To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Bob Ewell do to Atticus after the trial?

   • Correct answer: Spits in his face and threatens to kill him
   • Files a lawsuit against him for defamation
   • Sends him an anonymous threatening letter
   • Attacks him with a knife outside the courthouse

   According to Miss Stephanie, Bob Ewell cursed Atticus, spat on him, and threatened to kill him outside the post office. Atticus simply wiped his face, and he later tells the family that Ewell got it all out of his system that morning.

   Read the passage
2. 2

   Question 2. How does Atticus justify not retaliating against Bob Ewell?

   • He believes Sheriff Tate will arrest Ewell before he can cause trouble
   • He says striking back would set a bad example for Jem and Scout to follow
   • He plans to press assault charges against Ewell in Judge Taylor's court
   • Correct answer: He says if absorbing Ewell’s anger spared Mayella a beating, it was worthwhile

   Atticus reasons that Ewell needed to feel he had gotten even, and that if his anger toward Atticus meant one fewer beating for Mayella, the humiliation was worth enduring.

   Read the passage
3. 3

   Question 3. What legal step does Atticus plan to take after Tom Robinson’s conviction?

   • Petition the governor for a pardon
   • Request a mistrial based on jury misconduct
   • Correct answer: Appeal the verdict to a higher court
   • File a civil rights complaint with the federal government

   Atticus assures the children that nothing will happen to Tom until the higher court reviews his case, and that Tom has a good chance of going free, or at least of getting a new trial.

   Read the passage
4. 4

   Question 4. Who held out for acquittal on the jury?

   • A member of the Ewell family
   • Correct answer: A member of the Cunningham family
   • Judge Taylor himself intervened
   • A Finch relative from another county

   One of the Cunninghams on the jury initially voted to acquit Tom Robinson and held out for a considerable time before eventually relenting under pressure from the other jurors.

   Read the passage
5. 5

   Question 5. Why is the Cunningham juror’s holdout especially significant?

   • Mr. Cunningham was known to be a close friend of Bob Ewell
   • The Cunninghams are known as the wealthiest family in Maycomb
   • Correct answer: A Cunningham was part of the mob at the jail that Scout dispersed
   • The Cunninghams had once hired Tom Robinson to work their land

   A Cunningham was among the mob that tried to lynch Tom Robinson at the jail the night before the trial—the mob Scout dispersed by speaking to Mr. Cunningham. The shift from mob participant to holdout juror represents meaningful progress.

   Read the passage
6. 6

   Question 6. What does Scout want to do after learning about the Cunningham juror?

   • Ask Mr. Cunningham to testify at the appeal
   • Write a thank-you letter to Mr. Cunningham
   • Visit the Cunningham farm
   • Correct answer: Invite Walter Cunningham Jr. to dinner

   Scout is so encouraged by the Cunningham connection that she declares she wants to invite Walter Cunningham Jr. over for dinner, but Aunt Alexandra immediately forbids it.

   Read the passage
7. 7

   Question 7. What reason does Aunt Alexandra give for forbidding Scout from inviting Walter Cunningham?

   • Correct answer: The Cunninghams are not the Finches’ social equals
   • Atticus told her the children cannot have guests
   • The Cunninghams owe the Finches money
   • Walter once poured syrup all over his dinner at their table

   Aunt Alexandra insists the Cunninghams are not their "kind of folks" and finally says Walter himself is trash, revealing her rigid class prejudice. Scout is deeply hurt by this judgment.

   Read the passage
8. 8

   Question 8. According to Jem’s theory, what are the four social tiers in Maycomb?

   • Landowners, shopkeepers, farmers, and sharecroppers
   • Correct answer: Finches, Cunninghams, Ewells, and Black citizens
   • Educated, working, farming, and unemployed
   • Politicians, lawyers, farmers, and laborers

   Jem lists four kinds of folks in Maycomb County: the ordinary kind like the Finches and their neighbors, the Cunninghams out in the woods, the Ewells down at the dump, and Black citizens. He does not rank them; he only adds that each kind dislikes the next.

   Read the passage
9. 9

   Question 9. How does Scout respond to Jem’s social hierarchy theory?

   • She says the Finches should be ranked even higher
   • Correct answer: She rejects it, saying there’s just one kind of folks—folks
   • She suggests the Cunninghams and Ewells should be on the same level
   • She agrees and adds her own observations

   Scout dismisses the entire framework, insisting there is only one kind of people. Her simple declaration contrasts with Jem’s more cynical analysis, though both perspectives carry truth.

   Read the passage
10. 10

    Question 10. What does Jem conclude about Boo Radley at the end of Chapter 23?

    • Boo is too sick and frail to leave the Radley house anymore
    • Boo is being held prisoner inside the house by his older brother, Nathan Radley
    • Correct answer: Boo stays inside because he wants to, having seen the ugliness of the world
    • Boo stays inside because he is ashamed of what he did as a boy

    Jem realizes that Boo may choose to stay inside because, having seen what people are truly capable of, he prefers isolation to engaging with a world full of prejudice and cruelty.

    Read the passage
11. 11

    Question 11. What suggestion does Jem make about juries that Atticus corrects?

    • Correct answer: That juries should be abolished entirely
    • That juries should be selected by the judge
    • That women should be allowed on juries
    • That juries should include Black citizens

    Frustrated by the unfair verdict, Jem says they ought to do away with juries. Atticus answers that there might be a better way: change the law so that only judges have the power of fixing the penalty in capital cases.

    Read the passage
12. 12

    Question 12. What does Atticus mean when he says a courtroom is the place where a man "ought to get a square deal"?

    • Lawyers should refuse to take cases involving racial prejudice
    • Courts should only hear cases with physical evidence
    • Judges should replace juries in all cases
    • Correct answer: The law should treat everyone equally regardless of race

    Atticus articulates the ideal that the courtroom should be the one place where racial prejudice does not distort justice, but he acknowledges that people carry their biases into the jury box.

    Read the passage
13. 13

    Question 13. What parallel does Chapter 23 draw between racial prejudice and class prejudice?

    • Class prejudice is shown to be far more damaging to Maycomb than racial prejudice ever is
    • Both kinds of prejudice are shown to be problems found only in small Southern towns
    • Correct answer: The jury’s racial bias against Tom is paralleled by Alexandra’s class-based rejection of Walter
    • Both are presented as problems that Maycomb has already solved by the end of the trial

    Harper Lee constructs a deliberate parallel: just as the all-white jury judged Tom by his race rather than the evidence, Aunt Alexandra judges Walter Cunningham by his family’s social standing rather than his character.

    Read the passage