English 1-2 Honors (Period 1) Assignments

Chapter 1

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summers day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum." (5)

Chapter 2

"'Your father does not know how to teach. You can have a seat now.'
I mumbled that I was sorry and retired meditating upon my crime." (17)

Chapter 3

"'First of all,' he said, 'If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-'
'Sir?'
'-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.'" (30)

Chapter 4

"Two live oaks stood at the end of the Radley lot; their roots reached into the side-road and made it bumpy. Something about one of the trees attracted my attention.

Some tin foil was sticking out of a knot- hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun. I stood on my tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers." (33)

Chapter 5

"'So that's what you were doing, wasn't it?'
'Makin' fun of him?'
'No," said Atticus, "Putting his life's history on display for the edification of the neighborhood.'
Jem seemed to swell a little. 'I didn't say we were doin' that, I didn't say it!'
Atticus grinned dryly. 'You just told me,' he said. 'You stop this nonsense right now, every one of you.'" (49)

Chapter 6

"Then I saw the shadow. It was the shadow of a man with a hat on. At first I thought it was a tree, but there was no wind blowing, and tree trunks never walked. The back porch was bathed in moonlight, And the shadow, crisp and toast, moved across the porch towards Jem.
Dill saw it next. He put his hands to his face.
When it crossed Jem, Jem saw it. He put his arms over his head and went ridged." (53)

Chapter 7

"As Atticus once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem's skin and walk around in it: if I had gone alone to the Radly Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been held the next afternoon. So I left Jem alone and tried not to bother him." (57)

Chapter 8

"'Thank who?' I asked.
'Boo Radly. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you.'
My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept toward me. 'He sneaked out of the house-turn 'round-sneaked up, an' went like this!'" (72)

Chapter 9

"Atticus said, 'You've a lot to learn, Jack.'
'I know. Your daughter gave me my first lessons this afternoon. She said I didn't understand children much and told me why. She was quite right. Atticus, she told me how I should have treated her-oh dear, I'm so sorry I romped on her.'" (87)

Chapter 10

"Atticus said to Jem one day, 'I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'
That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.
'Your father's right,' she said. 'Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up peoples’ gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'" (90)

Chapter 11

"'A lady?' Jem raised his head. His face was scarlet. 'After all those things she said about you, a lady?'
'She was. She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe ...son, I told you that if you hadn't lost your head I'd have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her.- I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.'" (112)

Chapter 12

"'It's not necessary to tell all you know. It's not ladylike -in the second place, folks don't like to have someone around knowin' more than they do. It aggravates 'em. You're not gonna change any of them by 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.'" (126)

Chapter 13

"I never understood her preoccupation with heredity. Somewhere, I had received the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was." (130)

Chapter 14

"'That's because you can't hold something in your mind but a little while,' said Jem. 'It's different with grown folks, we-'
His maddening superiority was unbearable these days. He did not want to do anything but read and go off by himself." (138)

Chapter 15

"'What's the matter?' I asked.
Atticus said nothing. I looked up at Mr. Cunningham, whose face was equally impassive. Then he did a peculiar thing. He squatted down and took me by both shoulders.
'I'll tell him you said hey, little lady,' he said.
Then he straightened up and waved a big paw. 'Let's clear out,' he called. 'Let's get going, boys.'" (154)

Chapter 16

"This was news, news that put a different light on things: Atticus had to, whether he wanted to or not. I thought it odd that he hadn't said anything about it-we could have used it many times defending him and ourselves. He had to, that is why he was doing it, equaled fewer fights and less fussing." (163)

Chapter 17

"Mr. Ewell wrote on the back of the envelope and looked up complacently to see Judge Taylor looking at him as if he were some fragrant gardenia in full bloom on the witness stand , to see Mr. Gilmer half-sitting, half standing at his table. The jury was watching him, one man leaning over with his hands over the railing.
'What's so intrestin'?' he asked.
'You're left handed Mr. Ewell,' said Judge Taylor." (177)

Chapter 18

"'It's not an easy question Miss Mayella, so I'll try again. Do you remember him beating you about the face?' Atticus's voice had lost it's comfortableness; he was speaking in his arid, detached professional voice. 'Do you remember him beating you about the face?'
'I don't recollect if he hit me. I mean yes I do, he hit me.'" (185)