Choose three of the following questions and respond using textual evidence from the novel. Be clear in your responses and provide enough support to show your knowledge of the text. As she thinks back on the events of the summer Tom Robinson was killed, Scout muses, “There was one off thing, though, that I never understood: in spite of Atticus’s shortcomings as a parent, people were content to re-elect him to the state legislature that year, as usual, without opposition”(279). Why is the fact that Atticus was re-elected without opposition significant? What does it say about the values of the community?
How does Jem demonstrate that he is becoming more compassionate and empathetic? What does Scout’s comment that, “Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I,” suggest about gender roles in the 1930s South? (273)
On pages 266-267 Scout compares the world of women with the world of men. Summarize her observations about both worlds. Do you agree with her? Explain your answer, citing a specific quote from the text as evidence.
Atticus tells Jem that a jury of young people would have acquitted Tom, because, “So far nothing in life has interfered with your reasoning process. Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you saw something come between them and reason. You saw the same thing that night in front of the jail”(251). What do you think Atticus is referring to in this passage? What is the thing that comes between people and reason?
Contrast the description of the Ewell’s property with the African-American settlement a few hundred yards away. What is ironic about Scout’s observation that “All the little man on the witness stand had that made him any better that his nearest neighbors was, that if scrubbed with lye soap in very hot water, his skin was white”(195)?