Character Analysis Of Aunt Alexandra In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

This novel is full of interesting and richly painted characters,Aunt Alexandra was one of my favorite throughout the book. Reading To Kill A Mockingbird you can precisely see her transform into someone extremely courageous. When Harper Lee introduces Alexandra it seemed as if she was a very grouchy woman with a lot of dignity, and very prejudice. Scout and Alexandra encounter many struggles.While

The character Aunt Alexandra reminds me of a close friend, my mom had a while back. She raised three boys who grew up to do nothing with their lives. When the lady would babysit me on the weekends she would make me do housework, for her. I questioned her, asking why her boys couldn’t do it, her response was that they were boys and that because I was a girl I was expected to take on the job of taking care of the house. Everytime I read a section where Aunt Alexandra was present it made me feel bad, Aunt Alexandra was forcing Scout dress in formal clothing rather than letting her express her individuality because it would be viewed as unlady like.

1. Scout admires Miss Maudie because she is nice to all of the children and treats them with respect, even though they are just kids. 2. Atticus says that the main reason he defends Tom Robinson is because he wouldn’t be representing the country in legislature.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra changes throughout her stay at the Finch’s house, and Scout shows growth by becoming a mature person. During chapter 24, Aunt Alexandra hosts the tea party and invites people from Maycomb to join. She allows Scout to sit in and join the gathering because she thought Scout would get bored on her own. Towards the beginning of the trial, Aunt Alexandra gets furious at Atticus for choosing a case that defends a black person because it is contrary everything they believe in and “disgrace the family.”

In to Kill Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout dislikes Aunt Alexandra who tries to make scout more ladylike which results in Scout following the social expectations of Maycomb county. Atticus a loving and caring father, tells her children about Aunt Alexandra’s mission. He tells them about how they are Finches and are different from other people. “Your aunt has asked me to try and impress upon you and Jean Louise that you are not from run-of-the-mill people, that you are the product of several generations’ gentle breeding-.”

By treating her family lineage as unimportant, Scout was thought of by many as bringing shame to the Finch name, thus creating chaos within Maycomb. At the time of their Aunt Alexandra’s visit, Atticus said, “She wants to talk to you about the family and what it’s meant to Maycomb County through the years, so you’ll have some idea of who you are, so you might be moved to behave accordingly” (Lee 178). After Atticus finished this dialogue, Scout began to cry due to the opposition toward Aunt Alexandra’s ideals about lineage being important in one’s everyday life. The reason for her emotional response was that Aunt Alexandra had turned to heredity to explain behavior and justify actions since her arrival. However, Scout had never been exposed to an environment where her history could be so valued. Aunt Alexandra’s order was disrupted with chaos when she saw how little Scout cared about lineage and believed that Scout’s unruly behavior was a result of her neglect to bring respect to the Finch name. When

For example, when Atiicus came to lecture Scout and Jem, he was asked by Aunt Alexandra to say that they “were not run-of-the-mill people” and “were product[s] of several generations’ gentle breeding” (pg. 177). Since Aunt Alexandra was raised to follow these guidlines of her family, it is obvious she does her best in maintiaing their reputation, especially when doing all this advocates her status of being a lady. Perhaps it might also have been inflicted upon the children after hearing about Tom Robinson’s trial. Havinig the family in such a shunned situation already brought trouble, and having children who were behaving innapropriately would only bring more trouble. Even though Aunt Alexandra may seem annoying and controlling, she’s merely protecting the family from more execrated

Scout thinks Aunt Alexandra is acting like she is wealthy for the respect of her family. Scout describes Aunt Alexandra as not worthy of trust, needing other families, and grumpy. In the book when Scout thinks Aunt Alexandra is irritable is, as said in the book, “Today was Sunday, and Aunt Alexandra was positively irritable on the Lord’s Day.” (Lee 130). Scout thinks of her as too strict, not a person who likes blacks, and wants her to act more ladylike.

The first example of this is when she is at her family's Christmas celebration, when her Aunt Alexandra comments on what she is wearing. Scout thinks to herself, “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches…”(Lee 108). Scout does not listen to her aunt and believes that girls should be able to dress however they want. She thinks that there is no evident definition of an “average girl”, and concludes that society should not view a woman just by her apparel. Another example is when Scout is with her family celebrating Christmas and her cousin Francis is there. Francis makes a vile comment about how Atticus, Scout's father, loves African-Americans, which is a mean thing to say at this time in history. Francis only says this considering that Atticus is a lawyer and is defending Tom Robinson, an African-American, in court. Scout gets really fanatic and starts beating up Francis. When Scout was describing the incident she states, “Francis called Atticus somethin’, an’ I wasn’t about to take it off him” (114). Scout believes that it is essential to stand up to people that are going against the people one might love. Also, she affirms that it is important to stand up against racism, no matter what situation a person might be in. Even though Scout gets in trouble often, she always speaks her mind and does not worry about others thoughts and

