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What does it mean that “You never really understand a person … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (ch. 3)?
Time: 5 minutes
Discussion: Understanding someone means seeing the world from his or her point of view. (See activity below.) It also means imagining what someone’s views would be if he or she had certain experiences. Consider how Jean Louise understands the Cunninghams and describes them to her new teacher, who is from out of town.
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Why does Atticus Finch say that Bob Ewell should be allowed to break the law by “hunting out of season” (ch. 3)?
Time: 5 minutes
Discussion: Atticus says that common people should obey the law, but people like the Ewells need special treatment. They break the law so often that it takes more of society’s resources to charge them than it does to leave them alone and suffer the consequences. They don’t go to school, and Mr. Ewell hunts and traps out of season, but putting him in jail will only hurt his family and will not rehabilitate Mr. Ewell. Out of compassion for his family, we look the other way after their crimes.
Note that the failure to rehabilitate Mr. Ewell actually will cause great costs to society in the future (but do not reveal the ending).
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What do you think about what Jem calls the “Dewey Decimal System” of education (ch. 2 and ch. 4)? How is it a valuable or a poor system?
Time: 5 minutes
Discussion: the system seems to assume that students in each grade have a certain educational level, but the children in Maycomb are not necessarily at that level. Jean Louise is way ahead in reading, and it seems that the system is not flexible enough to teach her at her actual reading level. When Miss Caroline complains about Jean Louise reading at home, it is unclear whether this is a rule in the “system” or if it is just Miss Caroline’s idea. But when she complains about Jean Louise writing in cursive, she says, “we don’t write in the first grade, we print. You won’t learn to write until you’re in the third grade.”
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What does Miss Maudie mean when she says, “That is three-fourths colored folks and one-fourth Stephanie Crawford” (ch. 5)? What are some other ideas that white characters express about black characters or about other white characters?
Time: 5-10 minutes
Discussion: Miss Maudie means that there is a lot of gossip and speculation in Maycomb. She suggests that a lot of it comes from black citizens, but a lot also comes from Stephanie Crawford. In a small community, it seems that everyone knows everyone else’s business (consider gossip at your school and how often it is true or false). In chapter 2, white citizens clearly have separated themselves by class; consider what Jean Louise says about the Cunninghams, and Atticus says that Mr. Cunningham “came from a set breed of men.” In chapter 3, Atticus points out that it is not only poor citizens who have a hard time getting an education in Maycomb, but also the black citizens, when he says that Calpurnia has “more education than most colored folks.” He also says that the Ewells have been “the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations,” partly because they do not work for a living, but also because “they lived like animals.”
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What does it take to be the kind of person who “is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” (ch. 5)?
Time: 5 minutes
Discussion: According to Miss Maudie, Atticus does not show hypocrisy. He is the same in private as he is in public. Whatever principles of honor and conduct he talks about on the street, he tries to live out at home. It takes a strong sense of honesty and good character to be that way. Just because nobody sees you in private, it does not mean you are free from doing what is right.
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What does it mean that “What Mr. Radley did might seem peculiar to us, but it did not seem peculiar to him”(ch. 5)? Is he peculiar or not?
Time: 5 minutes
Discussion: The question here is whether there are natural standards of decency and normality for human beings, and if they are, what are they? People shouldn’t “live like animals” like the Ewells, but what does it mean to live like humans? It is not normal to spend one’s whole life indoors, and it is not usually healthy. But shouldn’t we make exceptions for people in special cases? Clearly some things in human life are not subject to the judgment of others, such as what kind of exercise people like to do, but some things are essential for a human being to meet his or her full potential.
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