TKAM Close Reading Questions

Before answering the question: Read questions before reading each chapter. Annotate sections that are relevant to the close reading questions. Reread annotations before answering the question. Put star next to 2 or three quotes that will help you answer the question. Before answering the question:

Answer the Question: ACES Answer the question (TTQA) Use Concrete details and/or quotes from your text. (Textual evidence) -Add page numbers in parentheses after quote or detail. -Introduce and give context for each quote. (What is going on in the story when this quote takes place? See the example on slide 5.) Explain, explain, explain how your quote/concrete detail supports your answer. Sum up what you are trying to say based on your evidence.

Example: What is Lee’s basic argument about racism and prejudice in the novel so far?

Lee's argument about prejudice and racism and how bad it is for society goes extremely deep into her life; she thinks it’s a virus and it destroys people. When Mrs. Dubose is hating on the Finch family she talks about Atticus. Mrs. Dubose insults Atticus when she says, " Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in a courthouse lawing for n******”(135).  Mrs. Dubose says this because she believes Atticus is lowering himself to defend Tom, a Negro. Because Tom has been accused by a white woman, Mrs. Dubose automatically assumes he is guilty.  She has “caught” the disease of racism from growing up in a time and place that makes it seem normal to put down on a race of people. While Mrs. Dubose has a real physical disease from which she is dying, she has an even more serious moral disease that she cannot even see. Lee also uses Atticus as a gateway into her thoughts when Atticus says to his brother, “Right. But do you think I could face my children otherwise? You know what's going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb's usual disease” (139). Atticus again connects racism to the idea of a disease and does not think he would be worthy enough to face his kids if he did not take this case. Lee clearly feels that not only is racism a destructive disease,  but a person worth respecting must stand against it.

Describe your impression of Boo Radley Describe your impression of Boo Radley. What do you think of Jem’s story of Boo stabbing his father with scissors? What do you think is really going on in the Radley house? Your opinions are only as good as the evidence you use to support them.