To Kill a Mockingbird — Chapter 25

About This Passage

Scout is about to squash a roly-poly bug she has been poking on the porch. Jem stops her: 'Don't do that. Set him out on the back steps.' Jem has watched a man be killed for no good reason just days ago. Now he will not let his sister kill a bug that is not bothering anyone. The chapter opens with the smallest possible mockingbird — a one-inch creature with a hundred legs — and Jem's quiet refusal extends his father's lesson into a corner of the world Atticus never reached.

Narration Prompt

Tell the chapter as a story in three parts. The first part is on the back porch when Jem stops Scout from killing a roly-poly. The second part is what Dill saw — Atticus and Calpurnia going to Helen Robinson's cabin to tell her Tom is dead, and Helen falling into the dirt. The third part is what Maycomb says about Tom and what Mr. Underwood writes in the newspaper.

Discussion Questions

1. When Scout is about to mash the roly-poly, Jem says, 'Because they don't bother you.' How can you tell that Jem has changed since the trial, and that he is starting to think the way Atticus does about not hurting things that are not hurting you?
2. Dill describes Helen Robinson falling: 'she just fell down in the dirt. Just fell down in the dirt, like a giant with a big foot just came along and stepped on her.' What in the story shows you how heavy the news of Tom's death was for Helen?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide