Name:______
Guided Notes: To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapter One
Sense and Style
In order to make sense of Harper Lee’s style of writing, it is helpful to look at how she uses literary devices to achieve her goal of setting a scene.
Definitions
Sensory Detail
Simile
Alliteration
Repetition
Instructions: Write the example of the literary device next to the quotation:
“In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.” ______
“There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb county.” ______
“Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.”
______
“Bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.” ______
Creating a Setting
From this paragraph, interpret what is it that Harper Lee wants us to know or see about Maycomb County as the setting for her story.
______
Characterization
Our Narrator
Her name:
Her age:
Her perspective:
Her reliability:
Other Important Characters
Instructions: Write bullet point notes to summarize what you know about each character.
The Finch HouseholdNeighbors
Atticus FinchMiss Rachel Haverford
Jeremy (Jem) FinchBoo Radley
CalpurniaVisitor/Friend
Dill Harris
Name:______
Guided Notes: To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapters Two and Three
Episodes Connected By a Thread
Early in her book, Harper Lee reveals her characters’ true natures through several episodes in their lives, tying them together in the end with a quotation that becomes the foundation of her book.
The Key Quotation: A Thread Tying the Story Together
“’First of all,’ he said, ‘if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it’” (p. 30).
What is Atticus Trying to Teach Scout?
______
Episodes Leading to This Quotation
Scout & Miss Caroline / Walter Cunningham & Miss CarolinePage #:
Summary In Your Words: / Page #:
Summary In Your Words:
Scout & Calpurnia / Miss Caroline & Burris Ewell
Page #:
Summary In Your Words: / Page #:
Summary In Your Words:
Other Important Characters
Instructions: Write bullet point notes to summarize what you know about each character.
Miss Caroline FisherWalter Cunningham
Miss BlountBurris Ewell
Name:______
Guided Notes: To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapters Four and Five
Instructions: These are the types of reading questions you will find on your quiz next week. In order to prepare, practice answering them. The questions are marked according to degree of difficulty.
Close Reading Questions
Chapter Four
(Easy) What does Scout find in the tree? Why is Jem suspicious?
______
(Hard) How does Harper Lee build suspense at the final paragraph of Chapter Four?
______
______
Chapter Five
(Medium) What is Boo Radley’s real name? How does knowing his real name change the way you view him?
______
(Hard) Why does Dill lie about his father?
______
______
Both Chapters
(Medium) Why do Dill and Jem occasionally exclude Scout from their games on the basis of her gender this summer?
______
______
Language
Instructions: Translate the following regional expressions that appear throughout the book.
You reckun? ______
Yessum/Yes’m ______
Nome ______
Yawl ______
Harper Lee writes in this type of regional southern dialect throughout the novel. Do you like it? Why or why not?
Other Important Characters
Instructions: Write bullet point notes to summarize what you know about the character.
Miss Maudie:
Do NOT complete the paragraph below for HW:
Creating a Feeling through Description
Instructions: Harper Lee strives to bring us into the lives of characters and the passing of time through her descriptions of the small details of life. Imitate her style in a paragraph of your own describing what a season (winter, spring, summer, fall) means to you.
“Summer was on the way; Jem and I awaited it with impatience. Summer was our best season: it was sleeping on the back screened porch in cots, or trying to sleep in the treehouse; summer was everything good to eat; it was a thousand colors in a parched landscape; but most of all, summer was Dill” (p. 34).
______
Overhead Chapters 4 & 5
Close Reading Questions
Hint # 1: Answering close reading questions requires you to think first, and then organize your thoughts into a response. You need to break your thinking and answering into two different steps to help you form a better answer.
Hint #2: Close reading questions require different kinds of thinking. Some are concrete, or based on facts. Some are abstract, making you come up with an opinion based on facts. Some are a combination of both.
Hint #3: Here’s a breakdown of question types from easy to hard:
Easy: The answer is stated fairly directly in the book. This is a concrete question (based on stated facts)
Medium: Part of the answer is stated in the book, but the other part you need to analyze as you interpret the book. This is a combination of concrete and abstract (facts + opinions based on those facts).
Hard: The answer is not directly stated, but instead requires you to think about the evidence you know so far, and what you can assume based on what you know. This is a completely abstract question (opinion based on facts taken as a whole)
(Easy) What does Scout find in the tree? Why is Jem suspicious?
Thought Process
1. She finds gum
2. Jem is suspicious because the tree is on the Radwell’s property
Answer:
Scout finds gum in the tree. Jem is suspicious because the tree is on the Radwell’s property, and he doesn’t want Scout going near there.
(Medium) What is Boo Radley’s real name? How does knowing his real name change the way you view him?
