Study Questions
1. Who walks down the middle aisle carrying a note to Atticus?

2. Why does Reverend Sykes ask Scout to stand when her father passes?

3. How does Reverend Sykes address Scout?

4. What things are strange about the courtroom during the wait for a jury decision?

5. Scout compares the atmosphere in the courthouse before the jury returns to another time and place. What is the time and place?

6. Why is Reverend Sykes not sure that the jury would decide in favor of Tom Robinson?

7. Why does Reverend Sykes’s voice seem distant after the decision even though he is standing next to Scout?

8. What does Calpurnia’s note say?

9. Why does Atticus walk down the middle aisle?

10. How can you tell when a jury has convicted a defendent?

Answers
1. Calpurnia walks down the aisle carrying a note to Atticus.

2. The whole balcony stands as a sign of respect to Atticus.

3. The Reverend Sykes addresses Scout as “Miss Jean Louise.”

4. The courtroom is very quiet. Occasionally a baby will cry out or a child might leave, but the adults sit or stand as still as if they were in church.

5. Scout likens the waiting to the time the rabid dog was near.

6. He is not confident because he has never seen “a jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man.”

7. His voice seems distant or detached because he wants to separate himself from what had happened. He is thinking of other things now.

8. Calpurnia’s note says that the children have been missing since noon.

9. Atticus probably walks down the middle aisle to show he is not ashamed of his actions. This walk is an indication of his bravery.

10. When a jury has convicted a defendant, they will not look at the defendant when they return to the courtroom.