Study Questions
1. What change does Calpurnia make in the way she addresses 12-year-old Jem?

2. What does Calpurnia permit Scout to do that she had not permitted before?

3. What does the political cartoon of Atticus chained to a desk and wearing short pants mean to Jem?

4. Why should one not tell all one knows—according to Calpurnia?

5. Why are hymnals not used in the First Purchase A.M.E. Zion Church?

6. How is Zeebo related to Calpurnia?

7. Scout says she is confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine in the First Purchase Church. What is the doctrine?

8. How does Calpurnia say that people can be changed?

9. Calpurnia says that “Colored folks don’t show their ages so fast.” What does Jem decide is the reason for this?

10. How is Tom’s wife Helen treated after Tom’s accusation?

Answers
1. Calpurnia begins to call him “Mister Jem.”

2. Calpurnia allows Scout to come into the kitchen to visit.

3. Jem explained that it means that Atticus spends his time doing things that other people would not want to.

4. Calpurnia says one should not tell all one knows, firstly because it is not ladylike and secondly because folks don’t like to be around those who know more than they do.

5. Hymnals are not used in the First Purchase A.M.E. Zion Church primarily because most members cannot read.

6. Zeebo, the driver of the garbage truck, is Calpurnia’s son.

7. This doctrine, according to Scout, says that women are worse than men.

8. Calpurnia says that folks are not going to change because she is “talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.”

9. Jem says “colored folks” age less quickly because they do not read.

10. Tom’s wife is shunned by white society after the accusation. She cannot find work.