To Kill A Mockingbird And Persepolis Analysis

In the Novel “To kill a mockingbird” by Harper Lee. Calpurnia really cares about Scout. Calpurnia is a cook in the Finch's home, she is very stern and bullheaded. Scout is the narrator of the story she was only six to ten years old. Consequently Scout doesn't want to accept the fact that Calpurnia cares about her ; this is shown in young children it's hard for them to understand when older people actually care about them.

Calpurnia, or “Cal”, was the Finch’s African-American housekeeper and cook. Her being a black, middle-aged woman in a white dominated society, we can already infer she has experienced great racial injustices. Throughout the novel, we see significant and noticeable changes in the main characters, but little development in Calpurnia´s character. Before you discard this essay on what was supposed to be about a chosen character changing due to social and racial injustices throughout the book, give the thesis some thought. Scout is the narrator of the book, therefore we are seeing changes through her point of view; so we only see Calpurnia changing through the eyes of Scout, but they were not in actuality

Calpurnia is pressured to meet the expectations set for both women and blacks in Maycomb society, and in many ways she does a good job at conforming to them. Calpurnia works as a nanny to Jem and Scout, which is a common job for black women. As the only adult woman in the household, Calpurnia,of course, keeps order on all things. She is an excellent cook and very strict towards Scout and Jem. Scout has a knack for getting in trouble, so she often complains about Calpurnia’s ‘tyrannical presence’. Despite this, readers often get a glance at Calpurnia’s maternal side. When Jem tells Scout to start acting like a girl, she flees to Cal for support. Although, she can’t give Scout much advice she is able to comfort her. “I just can’t help it if Mister Jem’s growin’ up. He’s gonna want to be off to himself a lot now, doin’ whatever boys do, so you just come right on in the

Calpurnia was the Finch’s African- american housekeeper. She played a huge role in the parenting of both Scout and Jem because Atticus was an only father. Calpurnia helped Scout become more ladylike at the end of the novel by teaching her proper manners and edict. Scout is a hardcore

Calpurnia does not force Scout to be feminine; she lets Scout observe and be who she wants to be. In a way, her teachings also mirrors Atticus- slowly nurturing the children’s morals, answering whatever questions they might have, and leading them in the right direction while letting them also try to discover things on their own. In addition, Calpurnia acts as a bridge between the two worlds (black and white & the Finch’s house and her black community). At the church, the Finch children are able to see the other world (the black community) and to their surprise, they face prejudice there by a woman named Lula. Lula wanted to know why Calpurnia was “bringing white nigguns to their church”. For possibly the first time, Scout and Jem is in a situation where they can see that as much as there is prejudice from white to black, there is just the same from black to white. They might not fully understand what prejudice is at the moment, but this experience definitely helps them understand later on in the story as they mature. In their trip to the black church, Harper Lee portrays the black community in a highly positive light to highlight the idea of racism and prejudice in the white

An author’s construction of the protagonist/s creates as compelling method to demonstrate the tension between an individual’s values and wider society’s intolerance. Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (2000), an autobiographical graphic novel, and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird (1960), a traditional prose-fiction novel, use similar techniques to draw connections to the conflict between the two worlds, despite the two different textual forms. As Satrapi and Lee depict characters struggling to mediate between their individual progressive ideologies and society’s discriminatory dogmas, both texts ultimately present the irreconcilable nature of the divide between the personal and public. As such, the audience is able to establish a range of connections when both texts are considered together, through the confliction between the opposing public ethics and individual ideologies.

Bluntly put, Calpurnia is the Finches' housekeeper in the novel. However, she is so much more to the family. She conducts herself as a mother figure to Jem and Scout, as she practically raised them after their mother's death. Along with Miss Maudie, Calpurnia is a strong, positive female influence in Jem and Scout's lives. She is a parallel to Atticus in her lessons of politeness and compassion and contrasts with Aunt Alexandra's harsh discipline and strict gender roles. In my perception, she is a very significant character that teaches the children how to cope up with challenging situations regarding race and class that arise in the book. This is also my reasons for why I chose her as a character worthy of discussion.

Maycomb County is a small, divided town where, in this story, danger is no stranger. Everyone in Maycomb is faced with personal and difficulties, but everyone perseveres and faces the difficulties with courage. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, a young girl grows up in Maycomb County, Alabama during the Great Depression; this town is very divided in many ways and Scout is always finding ways to slip between the dividers. Throughout the story we hear rumors, court trials, and we see children maturing. By the end, we have a deeper understanding of the people in Maycomb County and what they are capable of. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the theme that courage is perseverance can be seen when Scout walks away from a fight, Mrs. Dubose dies free from her morphine addiction, and when Atticus defends an African American man in court.

