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Aunt Alexandra Influence In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra is a motherly influence on Scout and Jem who tries to teach them how a Finch should act. For example, Aunt Alexandra teaches the children how to act when she first arrives at the house. In fact, she corrects Scout soon after she steps through the door. “Jean Louise, stop scratching your head,” Aunt Alexandra sternly demands. When Scout asks Atticus if she can visit Calpurnia at her house next Sunday, Aunt Alexandra tries to intervene. “You may not!” Aunt Alexandra interrupts abruptly. “I wasn’t talking to you!” Scout replies vigorously. Scout does not like Aunt Alexandra because Aunt Alexandra is too strict, does not like blacks, and wants her to change her childish ways. Aunt Alexandra wants …show more content…

Scout feels uncomfortable around the proper ladies because the ladies laugh at her answers to their questions. Although Scout prefers to socialize with men rather than women, she tries to make her aunt proud of her by acting properly. “After all, if Aunty could be a lady in a time like this, so could I,” Scout thinks proudly to herself. Perhaps the most significant example of Aunt Alexandra’s care for her children occurs after Tom Robinson’s trial. Aunt Alexandra shows care for her niece and nephew because she worries where the children have gone. 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

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Aunt Alexandria is not a good mother figure. Scout says “Aunt Alexandria fitted into the world of Maycomb like a hand into a glove, but never into the world of Jem and me” (Lee, 175). The kids dislike her they even lie to their father saying they would enjoy aunty coming to stay with them. Aunty would try to make Scout more “lady-like”. Every time she invited Scout to say hello to her friends “Aunty would look as if she regretted her request” (Lee, 176).

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1074 Words | 5 Pages

Aunt Alexandra, teaches Scout, what a lady is and when it is the appropriate time to be strong and have an opinion and what the family roots are. Aunt alexandra, found out Tom, died while she was attending the missionary circle. “If aunty could be a lady at a time like this,so could I.”(Lee,237)Scout, now understands that sometimes being a lady and understanding the proper etiquette of one at times like that is extremely useful. Alexandra, acting strong proved to Scout, that being a lady is

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479 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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This incident shows the reader that she wants to be taken seriously by her colleagues. It also displays that Hilly deeply treasures her reputation because of her reaction towards the situation. On the other hand, Aunt Alexandra has also shown the reader signs that she values her family’s reputation. In chapter 23 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra did not allow Scout to play with Walter Cunningham because of his poor background. She said, “Because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him.

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588 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning of, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is very small ant very knowledgeable about things Scout doesn’t even pay attention to what’s happening in Maycomb county. She doesn’t know that practically everyone hates each other. “When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness’ sake. But don’t make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles ‘em” (Lee 9).

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889 Words | 4 Pages

Atticus attributes his sister’s behavior to the fact that she’s never had a girl of her own to care for. Aunt Alexandra is a grandmother and it makes sense that she would be stuck in her old ways, Scout even says, Aunt Alexandra fitted into the world of Maycomb like a hand into a glove, but never into the world of Jem and me. (13. 131). However, as we see through the book she grows and changes eventually becoming a mother to

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1312 Words | 6 Pages

Scout’s aunt, Aunt Alexandra, visits town to try and make Scout a lady and restore order to the household. The trial, and other types of prejudice expressed from the town, expose Scout and Jem to stereotypical

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In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee uses negative connotation and vivid symbolism to persuade that being judged by an outward appearance or backstory can affect a person negatively and make the judgers feel superior. Lee uses an outstanding amount of characters to persuade this but some distinctive characters that she uses is Aunt Alexandra and the Cunningham’s. Lee also uses the Ewells and Tom Robinson to persuade her meaning. In chapter twenty-three Scout asks Aunt Alexandra if she can play with Walter Cunningham but Aunt Alexandra declines the request and does not give Scout permission to play with Walter. She explains why plus starts to judge Walter.

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She must to be charming, submissive to the men around her, and always in need of a man’s protection. Scout’s Aunt Alexandra is unable to separate herself from society’s traditions, leaving her dependent on

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456 Words | 2 Pages

Instead of continuing to think negatively of Aunt Alexandra, Scout views her differently. Scout views people and things differently to prove that she is growing up and coming-of-age.

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737 Words | 3 Pages

“I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, [Alexandra] said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants” (Lee 67). Aunt Alexandra expects Scout to fit into the role of a woman, even at such a young age. Another example of the harsh standards placed on Scout is shown when Alexandra is having tea with her friends in chapter 24. Miss Stephanie says, “well, you won’t get very far until you start wearing dresses more often”

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1334 Words | 6 Pages

When Jem and Scout’s Aunt Alexandra was thinking about moving in with the Finch’s, so they have a woman figure in their life, Atticus says to Scout, ‘’’How’d you like her to come live with us?’’’ (pg 128). This shows he is a good father because he cares about the opinion of his daughter. He honours and respects what she has to say. He is being fair because he knows the type of relationship Scout and her Aunt Alexandra have.

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1099 Words | 5 Pages

Scout said, “"Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year...." (108). This quote illustrates how Scout pushes against gender stereotypes, and this is the root of conflicts between her and Aunt Alexandra.

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878 Words | 4 Pages

To begin, Aunt Alexandra is one of the many voices of hypocrisy in the book. Aunt Alexandra is a symbol of old southern charm and what woman were supposed to act like in the 1930s. She lives by the fact that family is the most important thing in life. She judges

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531 Words | 3 Pages

Scout was more of a tomboy than a girly girl. Aunt Alexandra didn’t like how she didn’t act like a proper lady, and would ask Scout to act more ladylike. As she grew up, she was able to understand things a lot better. She began acting more grown up in situations like Aunt Alexandra’s dinner party.

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