BBA First semester Revision Questions English..pdf

1. To Kill a Mockingbird is about growing up
The main characters include:
 Charles Baker Harris, who is referred to as “Dill” throughout the story, is the children’s
friend who visits them from Mississippi in the summers.
 Calpurnia, the Finch’s housekeeper and cook, is a motherly figure for Scout.
 Boo Radley is the Finch’s mysterious and reclusive neighbours.
 Walter Cunningham is one of the poorest children in Scout and Jem’s school.
 Mayella Ewell is the white woman accusing Tom; and
 Mr. Bob Ewell is Mayella’s father.
 Tom Robinson is a black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman.
The main character is a girl named Scout Finch who is about six when the book begins and
eight when it ends.
The book is about what she learns about people and about life over the course of those
two years.
Atticus Finch
Lawyer
Scout Finch Jem Finch
Mayella Ewell
White Women
Mr. Bob Ewell
Mayella Father
Tom Robinson
Black Man

2. The book -takes place between 1933 and 1935 in Maycomb Alabama
It's a small sleepy town in the deep south.
Scout's father Atticus is a lawyer but they don't have much money because his clients are
poor.
Scout lives with their father her brother Jem and their cook Calpurnia, her mother is dead.

3. During the summers a friend named Dill comes to stay next door and, He spends the summer
playing with Scout and Jem.
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Scout basically learns Four major lessons over the course of the book
 She learns them partly from Atticus (her Father) and partly from her own experience .
SCOUT JEM DILL

4. The First lesson is that - “ You don't understand someone until you put yourself in their
shoes ̋
She takes a while to master this one.
In the storyline for the first part of the book mostly shows her getting it -wrong.
Across the street from where Scout lives is the Boo Radley house.
The family that lives in it is very unsocial and the son Arthur Radley is a man in his 30s who
hasn't been seen outside in many years.
 The children in the town refer to Arthur Radley as Boo Radley as if he were a ghost.
 They have a horrible picture of what he's like .
 That he eats rodents and cats that he catches.
 That he's ugly and drooling and
 That he'll kill any children catches.

5. The real story of Arthur Radley ( Boo Radley )is that he got in trouble with the law for being a
bit wild and disorderly when he was a teenager.
His father never let him out of the house again.
Now his father's dead and he lives with his older brother, but he's still a complete recluse.
Throughout the first part of the book . Scout and Jem and Dill play games involving the Radley
house . (Boo Radley)

6. They run past it ,they dare each other to touch it .
Then one day they start finding presents like gum and pennies hidden in a hole in a tree .
Boo Radley is leaving gifts for them . It takes a long time for them to realize it .
The kids make plans to get Boo Radley to come out of the house so they can see him .
one night they sneak around to the back of the house to try to get a look at him through the
window .

7. And they get shot at by the older brother Naten , then Jim gets his pants caught in a fence
Boo Radley fixes them and leaves them out for Jim .
One night when it's very cold . Scout and Jem are standing outside because one of the
neighbour’s houses is on fire
Boo Radley puts a blanket around Scout , she never even realizes it .
she still imagines he's really scary and she freaks out when she realizes he was behind her.
So over the course of the year they gradually realized he's actually nice but much more slowly
than we do .

8. Lesson 2 - Don’t Kill Mockingbirds.
The second important lesson in the book is that you don't kill mockingbirds.
This lesson has a literal meaning when Atticus gives the kids air rifles.
They're allowed to shoot at whatever birds they want but not mocking birds, because mocking
birds don't eat anyone's plants or harm anything all they do is make music .
Mockingbird has a metaphorical meaning to anyone who is weak or defenceless.
To Kill a Mockingbird in that sense is to take advantage of someone weaker than you.
Lesson 3 Keep Fighting Even If you Know you will Loose .
The second phase of the book involves Tom Robinson.
Tom is a black man who has been arrested and charged with raping a white -woman named
Mayella Ewell

9. Atticus Finch has been appointed as his defence attorney , and he's determined to do a good
job at it . Even though he knows he's going to lose because of racism (racial discrimination .)
Everybody in the town is racist to one degree or another.
Scout and Jem wind up getting teased and talked about because their father is defending a
black man for a crime like that

10. Atticus doesn't want them to fight the other kids . But to try to keep calm and keep their heads
up in the face of adversity.
He wants to teach them the lesson that true bravery is when you keep fighting and
determined even when you know you can't win.
One evening Tom Robinson is being moved to the County Jail before his trial.
Atticus sits outside the door of the jail house with his chair supported against the door .
A group of men comes to Kill Tom , and Atticus blocks their way.
Scout, Jem and Dill will come looking for Atticus.

