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Characterization paragraphon aunt Alexandra from to kill a mockingbird
Characterization paragraphon aunt Alexandra from to kill a mockingbird
Why is aunt alexandra important in to kill a mockingbird
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In the beginning of the novel, scout was stubborn. She wanted to wear breeches her whole life. However, later on, when aunt alexandra becomes part of her everyday life, scout begins to accept that lady’s wear dresses. Astonishing is the influence that a woman can have on another human being, that even a child has no choice but to change its ways.
In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, written by Harper Lee, things can change in the blink of an eye. It can go from a peaceful taciturn summer morning to all hell broken loose. And for Aunt Alexandra, change comes extremely faster then anyone would ever expect. She would be one of the most imprudent and disrespectful person anyone would know to a caring, respected person who wouldn't despise anyone by their skin or gender.
Her influence is shown in the way Francis, her son, behaves. He thinks he is of higher class than the other citizens living in the town. Aunt Alexandra believes that “all we’ve got’s background and not a dime to our names” (Lee 303). She considers the Finch family to be superior to many others in Maycomb, and tries to raise Scout and Jem
Tim Burton uses many styles in his films that he has directed. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, and Alice in Wonderland Tim Burton uses shot -reverse -shot and non-diegetic sound to make the audience feel that they don’t need to judge people from appearances. In these examples Tim Burton uses shot -reverse-shot to show people judging other people. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory it shows Mr. Salt looking at Willy Wonka.
Aunt Alexandra comes in and lives with the Finch’s and tries to take charge of Jem and Scout. She does not like or agree that Calpurnia is acting as a mother figure toward the kids. She feels Atticus is not using the best environment to teach the kids. To take Cal’s role in the family, she must try to convince Atticus to fire Cal because she is a perfectly eligible candidate to be their mother. In the novel, Aunt Alexandra states, “We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence” (Lee 170).
As said before, Aunt Alexandra is Atticus Finchs sister. After Atticus, Scout, and Jem visit her and the family, she becomes worried about the childrens upbringing and their carry of the family legacy because of Atticus' involvement in the trial and his support of blacks. She goes to Maycomb without notifying Atticus and stays with them to "straighten their ways". For example, she says to Jem, "If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that's his own business, like Grandma says, so it ain't your fault. I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a nigger-lover besides, but I'm here to tell you, it certainly does mortify the rest of the family--".
Aunt Alexandra is Atticus’s sister, who lives at Finch's Landing. Aunt Alexandra highly disapproves of the way Atticus is raising his children, and steps in in an attempt to raise them correctly. She constantly criticizes Scout’s tomboy attire, and personality, which Scout resists. Despite this criticism by her aunt Scout attempts to please her by participating in Alexandra’s missionary circle. Scout wears a dress, and even serves refreshments, in an attempt to learn the complicated life of a lady.
However the Ewell’s are a white family, they hold a higher social status. During the trial, it implied that Mayella seduces Tom Robinson, her father, Bob Ewell observe in dismay that his daughter would share intimate feelings for a black man. In addition, Bob Ewell’s reaction to his daughter kissing Tom Robinson shows the fear of miscegenation. Atticus, yet, still strives for justice. Atticus explains the ugly truth to Jem and Scout
She nearly faints when Calpurnia finds Jem and Scout at the trial. “I didn’t think it wise in the first place to let them (go),” Aunt Alexandra utters bitterly to Atticus when he returns home from the trial. One of Alexandra’s main goals as mother is to keep Jem and Scout innocent from their society as they grow up. According to Aunt Alexandra, adolescents do not need to listen to racist remarks and talk about rape. In short, Aunt Alexandra may not be liked necessarily by Jem and Scout, but behind her toughness is a loving and caring
(145). As the Finches’ are left motherless, Aunt Alexandra helps Scout get the female influence she needs, such as helping her realize that it is ok to have a female parental figure in her life. Second, Aunt Alexandra grows up spending her time in Maycomb when she refers to Atticus as brother, after Tom is deemed guilty. Earlier in the novel, Aunt Alexandra behaves as if she has no empathy for the Finches, but as result, she adapts to new ways to show compassion. “‘ I'm sorry brother’ she murmured.
Aunt Alexandra exhibits stubbornness, a bossy attitude and self-confidence. As soon as Aunt Alexandra is introduced to the book, the reader can pick up on Scout’s dislike of her, largely in part due to Aunt Alexandra’s stubbornness. She is stubborn on many points among the Finch family, choosing one side and never moving from it. An example of this comes when Aunt Alexandra points out a hereditary trait of Miss Stephanie Crawford, “Atticus said, ‘Sister, when you stop to think about it, our generation’s practically the first in the Finch family not to marry its cousins.
Through the motivational speaker Alexander Den Heijer, people get a fuller understanding of how people grow up, he once said, “When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower”. By this he is trying to say that children learn a great amount from their environment in their early years. If people have a good environment they will grow up and teach others that. However, environment isn’t everything, children head into their childhood with an empty mind, they are waiting to be filled up with knowledge, they then take that knowledge into the real world as a child, looking to learn even more. Through the portrayal of Jem and Scout, Harper Lee suggest that children are often able to look at complex situations
The Expectations of Maycomb County Aunt Alexandra a lady, who values the Finch name, wants her niece to see the Finch name that same way she does. 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 ask for Aunt Alexandra to come over to his house. Aunt Alexandra agrees and starts to influence Jem and Scout, but mainly Scout. Scout hates that she does this, but ends up being influenced by her.
Just as Scout emulates Harper Lee in multiple ways, Scout’s family and friends are based off of important people in Lee’s life. Fine reveals that Harper Lee’s father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer who tried to defend two African Americans who were convicted of murder. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful, and later on in her life, Lee drew inspiration from that case for her novel (Fine). Harper Lee is the daughter of a lawyer, and the mentioned source explains that she partially bases the plot of her novel on a trial that deeply impacts her father’s life. Amasa Coleman Lee attempts to defend African Americans in court, but the racial pressures of the time period cause him to lose.
“You never really understand a person until you see things from his point of you… until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” In her powerful novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells a coming of age story of the young tomboy called Scout in the Southern town of Maycomb, and of the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man defending himself against a white jury when people of color could not even share the same bathrooms with a white person. It tells of the moral greyness of everyday people and how people who are supposed to be good can almost hang an innocent man, and how people who are supposed to be bad can grow flowers in pots on their windowsill. For me, it is the reminder of the complexity of people and of life, and that other people must be respected in the same way I want to be
