To Kill a Mockingbird Part 2 Analysis (Chapter 15-17)

Ch. 15

1. What is the Ku Klux Klan? What do you think of Atticus' comment about it?

2. How does Jem react when Atticus tells him to go home, and why?

3. What persuades the lynching-party to give up their attempt on Tom's life?

Ch. 16

4. What sort of person is Dolphus Raymond and what is your opinion of him?

5. How does Reverend Sykes help the children see and hear the trial? Is he correct in doing so?

Ch. 17

6. Choose three quotes from chapter 17. Explain the context of each, the characters involved, and their relevance for the story, themes and overall message of the novel.

Answers:

1.-The KKK is an organization of white people who harass those of different cultures and races. Atticus says that the KKK no longer exists, but that is false.

2.-Jem refuses to go home because he thinks his dad will get hurt if he leaves.

3.-Scout connects with Walter Cunningham, Sr. She talks to him about Walter Cunningham, Jr.

4.-He is considered the town drunk and doesn’t have a good reputation because of his association with the black community.

5.-He allows the children to come to the colored balcony to see the trial because there are no seats in the white section. Answers will vary for the second question.

6.-

a) "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ..... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" (Chapter 3).

In this quote Atticus is giving Scout a moral advice that changes her development for the rest the novel.

b) “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird (Chapter 10).”

These lines from are the source of the novel’s title and introduce one of the key metaphors of the book: the idea of “mockingbirds” as good, innocent people who are destroyed by evil. 

c) "'Thank who?' I asked.

'Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you.'

My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept toward me. 'He sneaked out of the house-turn 'round-sneaked up, an' went like this!'" Page 72

Even though Scout appears frightened to hear that Boo Radley was only inches from her, she is beginning to realize that the mysterious man is trying to protect and befriend her. Boo gains the sympathy of Scout and the reader in this passage.