11. Scout starts talking to one of the men because she goes to school with his son.
The man tells the rest of the mob to disperse and they all go home .
Scout and Jem sit in the courthouse and watch the trial along with the rest of the town.
Atticus does a great job with his Defending the case.
The children think he's going to win .
Mayella Ewell, the victim, and her father, Bob Ewell, who is a witness for the prosecution, are
both rude and seem untrustworthy. The physical evidence also goes against them.
Mayella's injures are on the right side of her face, but Tom cannot use his left arm. Bob Ewell
Mayella’s Father) is left-handed, so he could have hit his daughter.

12. Then Tom tells a convincing story on the witness stand that
Mayella tried to seduce him and that Bob Ewell caught her and beat her up. And she accused
Tom of rape .
But despite Atticus's brilliant defense the jury convicts Tom because a white jury is not going
to acquit a black man accused of raping a white woman.
The children are crushed by Tom's conviction , And Atticus knew all along they would be .
Lesson 4 – The World is Unfair.
In one dramatic moment -they learn about the evil side of their whole community .
And the fact that even the justice system is corrupted by unfairness.

13. Bob Ewell ( Mayella ‘s ) carries a grudge against Atticus for making a fool of him and he
threatens to get revenge.

14. On Halloween a Scout and Jem are coming home in the dark from a celebration.
Bob Ewell attacks them with a switch blade and tries to kill them . He breaks Jem’s arm by
twisting it.
Boo Radley hears their cries and comes out of his house and kills Bob Ewell with a kitchen
knife.
Though Jem and Scout don't actually understand this is happening at the time because of the
dark.

15. The Sheri and Atticus discuss what to do about Bob Ewell's death
Atticus wants to say that Jem killed him in self-defence so he can clear his name publicly and
there won't be any rumours that they covered it up.
The Sheri says no way. Jem couldn't possibly have done it.
The Sheri insists that their story will be that Bob Ewell slipped on a root and fell on his own
knife.
The reason the Sheri sticks to this story is that he knows Arthur Radley must have killed.
And even though he doesn't think this is a crime.
He even thinks the town would treat him like a hero and leave cakes on his porch.
He knows that this amount of public attention would be devastating to a recluse like Boo
Radley. Since Boo Radley saved the children's lives the best reward is to let him keep his
privacy.
Atticus is afraid to do this because his children have just lived through this failure of justice in
the trial.
And if they see Atticus is breaking the law because of his relationship with the Sheri , he
fears they won't ever respect him again.
But Scout tells Atticus that she understands making a hero out of boo would be like killing a
mockingbird.

16. That's a climactic moment in the book because it means she has learned the lesson about
mockingbirds , despite having seen the unfairness of life , she sees its value as well .
Arthur Boo is actually very childlike himself and there's a scene where he asks Scout to walk
him across the street back to his own house because he's afraid.

17. After she does so she looks out from the Radley balcony and imagines all of her own activities
over the past couple of years has seen through Arthur's eyes
that's when she finally grasps the first lesson about understanding people by putting yourself
in their shoes .
Summary of "To Kill a Mockingbird"
The book is mainly about growing up and learning life lessons through the eyes of a young girl
named Scout Finch. She lives in Maycomb, Alabama, a small town during the 1930s. Scout's
father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer, and she also has an older brother named Jem. Their friend
Dill visits during the summer, and they all have adventures together. They are cared for by their
cook, Calpurnia, since their mother passed away.
The story revolves around the people in their town, including their mysterious neighbour Boo
Radley, who never comes outside, and a black man named Tom Robinson, who is falsely
accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell.
Tom's case is a big part of the book, and Atticus defends him even though the town is very
racist, and Atticus knows he'll probably lose the case.
Throughout the book, Scout learns several important lessons:
1. Understanding Others: Scout learns you can't judge someone until you try to see
things from their point of view. This is especially true with Boo Radley, whom the kids
initially see as scary, but they later realize he's kind.
2. Don't Harm the Innocent: The idea of "not killing mockingbirds" is a key lesson.
Mockingbirds represent people who are innocent and do no harm, like Tom Robinson
and Boo Radley.

18. 3. Keep Fighting for What's Right: Even if you know you're going to lose, like Atticus
defending Tom Robinson, it's important to stand up for what is right.
4. Life is Unfair: Scout also learns that the world isn't always fair, especially when Tom is
found guilty despite being innocent. But she sees that kindness and understanding still
matter.
In the end, Boo Radley saves Scout and Jem from an attack by Bob Ewell, (Mayella's father )
who seeks revenge on Atticus.
Scout finally understands Boo , and the lessons Atticus tried to teach her—especially about
seeing life from someone else's side and the importance of protecting the innocent.