To Kill a Mockingbird Potential Test Questions

The To Kill a Mockinbird test will require you to answer five paragraph-long responses from this list of questions. On the day of the test, I will give you six questions and and you will choose five to answer. To prepare for the test, please review the book and go back over key passages. High-scoring responses will reference specific details from the text and contain a strong central argument.

The Questions

1. Atticus Finch is an unconventional father. How does his relationship with his children differ from many families and how does his style of parenting encourage his children to see the world and those around them?
2. What does the visit to the black church teach Scout and Jem about black people in Maycomb? How is their culture different from the culture of white people the children know?
3. Why does Atticus take the case to defend Tom Robinson? Provide at least two reasons and discuss how each influences him to take the case.
4. One of the important elements of the novel is its critique of Southern hypocrisy when it comes to race and the law. How does Scout illustrate the way that the South pretended to uphold the law and democracy while not honoring it in reality?
5. Explain the significance of Calpurnia as a figure in the children’s lives and as a symbol in the novel. How does she fit into the social structure of Maycomb and the lives of the Finches?
6. Why does Aunt Alexandra worry so much about Scout learning to act like a proper lady? What does she see as the proper role for a Southern girl/woman of the middle class?
7. Does the novel offer sympathetic or critical look at poverty among Southern whites? How?
8. Why does Mr. Raymond pretend to be drunk all the time? What does his response to Southern life and society show about the culture and the difficulty living in it?
9. One of the most important themes of To Kill a Mockingbird is the idea that being in a majority does not make one right. Using at least three examples, demonstrate how the book shows the importance of upholding your own conscience in the face of the majority.
10. Is it morally right for Atticus to have allowed the lie about Bob Ewell’s death to take place? Should he have insisted that the truth, that Boo Radley was responsible for the death, be taken to court?