Scout is a very strong and independent character who believes in who she is. She does not allow anyone to push her around even if that means she has to settle an argument in an immature way such as fist fights. Scout is unlike many girls in her town. She likes to play outside,wear pants and she doesn’t like to play with teasets or dolls. This appalls many adults who are not understanding of why Scout is different from the other girls. Many neighbors and relatives put the blame on Atticus for “not raising her right”. Atticus is often criticized because he took a different role in life than his siblings and left the Finch landing. The Finch Landing is a huge farm run by workers paid slim to none. Atticus’s siblings, Alexandra and Jack stayed at the farm and took in the money and watched the workers work. Generations and generations of Finches had done this with the exception of Atticus. Instead he felt there was more to life and decided to go to school and become a lawyer. He is now raising Scout and Jem. With Scout’s mom dead, many people feel they need to intervene with Atticus’s parenting to play a mother figure. Alexandra plays a big part in this and sits Scout down to chat. Alexandra tells Scout that she

Since the beginning of her arrival halfway through the story, she never got along with Scout due to the fact that they both had different opinions on what a real women should act like, and this is the author portrays her as; societal standards. Because of this, she works very hard to convince Scout to let go of her tomboyish habits, which she displays an abundance of times throughout the novel. “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire…” (Lee 108) is a line that proves that Alexandra cares more about what standards society has on women in that time period than what makes Scout happy, But Scout then realizes that she was like this because she wanted to keep a good name for the Finches, even if that means sacrificing one's happiness (Sl Collins). Just like the rest of Maycomb county and their orthodox ways, Alexandra didn’t like black folks very much, so

She learned to accept people no matter how they looked. Whenever she judged someone, Atticus helped her understand a person by keeping in mind a simple but meaningful phrase, "…if you 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…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. " Chapter 3, pg. 30. Aunt Alexandra was always concerned with family background and constantly judged people based on it, "I never understood her preoccupation with heredity.

“Atticus said one time the reason Aunty’s so hipped on the family is because we’ve got’s background and not a dime to our names” (Lee 302) Aunt Alexandra compares her family, the Finches, as the best family. The reason why is “because we’ve got’s background and not a dime to our names.” (Lee 302) “Aunty brought me my overalls. “Put these on, darling,” she said, handing me the garments she most despised,” (Lee 354) Once Aunt Alexandra put herself in Scout’s shoes, she knew that giving her her overalls were going to comfort her after Bob Ewell tried to kill her. By doing so, she was able to comfort Scout and make her feel better. Though there is a huge reputation with family, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is true because everyone is

Racism is witnessed many times throughout Scout's life, but not many times through her family as Atticus believes all people are equal. The only times she really sees it in her household is when Aunt Alexandra gets there. Jem and Scout talk to each other about what Aunt Alexandra says to Atticus and it shows her views. “She won’t let him alone about Tom Robinson. She almost said Atticus was disgracin’ the family. Scout… I’m scared.’ ‘Scared’a what?’ ‘Scared about Atticus. Somebody might hurt him”(167). Not only does this quote show her views about a different race, it also shows her directing her thoughts towards Atticus. She is trying to guilt Atticus into changing his mind and to keep the Finch family legacy going strong. This method of persuasion obviously does not work on Atticus, as he continues with the trial, despite Aunt Alexandra’s perspective on the

On the other hand, Aunt Alexandra faced a different but common obstacle, prejudice. Since prejudice was ubiquitous, Aunt Alexandra demonstrated maturity when she became more accepting of others especially Calpurnia, Boo and Scout. Aunt Alexandra, Scout and Jem’s caretaker, had some difficulties interacting and talking around people who were a different race or a lower social or economic class. When Aunt Alexandra first met Calpurnia, the African-American maid who worked in the Finch’s house, she despised her and all of her actions. No matter what Calpurnia did or what she said, she could not please Aunt Alexandra. However, later on in the novel, Aunt Alexandra developed a more accepting attitude towards Calpurnia. She allowed Calpurnia to serve the children dinner. This shows how much Aunt Alexandra has grown to be more accepting of other races and not be prejudice. Not only does Aunt Alexandra accept Calpurnia for who she is, but she also learns to accept Scout. “She brought me something to put on, and had I thought about it then, I would have never let her forget it: in her distraction, Aunty brought me my overalls” (Pg.264).