To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 22 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Why is Jem crying at the beginning of Chapter 22?

   • He is upset that Scout embarrassed the whole family at the trial
   • Correct answer: He is devastated by the guilty verdict against Tom Robinson
   • He is sick from staying up too late at the courthouse
   • He is afraid Atticus will be hurt by Bob Ewell

   Jem's tears come from his shattered belief in justice. He was confident Tom would be acquitted based on the evidence, and the guilty verdict has destroyed his childhood idealism about fairness.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Who has stayed up waiting for the family when they arrive home after the verdict?

   • Miss Stephanie Crawford
   • Calpurnia
   • Correct answer: Aunt Alexandra
   • Miss Maudie

   Aunt Alexandra stays up to greet them, showing an uncharacteristic moment of tenderness and concern for her brother Atticus.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What do the Finch children find covering the kitchen table the morning after the verdict?

   • Correct answer: Food gifts from the Black community
   • Newspaper clippings about the trial
   • Angry letters from Maycomb residents
   • Legal documents from Atticus's office

   The morning after the verdict the kitchen table is loaded with food — salt pork, tomatoes, beans, scuppernongs, and a jar of pickled pigs' knuckles — on top of the chicken from Tom's father and Estelle's rolls on Atticus's breakfast plate. It is an expression of gratitude for Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Atticus react to the food gifts left by the Black community?

   • He thanks them personally at Calpurnia's church the following Sunday
   • He distributes the food to other families in desperate need
   • He refuses to accept the food out of principle and returns it
   • Correct answer: He is moved to tears and asks them not to do it again because times are hard

   Atticus's eyes fill with tears. He tells Calpurnia to thank everyone but insists they must never do this again because the Depression makes such generosity a real hardship for families that are already struggling.

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5. 5

   Question 5. According to Miss Maudie, why did Judge Taylor appoint Atticus to defend Tom Robinson?

   • Atticus was the only available lawyer in Maycomb
   • Correct answer: The judge wanted Tom to have a real defense, not a token one
   • Atticus volunteered for the case out of personal conviction
   • The Finch family had long been close friends of the Taylor family

   Miss Maudie tells Jem that Judge Taylor naming Atticus was no accident. Scout then reflects that such cases usually went to Maxwell Green, Maycomb's newest lawyer, who needed the experience, so the judge must have wanted Tom to have a genuine defense.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Who is Maxwell Green?

   • Correct answer: The young lawyer who normally handles court-appointed cases in Maycomb
   • The county solicitor who prosecuted Tom Robinson for the state
   • The foreman of the jury that convicted Tom Robinson at trial
   • A reporter covering the trial for the Mobile Register newspaper

   Maxwell Green is Maycomb's latest addition to the bar, who usually gets court-appointed defenses because he needs the experience. By that custom he should have had Tom Robinson's case, which is why Judge Taylor's choice of Atticus looks deliberate.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What does Miss Maudie mean when she calls the jury's long deliberation "just a baby-step" for Maycomb?

   • The Finch children need to recover slowly after the emotional trial
   • The town is gradually expanding its population and infrastructure
   • Children are beginning to understand complicated adult problems
   • Correct answer: Small, incremental progress toward racial justice is happening despite the unjust verdict

   Miss Maudie points to the jury's hours-long deliberation (rather than an instant conviction) and Judge Taylor's appointment of Atticus as signs that Maycomb is making slow but real progress toward justice, even though the outcome was wrong.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Dill say he wants to be when he grows up?

   • A lawyer like Atticus
   • A judge so he can make fair decisions
   • Correct answer: A clown who laughs at people
   • A writer who exposes injustice

   Dill says he wants to be a new kind of clown — one who laughs at people rather than making them laugh. This is his way of coping with a world he finds too cruel and absurd to take seriously.

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9. 9

   Question 9. How does Dill's response to the verdict contrast with Jem's?

   • Dill criticizes Atticus's defense while Jem loyally defends him
   • Dill remains indifferent to the verdict while Jem is furious
   • Correct answer: Dill retreats into dark humor while Jem responds with anger and tears
   • Dill wants revenge on the whole community while Jem prefers forgiveness

   Jem responds with grief and anger, insisting the verdict is wrong and wanting justice to prevail. Dill takes a more cynical approach, deciding that if the world is going to be cruel, he might as well laugh at it rather than cry.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does Bob Ewell do to Atticus after the trial?

    • He confronts Atticus inside the courthouse
    • He files a formal complaint against Atticus with the state bar
    • He breaks into the Finch home at night
    • Correct answer: He spits in Atticus's face and threatens to get even with him

    Miss Stephanie reports that Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he'd "get him if it took the rest of his life." Even after winning, Ewell's anger toward Atticus is not spent.

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11. 11

    Question 11. How does Miss Maudie show the children that, for her, nothing has changed after the trial?

    • Correct answer: She cuts Jem's slice from the big cake instead of a small one
    • She promises to speak up for Tom Robinson at his appeal
    • She bakes a separate little cake for each of the three children
    • She sends a cake to the Finch kitchen along with the other food

    Miss Maudie bakes one big cake and only two little ones, then cuts Jem's slice from the big cake. The children understand it as her way of saying that, as far as she is concerned, nothing has changed.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What literary function does Bob Ewell's threat serve in the novel?

    • Comic relief to lighten the mood after the heavy trial
    • Correct answer: Foreshadowing that the conflict with Ewell is not over
    • A red herring that distracts from the real danger
    • Exposition that fills in Bob Ewell's criminal history

    Ending the chapter on Ewell's threat builds suspense: the trial is over, but Ewell has vowed to get Atticus if it takes the rest of his life, a sign that this conflict is not finished.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does the food on the Finch kitchen table symbolize?

    • The obligation the community feels toward every attorney
    • Evidence of the economic prosperity enjoyed by Maycomb's Black community
    • A bribe to encourage Atticus to appeal the unjust verdict
    • Correct answer: Gratitude, solidarity, and quiet resistance against an unjust system

    The food represents the Black community's gratitude and solidarity with Atticus. During the Depression, sharing scarce food is a profound act of resistance — a community's way of honoring someone who stood up for one of their own when the system failed them.

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