Thought Process
Concrete: His name is Arthur Radley
Abstract:
- When you learn someone’s name, it’s like meeting them for the first time.
- Meeting someone is personal; you usually try to get to know them.
- This is impossible with Boo because he doesn’t come out of the house. We learn about him from other people.
- Miss Maudie’s desciption is the first kind/normal thing we learn about Arthur Radley.
- This makes us need to reevaluate him as a character.
Answer:
Boo Radley’s name is Arthur Radley. Learning Boo’s real name makes him into a real person for the reader; we feel as if we need to know him better. As Miss Maudie’s information is the first positive thing we have learned about Boo, the reader realizes that he or she may need to reevaluate Arthur Radley as a character.
(Hard) How does Harper Lee build suspense at the final paragraph of Chapter Four?
Thought Process
Concrete: Harper Lee describes laughter at the end of chapter four.
Abstract:
- Scout is relieved the game is over because she hears laughter.
- Her relief means the laughter felt frightening or harmful to her.
- It must be frightening or harmful because it relates to Boo Radley.
- Clearly Scout believes Boo was laughing at them, and this scares her because it means he closely watches them.
- Harper Lee holds off this information until the end because it makes you want to jump into the next chapter.
- It also helps to deepen the mystery of Boo Radley’s personality and reassure the reader he is still alive.
- The fact that we have now “heard” from Boo Radley means we will likely hear from him again.
Forming the Answer:
Scout hears laughter at the end of chapter four. She feels threatened by it because it comes from Boo Radley. This creates a feeling of suspense because it is the first time we
have “heard” from Boo Radley, and it means we are likely to hear from him again.
Name:______
Guided Notes: To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapters Six and Seven
Mystery Solved! The Knot Hole in the Tree
Where is the tree located?
______
Who is putting objects in the tree?
______
List the objects found in the tree
______
Which characters know the identity of the person leaving presents in the tree? Which do not?
(Jem, Atticus, Mr. Radley, Scout)
______
Look at the front cover of the novel. Why is the knot-hole in the tree the choice for a cover design of the novel? What is its significance?
______
______
______
Jem’s Transformation in Quotations
Information: Somewhere in the space of these few chapters, Jem ages into an adolescent, while Scout remains a child. The following two quotations demonstrate his development in contrast to Scout’s child-like understanding.
“It was then, I suppose, that Jem and I first began to part company. Sometimes I did not understand him, but my periods of bewilderment were short-lived. This was beyond me” (p.56).
What does Jem feel he must do?
______
Why does Scout disagree?
______
Why won’t Jem accept a “licking” as punishment from his father?
______
What does this show Jem understands about his father? Himself?
______
“Atticus left us on the porch. Jem leaned on a pillar, rubbing his shoulders against it…He stood there until nightfall, and I waited for him. When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I thought it odd that I had not heard him” (p. 62)
What does Jem realize about the tree?
______
What does Jem realize about Boo Radley’s life when the knot hole is covered?
______
Why does this make him cry?
______
Overhead Chapters 6 & 7
Quotations that Reveal a Character
Quotation:
“But while no one with a grain of sense trusted Miss Stephanie, Jem and I had considerable faith in Miss Maudie. She had never told on us, had never played cat-and-mouse with us, she was not at all interested in our private lives. She was our friend” (p. 44).
Shows:
Bad: Miss Maudie doesn’t care about the childrens’ lives, so she is a good friend.
Better: Miss Maudie is a good friend because she is loyal and trustworthy.
Best: Miss Maudie an adult who is actually respectful of children. Jem and Scout recognize her as someone who cares about them but doesn’t patronize them, which they like.
Quotation:
“It was then, I suppose, that Jem and I first began to part company. Sometimes I did not understand him, but my periods of bewilderment were short-lived. This was beyond me” (p.56).
Shows:
Bad: Jem and Scout part company over Jem’s pants. This shows Scout doesn’t understand why Jem needs his pants.
Better: Jem and Scout disagree over the reasons why Jem should or should not retrieve his pants from the Radley’s house. Scout can’t understand why Jem would risk it.
Best: Jem and Scout’s disagreement over Jem retrieving his pants shows the differences in their ages and maturity. Jem feels he owes it to his father to keep his word and not force Atticus to “lick” him. Scout would rather take the easy way out and face a “licking.” Jem does not want to put Atticus in that position, as he has never hit him before.
Name:______
Guided Notes: Chapters Eight and Nine
To Kill a Mockingbird
Symbolism
The Snowman (pages 66 & 67)
What is the snowman made out of?
______
Who does it look like?
______
How might the colors of snow and mud be symbolic?
