KS1 (Age 5-7)KS2 (Age 7-11)11 Plus (Age 7-11)KS3 (Age 11-14)GCSE (Age 14-17)PSHE A.I.ESL Spanish Specialist Games

Need help with To Kill a Mockingbird - Dialogue? Ask our AI Tutor!

AI Tutor - Lucy

Connecting with Tutor...

Please wait while we establish connection

Hi! I'm Lucy, your AI tutor. How can I help you with To Kill a Mockingbird - Dialogue today?

now

We said we wouldn't hurt him and we'd buy him an ice-cream.

To Kill a Mockingbird - Dialogue

Look closely at the dialogue in To Kill a Mockingbird to see how speech patterns, jokes and arguments reveal character, power and prejudice.

Explore the Topic →

(quiz starts below)

Fascinating Fact:

Humorous exchanges, especially with characters like Miss Maudie, lighten the tone but also allow serious truths about Maycomb’s injustice to be spoken in a gentle, accessible way.

In GCSE English Literature, analysing dialogue means exploring how characters speak, interrupt and respond to one another. In To Kill a Mockingbird, jokes, arguments and courtroom speeches reveal attitudes to race, class and justice in Maycomb.

Key Terms

Dialogue: The spoken words exchanged between characters, shown using speech marks, which reveal personality, relationships and conflict.
Dialect: A way of speaking that shows region, background or social group, such as the southern speech patterns heard in Maycomb.
Register: The level of formality in speech or writing, which shifts between polite, informal or deeply serious moments in the novel.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is the role of dialogue in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Dialogue in To Kill a Mockingbird reveals character, builds tension and exposes Maycomb’s prejudices. Through conversations, readers see how people really think, even when they try to appear respectable in public.

How does Harper Lee use dialect in the novel?

Harper Lee uses southern dialect to show class and race divisions in Maycomb. The contrast between Atticus’s careful speech and other characters’ informal language highlights education, status and different viewpoints.

How can I write about dialogue in my GCSE essay?

In a GCSE essay, choose a short exchange or key speech, quote it accurately, and explain how word choices, tone and interruptions reveal character or theme. Link each point clearly back to the question.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

Scout

Calpurnia

Atticus

Tom Robinson

Atticus teaches his children the importance of obeying their consciences

2 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"There's some folks who don't eat like us, but you ain't called on to contradict 'em at the table when they don't."

Miss Maudie

Jem

Atticus

Calpurnia

Calpurnia sees it as her responsibility to ensure that Scout is raised with good manners

3 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"You're real nice, Uncle Jack, an' I reckon I love you even after what you did, but you don't understand children much."

Jem

Dill

Scout

Walter Cunningham

Scout is not afraid to speak her mind, even to adults

4 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"You are too young to understand it, but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of — oh, of your father."

Miss Maudie

Calpurnia

Mrs Dubose

Reverend Sykes

Miss Maudie explains to Scout that religion can be a more dangerous excuse for terrible behaviour than drunkenness might be

5 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"We're askin' him real politely to come out sometimes, and tell us what he does in there — we said we wouldn't hurt him and we'd buy him an ice-cream."

Dill

Jem

Scout

Francis

Jem credits Dill with first coming up with the idea of making Boo Radley come out of his house

6 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"I was wonderin' why it was so quiet like, an' it come to me that there weren't a chile on the place, not a one of 'em."

Scout

Dill

Tom Robinson

Calpurnia

The reader hears very little of Tom's speech, although the plot of the novel revolves around his trial

7 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"The thing about it is, our kind of folks don't like the Cunninghams, the Cunninghams don't like the Ewells, and the Ewells hate and despise the coloured folks."

Scout

Dill

Aunt Alexandra

Jem

Jem sees the link between class prejudice and racism, imagining it as a hierarchy of dislike and distrust in which groups of people need to feel superior to another group of people. Jem understands that advantages can be passed down through the generations, whereas Scout argues that all people are essentially the same at birth

8 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"Because — he — is — trash, that's why you can't play with him. I'll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what."

Atticus

Aunt Alexandra

Miss Caroline

Miss Maudie

Aunt Alexandra divides the world into those who are socially acceptable and those to be looked down upon and pitied

9 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."

Calpurnia

Reverend Sykes

Miss Maudie

Mr Gilmer

Pay attention to the use of titles in To Kill a Mockingbird. The Judge refers to Calpurnia by her first name, in a familiar way, although he doesn't really know her, while Reverend Sykes addresses Scout very formally, although he is an adult and she a child. Mayella is not used to anyone addressing her as "Miss" before she goes to court

10 .

Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"It's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you."

Reverend Sykes

Atticus

Calpurnia

Miss Maudie

Atticus raises his children to be courageous, and to stand up for their beliefs, even when those beliefs are opposed by the majority of people

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - To Kill a Mockingbird

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)