Calpurnia is very respectful towards others and tries to treat them generously. Calpurnia says, “‘That boy’s yo’ comp’ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?’” (Lee 32). Calpurnia is basically trying to teach Scout a lesson about treating people in general. Although people may act weird, they can be easily misunderstood. Without Calpurnia’s help in Scout’s education, she would probably have the same reading skills as some of the kids in her classroom of whom many are illiterate. This allows Scout to increase her opportunities and branch out more. In addition, one of the biggest things that really influenced Scout was Calpurnia bridging the white and black cultures together. It might not seem like it would change much, but Scout got massive input from both cultures. When Scout goes to church with Calpurnia, She learns that the blacks are much poorer than whites. Scout also learns that many Blacks cannot read whatsoever and instead sing songs and listen. Calpurnia helps Scout dabble in some of these practices of changing her way of

Calpurnia plays one role in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Calpurnia is the maid or nanny you could say for Jem and Scout since they lost their mother at a young age. She is black but often shows a side of her that would not resemble a black person for example: the way she talks, who she spends her time with the most, and how she is treated. Although Calpurnia is around white people for majority of her time she also has another side to her that the kids do not often see.

Calpurnia does not seem who she seems to be because she has a life other than being a cook for the Finch family and She treats Jem and Scout as her kids. Calpurnia has a life because she has a son named Zeebo, She goes to church every Sunday at First Purchase African M.E. Church. Also, she has a life because she does not live with the Finch family but lives in her own house. Also, she is not who she seems because she treats Jem and Scout as her kids. She treats them as her own kids by making them clean up good for church. “If Calpurnia had ever bathed me roughly before, it was nothing compared to her supervision of that Saturday night’s routine,” (Lee 134). This is important because it shows that Cal wanted Scout to be nice and clean for church the next day. When they get to church she acts like they are her own by defending them, when they are confronted by Lula and when they sit

Though Calpurnia and the people involved in Calpurnia’s life are greatly impacted, Jean Louise Finch, a.k.a. Scout, deals with more confusion and frustration brought on by racial discrimination. During a day at school, Scout encountered Cecil Jacobs and his ignorant mind. “Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more… I soon forgot. Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the schoolyard the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defends niggers”(Lee 99). Scout did not realize what this meant, but she was hurt by it any way. Scout is affected by a copious amount of racism, she just has no clue what is zipping around her. When she confronted Atticus about him defending Negroes, he said of course he does, and to not use

She is more a part of the family than anything else. She has been the mother figure in the lives of Scout and Jem since Scout could remember. She is shown throughout the book in the white world of Alabama and Lee only gives the audience a small taste of what she is like in her own community. When Atticus is away she is there for the kids. She is tough on the rules, but is also nurturing. When Scout comes home from her first day of school, Calpurnia she kisses her. Scout is confused by it, but she just missed her being home during the day. When Calpurnia takes them to church she gives them a dime and when Jem insists on using his she says, “"I don't want anybody sayin' I don't look after my children" (Lee 134). She has always viewed them as her own. She shows them the caring side and her teachings of moral values runs parallel with Atticus’. She was also able to teach Scout how to write and because she is a black woman in the 1930s who is literate she never acts better than anyone else. Scout invites Walter Cunningham over for dinner and when she reticules him for the way he is eating Calpurnia scowls Scout to show her the type of lady should want to be. She tells Scout,

When talking with Aunt Alexandra about Calpurnia, their maid, Atticus tells Alexandra that Calpurnia is the best and only mother figure Scout and Jem have ever had. Atticus takes Mayella’s rape case because he knew that Tom Robinson, the defendant, was innocent. Tom was a good and honest man, and would never rape a woman, let alone break into her house. In the 1930’s, the colored folks weren’t slave, but they had no real freedom. When Atticus treats Calpurnia as an equal, he shows his children how to treat people of color. He is teaching, Scout how to pacify her anger towards others, when they call her father rude names because he is defending a colored man.

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout has two women in her life, Calpurnia and Aunt Alexandra, who influence her upbringing. While they both have an impact on Scout's life, they are very different from each other when it comes to who they are and their methods of teaching Scout. Even though Scout is living in a time of racism and segregation, her family’s black cook, Calpurnia, has a major effect on Scout as she grows up. When it comes to the Finch family, Calpurnia contributes to Scout’s upbringing in many ways, such as disciplining her, just as a parent would-- "...her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard. She was always ordering me out of the kitchen, asking me why I couldn’t behave as well as Jem when she knew he was older, and calling me home when I wasn’t ready