Name: ______

To Kill A Mockingbird Novel Study Unit:

Background Knowledge Questions for the Novel and Chapter #1 Content Questions

Background Knowledge Questions:

  1. What is the name of the author of To Kill a Mockingbird?

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  1. In what year was this novel published?

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  1. What is significant about the time period in which the author was writing this story?

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  1. During what important decade is this novel set?

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  1. What significant nickname was this decade in history given?

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  1. What is one meaningful social issue that this novel addresses throughout its plot?

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Chapter #1 Content Questions:

  1. What important event guides the narration of the novel (“When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to…”)?

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  1. What type of narrative perspective is used to tell this story?

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  1. What is the full nameand the nickname of the narrator of the novel?

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  1. What is the name of the ancestor who caused the Finch family to settle at Finch’s Landing?

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  1. What is the name of the small town where the main characters in the novel live?

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  1. Where in the United States is this fictional small town supposed to be located?

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  1. What is the full nameand the nickname of the narrator’s brother in the novel?

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  1. How old are the Finch children at the beginning of this narration?

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  1. What is Atticus’s profession and what is Uncle Jack’s profession?

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  1. What is the full nameand the nickname of the Finch children’s new friend?

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  1. How oldis this new friend at the beginning of the novel?

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  1. What is one thing that this new friend is very proud of in the text?

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  1. What is the fullname of this new friend’s aunt (the person with whom he will be staying every summer in the novel)?

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  1. Name two of the Finch’s mean neighbours mentioned in the first chapter.

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  1. What is the background story of Arthur “Boo” Radley that is discussed by the children in the first chapter?

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  1. What is one thing that Arthur “Boo” Radley is blamed for in this small town?

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  1. Who is the town gossip that tells the children the story about Arthur “Boo” Radley?

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  1. Who is Calpurnia?

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  1. What dare is exchanged between the children at the end of this chapter?

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  1. What do the children see at the Radley Place at the end of this chapter?

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