To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 25 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What does Jem tell Scout not to kill at the beginning of Chapter 25?

   • A lightning bug
   • A moth
   • A night crawler
   • Correct answer: A roly-poly bug

   Jem stops Scout from squashing a roly-poly bug, telling her it has done nothing to bother her. This mirrors the mockingbird principle Atticus taught them.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Why is Jem's refusal to let Scout kill the bug significant?

   • He is going through a stage where he is simply afraid of insects
   • Correct answer: He has internalized Atticus's lesson about protecting innocent creatures
   • He wants to keep the roly-poly as a pet on the back porch
   • He is superstitious about killing bugs inside the house at night

   The roly-poly moment shows Jem applying the mockingbird principle instinctively, extending compassion even to the smallest creatures after the trial changed him.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Who was in the car with Atticus when he drove to tell Helen Robinson about Tom's death?

   • Correct answer: Calpurnia, Jem, and Dill
   • Only Calpurnia
   • Sheriff Heck Tate
   • Jem, Scout, and Calpurnia

   Atticus and Calpurnia picked up Jem and Dill, who had been swimming, on their way to the Robinson home.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Helen Robinson react when she sees Atticus approaching?

   • She angrily orders Atticus to leave her yard
   • She screams and runs back inside the cabin
   • Correct answer: She collapses to the ground before he can speak
   • She hurries to take her little girl from Calpurnia

   Helen falls before Atticus says a word, showing she already knew what his visit meant. She had been expecting this news since the guilty verdict.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What word do most white citizens of Maycomb use to describe Tom's escape attempt?

   • Correct answer: Typical
   • Foolish
   • Tragic
   • Brave

   The word "typical" reveals how Maycomb uses racial stereotypes to dismiss the tragedy, treating Tom's death as confirmation of prejudice rather than injustice.

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6. 6

   Question 6. How long does Tom Robinson's death remain the talk of Maycomb?

   • One day
   • Correct answer: About two days
   • A full week
   • Nearly two weeks

   The town's short attention span mirrors its refusal to treat Tom's death as a genuine tragedy, quickly replacing it with ordinary gossip.

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7. 7

   Question 7. Who writes the editorial condemning Tom's death?

   • Sheriff Heck Tate
   • Atticus Finch
   • Judge Taylor
   • Correct answer: B.B. Underwood

   B.B. Underwood, editor of The Maycomb Tribune, writes a scathing editorial comparing Tom's death to the slaughter of songbirds.

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8. 8

   Question 8. To what does Mr. Underwood compare Tom Robinson's death?

   • A lynching carried out in broad daylight by a mob
   • A miscarriage of justice in the county courts
   • Correct answer: The senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children
   • The killing of an innocent lamb at the slaughterhouse

   This comparison makes the novel's mockingbird metaphor explicit, directly connecting Tom's death to the symbolic destruction of an innocent creature.

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9. 9

   Question 9. What realization does Scout reach after reading Underwood's editorial?

   • Correct answer: That Tom was doomed the moment Mayella accused him
   • That Underwood is secretly sympathetic to Black people
   • That the prison guards acted correctly
   • That Atticus should have tried harder at trial

   Scout understands that "Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed," recognizing that the accusation itself was a death sentence in their racist society.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does Bob Ewell say about Tom's death?

    • That he had nothing at all to do with the escape
    • That he feels sorry for Helen Robinson
    • That justice was finally served for his daughter
    • Correct answer: That it makes "one down and about two more to go"

    Ewell's remark, passed along by Miss Stephanie, reveals his vindictiveness and suggests that his grudge did not end with Tom's death.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Who passes Bob Ewell's comment about Tom's death along to Aunt Alexandra?

    • Calpurnia
    • Correct answer: Miss Stephanie Crawford
    • Mrs. Grace Merriweather
    • Atticus

    Mr. Ewell's views reach the Finch house through Miss Stephanie, Maycomb's chief gossip, who tells Aunt Alexandra while Jem is in the room, brushing off any objection with "Oh foot, he's old enough to listen."

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12. 12

    Question 12. How does Jem respond to Ewell's threat against the family?

    • He asks Atticus to lend him a gun to protect the family
    • He tells Scout they should warn Atticus right away
    • Correct answer: He tells Scout not to be afraid, since Ewell is mostly hot gas
    • He goes to confront Mr. Ewell at his house by the dump

    Jem tells Scout not to be afraid because Mr. Ewell is more hot gas than anything, and he swears her to secrecy: if she lets Atticus know she knows, Jem will never speak to her again.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What literary device is Bob Ewell's "two more to go" comment an example of?

    • Correct answer: Foreshadowing
    • Flashback
    • Personification
    • Irony

    Ewell's remark hints at trouble to come: with Tom dead, he still seems to be counting others he blames, so his threat hangs over the rest of the story.

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14. 14

    Question 14. What time of year does Chapter 25 take place?

    • Early October
    • Correct answer: September
    • Winter
    • Spring

    The chapter takes place in September, after Dill has returned home for school and Scout is feeling his absence.

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15. 15

    Question 15. Which theme does Chapter 25 develop most explicitly through Underwood's editorial?

    • The dangers of the gossip that spreads through Maycomb
    • The importance of education in a small Southern town
    • Correct answer: The mockingbird as a symbol of destroyed innocence
    • The value of loyalty within the Finch family

    Underwood likens Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children, the chapter's clearest echo of the novel's title and its idea of destroyed innocence.

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