To Kill a Mockingbird: Quiz for GCSE students
To Kill a Mockingbird quiz
Have you been reading To Kill a Mockingbird for GCSE?
Do you think you know the book well?
OK. Try these questions:
1. What is “football”?
2. What does “assuaged” mean?
3. Who was Andrew Jackson?
4. What does “ran the Creeks up the creek” mean?
5. What is the Alabama?
6. What were the sides in the Battle of Hastings?
7. When did it take place?
8. What is an “apothecary”?
9. What is “piety”?
10. Who were the Methodists?
11. Who was John Wesley?
12. What are “strictures”?
13. What is the “putting on of gold and costly apparel"?
14. What was Simon Finch’s teacher’s “dictum on the possession of human chattels”?
15. What does “a line that ran high to daughters” mean?
16. How could the Finch men “make their living from cotton"?
17. What were the “empires” around Finch’s Landing?
18. Why was ice required “to sustain life"?
19. Is it straightforwardly realistic to say that ice was required to sustain life, or is Harper Lee implying something else?
20. What and where is Mobile?
21. What was the “disturbance between the North and the South”?
22. Why did it leave them stripped of everything but their land?
23. In which state is Montgomery?
24. In which state is Boston?
25. Is Boston in the North or the South of the USA?
26. What does “taciturn” mean?
27. What are trot-lines?
28. Why did Atticus stay in Alabama to practise law?
29. What is the Code of Alabama?
30. What had the Haverfords done to the blacksmith?
31. What does “Atticus practised economy” mean?
32. In which states would John Hale Finch be allowed to practise as a doctor?
33. What was Simon Finch’s “industry"?
34. Why was there “nothing to buy and nothing to buy it with” in Maycomb?
35. What is the significance of the line: “Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself”?
36. Who was the original Calpurnia?
37. Why might the name Calpurnia have been chosen for this character?
38. What does “tyrannical” mean?
39. From which European country had Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose’s ancestors probably emigrated?
40. What is a collard?
All these questions are based on the first four pages of the novel (Penguin Edition).
In a well-written book, the opening pages are always of great importance to the story which is to come.
If you are unable to answer at least eight of the questions in red, your understanding of the historical background is likely to be too insubstantial for you to absorb the full significance of Lee’s tale.
If you can answer fewer than eight of the questions in green, your general knowledge about the USA demands improvement.
If you are unable to answer more than four of the questions in blue, you will have been accepting gaps in your comprehension of the book.
When Harper Lee’s novel was published in the USA, most of her readers would have had some understanding of the history of their own country and some knowledge of the culture of the Southern states before the Second World War. When they read her opening pages, they would have recognised most of the references and the significance of the various details she offers. Moreover, they would have appreciated her use of irony, understatement, paradox and imagery.
British-born GCSE students reading this text in the twenty-first century are at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, because the novel’s language seems so similar to contemporary British English it is easy to assume that we can understand what is being said without further research. Equally, it is too easy simply to impose the attitudes of our own time upon the people of Maycomb and so miss the subtlety as well as the intelligence of Lee’s observations.
We can gain an impression of a book by skimming through it and following the story simply through the elements we think we understand.
A closer reading of the text should help us to deepen our experience by filling in our blanks and correcting our misinterpretations.
Answers to the first 35 questions.
See if you can get the rest before they are published on the answer page.
Your critical comments, either upon the questions or upon the nature of this quiz (or both) will we appreciated. Please use the comments facility below.
In the meantime, why not visit the library to check some dictionaries, atlases, popular histories of the USA and books of biography. You might also try to track down a few credible websites. GCSE should demand more than just ticking the boxes.
The Pentameter Tutor's Quiz Answers
Have you been reading To Kill a Mockingbird for GCSE?
Do you think you know the book well?
OK. Try these questions:
1. What is “football”?
2. What does “assuaged” mean?
3. Who was Andrew Jackson?
4. What does “ran the Creeks up the creek” mean?
5. What is the Alabama?
6. What were the sides in the Battle of Hastings?
7. When did it take place?
8. What is an “apothecary”?
9. What is “piety”?
10. Who were the Methodists?
11. Who was John Wesley?
12. What are “strictures”?
13. What is the “putting on of gold and costly apparel"?
14. What was Simon Finch’s teacher’s “dictum on the possession of human chattels”?
15. What does “a line that ran high to daughters” mean?
16. How could the Finch men “make their living from cotton"?
17. What were the “empires” around Finch’s Landing?
18. Why was ice required “to sustain life"?
19. Is it straightforwardly realistic to say that ice was required to sustain life, or is Harper Lee implying something else?
20. What and where is Mobile?
21. What was the “disturbance between the North and the South”?
22. Why did it leave them stripped of everything but their land?
23. In which state is Montgomery?
24. In which state is Boston?
25. Is Boston in the North or the South of the USA?
26. What does “taciturn” mean?
27. What are trot-lines?
28. Why did Atticus stay in Alabama to practise law?
29. What is the Code of Alabama?
30. What had the Haverfords done to the blacksmith?
31. What does “Atticus practised economy” mean?
32. In which states would John Hale Finch be allowed to practise as a doctor?
33. What was Simon Finch’s “industry"?
34. Why was there “nothing to buy and nothing to buy it with” in Maycomb?
35. What is the significance of the line: “Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself”?
36. Who was the original Calpurnia?
37. Why might the name Calpurnia have been chosen for this character?
38. What does “tyrannical” mean?
39. From which European country had Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose’s ancestors probably emigrated?
40. What is a collard?
All these questions are based on the first four pages of the novel (Penguin Edition).
In a well-written book, the opening pages are always of great importance to the story which is to come.
If you are unable to answer at least eight of the questions in red, your understanding of the historical background is likely to be too insubstantial for you to absorb the full significance of Lee’s tale.
If you can answer fewer than eight of the questions in green, your general knowledge about the USA demands improvement.
If you are unable to answer more than four of the questions in blue, you will have been accepting gaps in your comprehension of the book.
When Harper Lee’s novel was published in the USA, most of her readers would have had some understanding of the history of their own country and some knowledge of the culture of the Southern states before the Second World War. When they read her opening pages, they would have recognised most of the references and the significance of the various details she offers. Moreover, they would have appreciated her use of irony, understatement, paradox and imagery.
British-born GCSE students reading this text in the twenty-first century are at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, because the novel’s language seems so similar to contemporary British English it is easy to assume that we can understand what is being said without further research. Equally, it is too easy simply to impose the attitudes of our own time upon the people of Maycomb and so miss the subtlety as well as the intelligence of Lee’s observations.
We can gain an impression of a book by skimming through it and following the story simply through the elements we think we understand.
A closer reading of the text should help us to deepen our experience by filling in our blanks and correcting our misinterpretations.
Answers to the first 35 questions.
See if you can get the rest before they are published on the answer page.
Your critical comments, either upon the questions or upon the nature of this quiz (or both) will we appreciated. Please use the comments facility below.
In the meantime, why not visit the library to check some dictionaries, atlases, popular histories of the USA and books of biography. You might also try to track down a few credible websites. GCSE should demand more than just ticking the boxes.
The Pentameter Tutor's Quiz Answers
posted by Prof Pentameter at 7:01 pm
1 comments
