone from going anywhere or doing anything. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem Finch, Scout Finch, Arthur “Boo” Radley, Dill Harris, Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, and Dolphus Raymond all break boundaries. Jem, Scout, and Dill break boundaries when they attempt to touch the Radley House: “Jem stood in thought so long that Dill made a mild concession: ‘I won’t say you ran out on a dare an’ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost it you just go up and touch the house.’ Jem brightened. ‘Touch the house, that all?’ Dill nodded…Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful” (18). Jem touches the Radley House which results in Jem, Scout, and Dill’s summertime boundaries being broken. They also break boundaries many other times, most of them having to do with the Radley House. “Boo” Radley is breaking a boundary, as he is outside of his home: “He was still leaning against the wall. He had been leaning against the wall when I came into the room, his arms folded across his chest…’Hey, Boo,’ I said” (362). “Boo” Radley goes out of his house which he is never supposed to do, and thus breaks his boundary. Mayella Ewell is breaking a boundary when she is trying to seduce Tom Robinson: “‘She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unbreakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards’” (272). When Mayella is seducing Tom, she is breaking a time-honored code in
1. Boundaries/Limitations: What is the nature of a boundary/limitation? What are they designed to do? What characters are bound/limited throughout To Kill a Mockingbird and how do they break those boundaries in the novel? Give specific examples to support your thought.
The nature and design of a boundary/limitation is to restrain someone from going anywhere or doing anything. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem Finch, Scout Finch, Arthur “Boo” Radley, Dill Harris, Mayella Ewell, Tom Robinson, and Dolphus Raymond all break boundaries. Jem, Scout, and Dill break boundaries when they attempt to touch the Radley House: “Jem stood in thought so long that Dill made a mild concession: ‘I won’t say you ran out on a dare an’ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost it you just go up and touch the house.’ Jem brightened. ‘Touch the house, that all?’ Dill nodded…Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful” (18). Jem touches the Radley House which results in Jem, Scout, and Dill’s summertime boundaries being broken. They also break boundaries many other times, most of them having to do with the Radley House. “Boo” Radley is breaking a boundary, as he is outside of his home: “He was still leaning against the wall. He had been leaning against the wall when I came into the room, his arms folded across his chest…’Hey, Boo,’ I said” (362). “Boo” Radley goes out of his house which he is never supposed to do, and thus breaks his boundary. Mayella Ewell is breaking a boundary when she is trying to seduce Tom Robinson: “‘She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unbreakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards’” (272). When Mayella is seducing Tom, she is breaking a time-honored code in