To Kill a Mockingbird — Chapter 10

About This Passage

Lee uses adult vocabulary in a child's mouth here on purpose. Scout strings together 'attributes,' 'inconspicuous,' and 'complimentary' — words she has clearly absorbed from her father's house — to describe the small grief of being a child whose father has become controversial. The diction signals that Scout is a different kind of narrator than her playmates' fathers might expect.

Narration Prompt

Trace the chapter's structural arc: Scout's catalog of why Atticus seems unimpressive, Atticus's mockingbird rule, Miss Maudie's conversation about hidden talents, and the rabid-dog scene that overturns the children's measurement of their father.

Discussion Questions

1. Atticus tells Jem, 'It's a sin to kill a mockingbird,' and the rule is left unexplained until Miss Maudie clarifies it. Examine why Lee gives the line to Atticus and the explanation to Miss Maudie — what does this division of labor between two adults tell us about how moral instruction works in this household?
2. Miss Maudie says Atticus put his gun down because 'he realized that God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things.' Examine the theology embedded in this sentence — what does it imply about the relationship between gift, fairness, and restraint?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide