To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 11 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Where does Mrs. Dubose live in relation to the Finch family?

   • At the end of the block past the Radley Place
   • Correct answer: Two doors up the street from the Finches
   • Directly next door to the Finches
   • Across the street from the Finches

   Scout says Mrs. Dubose lives two doors up the street from the Finch house, so the children must pass it to reach town.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What triggers Jem's destruction of Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes?

   • She claims Jem trampled her camellias on the way to town
   • She calls Jem a coward for running past her house each day
   • Correct answer: She says Atticus is no better than the people he defends
   • She threatens to call the sheriff and have Jem arrested

   Mrs. Dubose shouts that Atticus is 'no better than the niggers and trash he works for,' which is the insult that finally causes Jem to snap.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What weapon does Jem use to destroy the camellia bushes?

   • A stick from the yard
   • His bare hands
   • A garden hoe from Mrs. Dubose's porch
   • Correct answer: Scout's new baton

   Jem seizes Scout's newly purchased baton and uses it to cut the tops off every camellia bush in Mrs. Dubose's yard, then snaps the baton in half.

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4. 4

   Question 4. What is Jem's punishment for destroying the camellias?

   • Correct answer: He must read aloud to Mrs. Dubose every afternoon for a month
   • He must write Mrs. Dubose a letter of apology every day
   • He must buy her new camellia bushes out of his birthday money
   • He must apologize to her on the porch every evening for a month

   Mrs. Dubose's sentence, enforced by Atticus, requires Jem to read to her every afternoon after school for an entire month.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What book does Jem read aloud to Mrs. Dubose?

   • Robinson Crusoe
   • Tom Swift
   • The Gray Ghost
   • Correct answer: Ivanhoe

   Jem reads Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe aloud during his sessions with Mrs. Dubose.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What is the purpose of the alarm clock beside Mrs. Dubose's bed?

   • It marks the start of each reading session, when Jem must open Ivanhoe
   • It wakes Mrs. Dubose from her afternoon nap so she can correct Jem's reading
   • Correct answer: It signals when the children's reading time is over and she can take her morphine
   • It tells Jessie when Atticus is due to come by and walk the children home

   The alarm marks the end of each session, after which Jessie administers medicine. The alarm is set a few minutes later each day to extend Mrs. Dubose's time without morphine.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What pattern do the children notice about the alarm clock?

   • Correct answer: It is set a few minutes later each day
   • It rings earlier and earlier as the month goes on
   • It stops working after the second week
   • It rings at exactly the same time every day

   Scout notices that each day the alarm is set a few minutes later, incrementally extending the reading sessions. This is Mrs. Dubose's method for gradually increasing the time between morphine doses.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What was Mrs. Dubose addicted to?

   • Alcohol
   • Correct answer: Morphine
   • Opium
   • Laudanum

   Atticus reveals after her death that Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict who had been taking the drug as a painkiller for years.

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9. 9

   Question 9. According to Atticus, why did Mrs. Dubose want to break her addiction?

   • Dr. Reynolds insisted she stop taking the drug at once
   • Correct answer: She wanted to die beholden to nothing and nobody
   • She could no longer afford the medication on her own
   • Jessie refused to keep giving it to her every afternoon

   Atticus explains that Mrs. Dubose resolved to leave the world free of any dependency, even though she knew she was dying.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does Mrs. Dubose leave Jem after her death?

    • Correct answer: A single white camellia in a candy box
    • The CSA pistol from under her shawls
    • The copy of Ivanhoe Jem read to her
    • A letter apologizing for her insults

    Atticus brings home a candy box that Mrs. Dubose had Jessie fix for Jem; inside, on damp cotton, is a single perfect white camellia, a Snow-on-the-Mountain.

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11. 11

    Question 11. How does Atticus define 'real courage' in this chapter?

    • Defending your family's name whenever someone insults it
    • Refusing to let anyone see you are frightened of your enemies
    • Standing your ground against danger with a gun in hand
    • Correct answer: Knowing you're licked before you begin but beginning anyway

    Atticus tells Jem that real courage is “when you know you’re licked before you begin” but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what, instead of a man with a gun in his hand.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Who does Atticus say is the bravest person he ever knew?

    • Miss Maudie Atkinson
    • Heck Tate, the county sheriff
    • Correct answer: Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose
    • Tom Robinson, his client

    Despite her many flaws, Atticus tells Jem that Mrs. Dubose was the bravest person he ever knew because of her determination to overcome her addiction.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What structural role does Chapter 11 play in the novel?

    • It is a flashback chapter that returns to the summer Dill first came to Maycomb
    • It is the opening chapter of Part Two, where Atticus first takes Tom Robinson's case
    • Correct answer: It is the final chapter of Part One, establishing the moral framework for Part Two
    • It is the first chapter to introduce racial themes, through Mrs. Dubose's insults

    Chapter 11 closes Part One by defining courage as persisting in a losing fight, which prepares the reader for Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson in Part Two.

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14. 14

    Question 14. How does Atticus behave toward Mrs. Dubose despite her insults?

    • He hurries the children past without speaking to her at all
    • He avoids passing her house and takes the long way into town
    • He argues with her on the porch about her views on his work
    • Correct answer: He greets her with gallant courtesy and says she looks like a picture

    Atticus sweeps off his hat, waves gallantly, tells her she looks like a picture, and shares the courthouse news, even though she insults him and his children.

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