______
In the end, the snowman melts and is burned. What does this say about the significance of color?
______
Foreshadowing
The House Fire (pages 68- 73)
What is foreshadowing?
______
What might the extremes of cold and then the heat that burns Miss Maudie’s home foreshadow for the town of Maycomb in the coming months?
______
Boo Radley Reappears
How does he help Scout? How does Jem react?
______
Quotations
Instructions: Examine the following quotations Scout uses to describe her family. Select one and explain what the quotation reveals about Scout’s feelings toward that character and how you reached your answer.
“Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest; throughout my early life she was cold and there” (p. 77).
“Uncle Jack was a head shorter than Atticus; the baby of the family, he was younger than Aunt Alexandra. He and Aunty looked alike, but Uncle Jack made better use of his face: we were never wary of his sharp nose and chin” (p. 78)
“Talking to Francis gave me the sensation of settling slowly to the bottom of the ocean. He was the most boring child I had ever met” (p. 81).
______
______
Understanding Significance
“I scurried to my room and went to bed. Uncle Jack was a prince of a fellow not to let me down. But I never figured out how Atticus knew I was listening, and it was not until many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said.”
What has Atticus been talking about with Uncle Jack?
______
Why does he want Scout to “overhear” him?
______
What is “Maycomb’s usual disease” that Atticus refers to? (p. 88)
______
In-Class Notes
Note: Do NOT complete for HW
Four Freedoms
Who painted the four freedoms?
What were the freedoms inspired by?
Notes on Paintings
What are common themes among the pictures?
Which picture attracts you the most? Why?
How do these scenes reflect typical people?
How do these scenes reflect an ideal?
Personal Thoughts
Which freedom do you prize the most?
Group Thoughts
Which freedom does Maycomb County prize the most? The least? Why?
______
______
In-Class Notes
Note: Do NOT complete for HW
Poem Analysis
The pedigree of honey
Does not concern the bee
The clover any time to him
Is aristocracy
(Emily Dickinson)
What does the bee know in this poem?
______
______
What does the bee care about?
______
______
What doesn’t the bee care about?
______
______
What is the lesson readers of this poem can take away?
______
______
What could these symbols stand for in Jem’s relationship with Boo Radley?
CloverHoneyBeePedigree
Name: ______
Guided Notes: Chapters Ten and Eleven
To Kill a Mockingbird
“Much Madness is Divinest Sense”
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
‘T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent and you are sane
Demur,--you’re straightaway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
--Emily Dickinson
What does this poem express to you?
______
______
“He simply went mad…”
Atticus and the Dog /
Jem and Mrs. Dubose’s Flowers
What “madness” makes the dog act so strangely? / What “madness” makes Jem destroy the flowers?
What does Atticus do to resolve the situation? / What is his punishment?
How does Scout and Jem’s perspective on their father change as a result? / What does Jem learn from reading to Mrs. Dubose?
An Understanding of Courage
Quote #1: “Atticus said to Jem one day, ‘I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’” (p. 90).
Why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird?
Quote#2: He would return his hat to his head, swing me to his shoulders in her very presence, and we would go home in the twilight. It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived” (p. 100).
What does Scout admire about her father’s actions?
Quote #3: “I wanted you to see something about her—I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do” (p. 112).
How did Mrs. Dubose show courage? Why does Atticus want Jem and Scout to witness this type of courage?
Name: ______
Guided Notes: Chapters Twelve and Thirteen
To Kill a Mockingbird
Reading Questions
Where does Calpurnia take Jem and Scout? Why does she take them there?
______
Who sings at the church and what is his relation to Calpurnia? Why does he “line” the verses of the song by singing them aloud first, then waiting for the congregation to repeat?
______
______
Describe why the church is taking up a collection for Tom Robinson.
______
Why does Aunt Alexandra come to visit?
______
What does she try to teach Scout?
______
Aunt Alexandra and the Caste System of Maycomb County
What is a caste? / Why do they exist?Note: Do NOT complete for HW
Quotation
There was indeed a caste system in Maycomb, but to my mind it worked this way: the older citizens, the present generation of people who had lived side by side for years and years, were utterly predictable to one another: they took for granted attitudes, character shadings, even gestures, as having been repeated in each generation and refined by time. Thus the dicta: No Crawford Minds His Own Business, Every Third Merriweather Is Morbid, The Truth Is Not in the Delafields, All the Bufords Walk Like That, were simply guides to daily living: never take a check from a Delafield without a discreet call to the bank; Miss Maudie Atkinson's shoulder stoops because she was a Buford; if Mrs. Grace Merriweather sips gin out of Lydia E. Pinkham’s bottles it's nothing unusual-her mother did the same.