To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 27 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. What federal program does Bob Ewell get fired from in Chapter 27?

   • The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)
   • Correct answer: The WPA (Works Progress Administration)
   • The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)
   • The NYA (National Youth Administration)

   Bob Ewell loses a WPA job within days; Scout says he was the only man she ever heard of who was fired from the WPA for laziness.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Who does Bob Ewell blame for his losing his job?

   • Judge John Taylor
   • Link Deas
   • Correct answer: Atticus Finch
   • Heck Tate

   Ewell blames Atticus for his firing, though Atticus had nothing to do with it. Ewell has made Atticus the scapegoat for all his grievances since the trial.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What does Judge Taylor discover when he hears scratching at his back door?

   • Correct answer: The screen door swinging open and a shadow retreating
   • A threatening note pinned to the back screen door
   • His dog Ann scratching to be let out on the porch
   • Bob Ewell standing at the back door in the dark

   Judge Taylor finds his screen door swinging open and catches a glimpse of a shadow slipping around the corner of the house. The prowler is never positively identified but is believed to be Bob Ewell.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does Judge Taylor spend the rest of the evening after the attempted break-in?

   • He goes to Atticus's house to warn him
   • He drives to the Ewell property to confront Bob
   • He calls the sheriff immediately
   • Correct answer: He sits with a shotgun across his lap

   After seeing the prowler, Judge Taylor spends the rest of the evening sitting with a shotgun across his lap, indicating how seriously he takes the threat.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Who gives Helen Robinson a job after Tom's death?

   • Correct answer: Link Deas
   • Mr. Underwood
   • Atticus Finch
   • Heck Tate

   Link Deas, who was Tom Robinson's former employer, gives Helen a job. He also personally confronts Bob Ewell twice to stop his harassment of Helen.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does Helen Robinson begin taking a mile-long detour to work?

   • She wants to avoid passing the courthouse where Tom was tried
   • Correct answer: The Ewells harass her when she walks past their property
   • She stops at Mr. Link's store for supplies on the way
   • The direct road is washed out from the autumn rains

   According to Helen, the Ewells "chunked at her" the first time she tried to use the public road, so she walked nearly a mile out of her way to avoid them.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What role is Scout assigned in the Halloween pageant?

   • A pumpkin
   • A cornstalk
   • A cotton boll
   • Correct answer: A ham

   Scout is cast as a ham in Mrs. Merriweather's agricultural pageant. Her costume is a wire-frame structure covered in brown cloth that severely limits her vision and mobility.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What is the title of the Halloween pageant written by Mrs. Merriweather?

   • Maycomb County, We Will Aye Be True
   • Stars Over Maycomb County
   • Correct answer: Maycomb County: Ad Astra Per Aspera
   • The Agricultural Products of Maycomb

   Mrs. Grace Merriweather writes the pageant titled "Maycomb County: Ad Astra Per Aspera," a Latin phrase meaning 'to the stars through difficulties,' celebrating the county's agricultural products.

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9. 9

   Question 9. How does Scout, as narrator, describe the uneasy feeling that stops Aunt Alexandra in mid-sentence?

   • A twinge of a mother's worry
   • A shiver of cold foreboding
   • A sudden flash of premonition
   • Correct answer: A pinprick of apprehension

   Scout says her aunt put away whatever gave her a "pinprick of apprehension." Alexandra herself explains it only as "somebody just walked over my grave" — a rare moment of unexplained unease from a character who normally relies on reason rather than intuition.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Why don't Atticus and Aunt Alexandra attend the Halloween pageant?

    • They are afraid of what Bob Ewell might do
    • Correct answer: Atticus is tired and Alexandra stays home too
    • They are expecting an important visitor that night
    • Calpurnia is ill and needs them at home

    Atticus has just come home from a week in Montgomery and says he is all in. Alexandra says she has to get to bed early because she was worn out from decorating the stage all afternoon.

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11. 11

    Question 11. Who agrees to walk Scout to the Halloween pageant?

    • Correct answer: Jem
    • Atticus
    • Dill
    • Calpurnia

    Atticus suggests Jem might escort Scout if she asks him. Although Jem considers himself too old for Halloween, he says he will take her to the pageant at the high-school auditorium.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What Halloween prank the previous year prompted the town to organize a structured event?

    • Children put a light buggy on top of the livery stable
    • Traveling fur sellers carried off the Barbers' furniture
    • Correct answer: Children moved the Barber sisters' furniture into their cellar
    • Boo Radley's house was vandalized by local children

    The previous year, pranksters moved all of Miss Tutti and Miss Frutti Barber's furniture into their cellar, causing embarrassment and prompting the organized pageant.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What connects all three of Bob Ewell's targets in Chapter 27?

    • They all had some part in firing him from the WPA
    • Correct answer: They are all connected to the trial that humiliated him
    • They all live along the road past the Ewell place
    • They all refused to give him a job after the trial

    Atticus was the defense lawyer, Judge Taylor presided over the case, and Helen Robinson is the widow of the accused. Each person played a role in Ewell's public humiliation during the trial.

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14. 14

    Question 14. How does Link Deas ultimately stop Bob Ewell from harassing Helen Robinson?

    • He reports Ewell to the sheriff
    • He moves Helen to a different job location
    • He pays Ewell to leave her alone
    • Correct answer: He threatens to have Ewell arrested

    After confronting Ewell once about the harassment from the Ewell yard, Deas must intervene a second time when Ewell follows Helen, this time threatening to have him arrested.

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15. 15

    Question 15. What literary device is MOST prominent in Chapter 27?

    • Allegory
    • Flashback
    • Correct answer: Foreshadowing
    • Dramatic irony

    Chapter 27 is built on foreshadowing: Ewell's grudges against Atticus, Judge Taylor and Helen, Aunt Alexandra's sudden unease, and Scout's closing remark that this began "our longest journey together" all create a sense of coming danger.

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