To Kill a Mockingbird — Chapter 3

About This Passage

Harper Lee switches the reader's attention in a single sentence: Scout's private grudge against Calpurnia is interrupted by Miss Caroline's scream, and the author uses the sudden pivot to move the scene from kitchen quarrel to classroom chaos. The phrase 'revived enough to persevere in her profession' is the narrator quietly teasing her own teacher with mock-adult vocabulary.

Narration Prompt

Retell chapter three in your own words, making sure to include Walter Cunningham's dinner at the Finch house, Calpurnia's lecture to Scout about guests, Burris Ewell's cootie and his insult to Miss Caroline, and Atticus's porch conversation with Scout at the end of the day.

Discussion Questions

1. At the Finch dinner table Walter Cunningham pours syrup over his vegetables and meat, and Calpurnia marches Scout into the kitchen for protesting — what is Harper Lee teaching the reader about hospitality in the Finch household through Calpurnia's rule that 'anybody sets foot in this house's yo' comp'ny'?
2. Burris Ewell leaves school after making Miss Caroline cry, shouting 'Report and be damned to ye!' — what evidence in the chapter shows you that Maycomb has already made a quiet arrangement with the Ewell family, and how do the older children in the classroom know about it before Miss Caroline does?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide