English II - To Kill a Mockingbird
Chapters 7-9 Notes/Review
Vocabulary to Remember!
Ch. 8: aberrations adjacent caricatures procured unfathomable
Ch. 9: analogous changelings constituted crooned deportment
Ch. 9: guilelessness inordinately invective obstreperous tentatively
Allusions
- Ch. 7 Egyptians walked that way: Jem's assumptions as to how Egyptians would have walked is probably based on pictures of Egyptian art.
- Ch. 8 Appomattox: a former village in central Virginia. On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox court House, ending the Civil War.
- Bellingraths: Miss Maudie is referring to Walter and Bessie Bellingrath who, in 1932, opened their large, beautiful gardens to the public. the Bellingrath Gardens are located in Mobile, Alabama.
- Lane Cake: a rich white cake.
- Rosetta Stone: Discovered in Egypt in 1799, the Rosetta Stone is a large block of basalt inscribed with a report of a decree passed in 196 BC. Written in three languages, the stone gave historians many clues as to the meaning of Egyptian Hieroglyphs.
- Ch. 9 Confederate veteran: a veteran of the Civil War who fought for the South.
- General Hood: Lieutenant-General John B. Hood, a Confederate officer.
- House of Commons: the lower branch of the legislature in Great Britain
- Let the cup pass from you: On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed to the Lord: "Father, if you are willing, to take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done [Luke 22:42]." By asking the Lord to "take this cup from me" he was praying that he might avoid his fate (in Greek, one of the figurative meanings for "cup" is "fate"). Uncle Jack's comment to Atticus calls upon this reference because he understands that his brother was not looking forward to his fate: having to defend Tom Robinson.
- Lord Melbourne: (1779-1848) Queen Victoria's first Prime Minister, Melbourne also had the reputation for being something of a ladies' man.
- Missouri Compromise: The Missouri Compromise (1820) allowed Missouri to be admitted to the Union as a slave state but stipulated no more slave states would be allowed above the southern border of Missouri.
- Mount Everest: The highest known mountain in the world (29,028 feet), Everest is part of the Himalayas, on the border of Nepal and Tibet.
- Ol'Blue Light: a reference to Stonewall Jackson.
- Prime Minister: the head of a parliamentary government, such as Great Britain's.
- Stonewall Jackson: a confederate lieutenant-general.
Wrigley Double-mint Gum
Indian head Pennies
Ball of Twine
Ch. 7-9 Reading Questions
Ch. 7
1. Why was Jem trembling when he came back from getting his pants?2. Page 61: What do you think Jem is on the verge of telling Scout?
3. Nathan Radley claims he plugged the hole because the tree was dying. What is the real reason he plugged it?
4. Why does Jem cry at the end of the chapter?
5. Based on the contents of the knothole, what do we know about the person who is putting the items in there? Be specific, using evidence from the previous chapters.
Ch. 8
6. What is Mr. Avery's attitude toward children?
7. How does Miss Maudie react to her house burning down? What does this tell you about her character?
8. How does Boo show his character (his personality traits) in chapter 8? What does this tell you about him as a person?
Ch. 9
9. When Atticus tells scout not to use the "n" word because it's "common." what does he mean?
10. Atticus says if he didn't take Tom's case he couldn't make Jem or Scout mind him. Why not?
11. What do you think of Atticus as a person? Is he a good man? Why?
12. Describe Francis. would you want to be his friend? Why or why not?
13. What is Maycomb's "usual disease"?
14. At the end of the chapter, why did Atticus want Scout to hear his words?
15. How and why does the mood of the novel start to change in this chapter?