View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is wounded when Jake is escorted from his office to the courthouse on Friday morning, the fifth day?

2. What does Lucien tell Jake regarding the summation?

3. Who do the Northern Mississippi black residents recognize as the single white radical NAACP attorney in their region?

4. What is the jury's decision?

5. Following Jake's closing before the jury, he and Lucien are drinking on Lucien's front porch where Deputy Nesbit helps himself to what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens on the Saturday morning when "Mickey Mouse" tips Ozzie the Klan plan a multi-state retaliation for the Thursday riot?

2. What happens when Ellen first arrives at Jake's office on the Sunday the National Guard arrives?

3. What happens when Jake requests a change of venue from Judge Noose following the riot and cross-burnings?

4. What does Jake when the National Guard arrive?

5. How do Harry Rex's pickup and Jake's Saab reflect more than a matter of taste, but of personality?

6. How does Grisham depict Jake's response to the soldier who is seriously injured for protecting him?

7. What does the reader learn was key to the jury being swayed to finding an innocent by reason of insanity verdict?

8. Just past midnight of the day Dr. Bass was questioned, what does Jake discover when driven to his home due to an emergency?

9. What offer does Lucien make to Jake regarding the jury that he objects to?

10. What transpires as the forty Ku Klux Klansmen arrive to demonstrate at the courthouse where the black protesters held their vigil?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The story is staged around a murder trial where a number of the key characters are attorneys. The author, John Grisham, is himself an attorney. How does he use his legal expertise in writing "A Time to Kill"? How is it reflected in the depiction of legal maneuvering, selection of the jury, legal and illegal tactics, use of associates for research in preparing for court, courtroom styles, actions in the judge's chambers, and other judicial aspects?

Essay Topic 2

John Grisham is familiar with various firearms types and their uses, just as he is knowledgeable with the differences in styles and purposes of a Saab and a Ford Bronco. Weapons from several categories are referred to at various points in his tale. Identify the styles of weapons found in his novel and their functions. Examine Grisham's intention in selecting the firearms at key points within the text.

Essay Topic 3

John Grisham is very elaborate in providing the reader a detailed description of Jake Brigance's historic legal suite, with multiple rooms and a balcony overlooking the courthouse square. He then utilizes this setting throughout the story in relaying Jake's reliance upon it. Analyze Grisham's use of this setting in the novel, and how it pertains to the political, social climate of the story.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,144 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample