To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 1 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What event does Scout reference in the opening lines of the novel?

   • Atticus taking a court case
   • Boo Radley leaving his house
   • Correct answer: Jem breaking his arm
   • Dill arriving in Maycomb

   The novel opens with Scout reflecting on when her brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow at nearly thirteen years old.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Who is the ancestor who founded Finch's Landing?

   • Correct answer: Simon Finch
   • Alexander Finch
   • Atticus Finch
   • Jack Finch

   Simon Finch was a fur-trapping apothecary from Cornwall, England who established Finch's Landing on the Alabama River.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Why does Dill come to Maycomb each summer?

   • He is a relative of the Finches
   • He attends summer school there
   • His parents work in Maycomb
   • Correct answer: He stays with his Aunt Rachel

   Charles Baker Harris (Dill) comes from Meridian, Mississippi to spend summers with his Aunt Rachel Haverford, who lives next door to the Finches.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What is Atticus Finch's profession?

   • Farmer
   • Correct answer: Lawyer
   • Shopkeeper
   • Doctor

   Atticus studied law in Montgomery and practices as a lawyer in Maycomb, the county seat.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why was Arthur (Boo) Radley confined to his house?

   • His older brother confined him after their father's death in the house
   • His mother concealed him after the town suspected him of mutilating animals
   • Correct answer: His father kept him inside after he got in trouble with the law as a teenager
   • Miss Stephanie had him confined for looking in her bedroom window at night

   As a teenager, Arthur fell in with a rough crowd and came before the probate judge. His father convinced the judge to release Arthur into his custody and promised the boy would cause no trouble, after which Arthur was not seen again for fifteen years.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What happened to Scout and Jem's mother?

   • She returned to Montgomery when Scout was two
   • Correct answer: She died of a heart attack when Scout was two
   • She relocated to Finch's Landing with Alexandra
   • She died during childbirth when Scout was born

   Their mother died of a sudden heart attack when Scout was two years old. Scout has no memory of her, though Jem, who is four years older, does.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What literary technique does Harper Lee use by having the adult Scout narrate her childhood experiences?

   • Correct answer: Retrospective first-person narration
   • Omniscient third-person narration
   • Present-tense first-person narration
   • Stream-of-consciousness narration

   Lee uses retrospective first-person narration, allowing the adult Scout to tell the story with both a child's immediacy and an adult's ironic understanding.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Who takes over the Radley house after old Mr. Radley dies?

   • The county sheriff
   • Atticus Finch
   • Boo Radley
   • Correct answer: Nathan Radley

   When the elder Mr. Radley dies, his older son Nathan Radley returns from Pensacola to take his father's place in the house.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually happened in this chapter?

   • Dill dared Jem to go inside the Radley house.

     Didn't happen

     Dill dared Jem to touch the Radley house, not to go inside it. Jem ran to the house, slapped the side wall, and ran back.

   • Boo Radley allegedly stabbed his father in the leg with scissors.

     Happened

     According to Miss Stephanie Crawford, Boo was cutting items from the newspaper and drove the scissors into his father's leg. Mr. Radley insisted Boo not be charged with anything, and Boo was locked in the courthouse basement.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does the word "malevolent" mean as used in "malevolent phantom"?

    • Sickly and suffering from poor health
    • Mysterious and difficult to see clearly
    • Generous and wishing kindness to others
    • Correct answer: Wishing evil or harm to others

    "Malevolent" means having or showing a wish to do evil. Scout uses it to describe the children's fearful perception of Boo Radley, whom they imagine as a dangerous, hostile figure.

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11. 11

    Question 11. An "apothecary," as Simon Finch is described, is best defined as:

    • A minister who preached at a Methodist church
    • A traveling merchant selling fabric and supplies
    • Correct answer: An early pharmacist who prepared medicines
    • A trapper who harvested and traded furs

    An apothecary was a person who prepared and sold medicines—an early form of pharmacist. Simon Finch is described as a "fur-trapping apothecary" from Cornwall, England.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does "taciturn" mean when used to describe someone's personality?

    • Talkative and eager to share opinions
    • Correct answer: Reserved and uncommunicative in speech
    • Stern and easily irritated by others
    • Idle and unwilling to do any labor

    "Taciturn" means inclined to silence or saying very little. It describes the withdrawn, uncommunicative nature of certain characters in the novel.

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