Through To Kill a Mockingbird the reader gets to know the Finch family, Scout, Jem and Atticus. A traditional nuclear family missing one part, the mother. The reader expects the children to feel the absence their mother, and as we find out from Scout in the first chapter, Jem does feel the absence. However, Scout goes on to say that she herself doesn’t feel the absence of her mother, “Our mother died when I was two, so I never felt her absence” (1.7). While Scout may believe she doesn’t feel an absence because she was two at the time of her mother’s death, with perspective she may see that the mother figures in her life kept her from feeling an absence. Calpurnia was there to teach her about society, Miss Maudie Atkinson taught Scout about family and society, and while Aunt Alexandra originally showed Scout how not to act she eventually goes onto teaching Scout about love. Calpurnia is the first mother in Scout’s life, having been with the family ever since …show more content…
In chapter nine Scout recalls that for much of her early life her Aunt was just there. As Scout grows older Aunt Alexandra starts to critiques her attire and behavior. Scout quotes her aunt as having said, “I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches…she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants” (9.108). Aunt Alexandra turns against her brother as well; she refused to support him during his court case, betraying her brother and family. She’s in a way teaching Scout how not to act. 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