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Who Is Aunt Alexandra's Character In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The character I chose was Aunt Alexandra from “To Kill A Mockingbird” because she is a character with a strong personality and stands by her opinions even if they're wrong. A little background about her in the book, she was the older sister of Atticus but not like him at all. She was a racist person and was disappointed at her brother for supporting the black man in the trial, no matter how noble his actions may have been. She's very intent on Scout being the ideal female girl in that time period even though in our minds, Scout is probably a very clever and brave girl. What seems to irk her the most is the way she dresses as in the book it states, “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 do things that required pants. …show more content…

Anything Scout wants to do that she feels should not be “done by Finches” is immediately followed by a firm no. She believes that the Finches were destined to be superior than everyone else and uses that to help her beat Scout into line although whether it worked or not can be decided by us. Lee uses the contrast between Atticus and Aunt Alexandra to further show the topic of tolerance throughout the book. Aunt Alexandra is very poised and the ideal representation of southern women at that time and if we had such a bad perception of her, imagine living in a society of people filled with people like her. She loves to have control over everything and is very proud and

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523 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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1128 Words | 5 Pages

For example, she tells Scout multiple times to act more lady-like and wear dresses not pants. Atticus was also forced to tell the children that they are part of “gentle breeding,” and that they should act that way. For

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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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320 Words | 2 Pages

“We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won’t be many years, Jean Louise before you become interested in boys” (Lee 170). In this quote Aunt Alexandra is trying to be the motherly influence when she moves in. She tries to give Scout some feminine influence so that she won’t

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1575 Words | 7 Pages

In this quote, Scout is talking about how Aunt Alexandra doesn’t ever let a chance to nag people about how pure her family is and how impure their families are. This, however, is just her facade so she could hide her true self. In the following quote, it will show how Aunt Alexandra really is and this is after Atticus tells her, Scout, Calpurnia, and Miss Maudie that Tom died trying to escape jail. “I thought Aunt Alexandra was crying, but when she took her hands away from her face, she was not.

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424 Words | 2 Pages

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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926 Words | 4 Pages

The quote by Martin Luther King Jr “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he made stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. This quote means that a man’s personality/character is shaped and determined by the way he reacts and responds to the difficulties and hardships that he face’s. The way in which this quote by Martin Luther King” relates to the novel “To Kill a Mocking Bird” is the way Atticus feels when he defends Tom Robinson. From the outside he looks all confident and professional but from the inside he is very nervous and scared. Even though Tom Robinson is a black man it makes it difficult for Atticus because they were in the era of the Great Depression where there

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1431 Words | 6 Pages

She does not see everyone on the same level in society which is the opposite of Atticus. She believes in social class and how it separates different families and people from each other. Aunt Alexandra wanted to take over teaching Jem and Scout to turn them into a lady and gentleman, but only for the sake of keeping the Finch family name. “Aunty had a way of declaring What Is Best For The Family…” (Lee 129).

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248 Words | 1 Pages

The social structure of society motivates the actions and behavior of Aunt Alexandra in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The social structure of society is represented with the separation of good and evil, rich and poor, and blacks and whites. Throughout the story, Aunt Alexandra is a constant reminder of how society should function with relentless notions to Scout as to how a girl must behave. Aunt Alexandra is the perfect image of a lady with strict beliefs in tradition and propriety. These beliefs support the separation of different classes in society.

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737 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, Lee uses Scout to demonstrate how the expectations of society are pushed onto girls at a young age. One of the characters who forces these expectations onto Scout is Aunt Alexandra. Often times she ridicules Atticus for allowing Scout to wear breeches and be “unladylike.” During the Christmas party at Finch’s landing, Scout and Alexandra have a conversation about what is proper to wear.

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811 Words | 4 Pages

TKaM Essay 1 However, Mr. Cunningham is not the only person from To Kill a Mockingbird that has a real life counterpart like Thomas Jefferson. Aunt Alexandra is another character from To Kill a Mockingbird that has a real world counterpart; although Aunt Alexandra is seen as an “evil person” she also has her fair share of characteristics we see in a “good person” as in the way she sees and cares about people. Jem and Scout are walking home one day and upon arriving at home, they see their Aunt Alexandra sitting on the porch. When they arrive at the house, they see her heavy suitcase on the porch, implying she would be there for some time.

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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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626 Words | 3 Pages

Many people in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper lee, isolate themselves. Sometimes Isolation turns out fine for them, but other time is can hurt them in the inside and make them feel lonely and sad. Mr. Raymond is a huge outsider in town and almost everyone takes pity on him and say it’s not his fault he's a drunk. The whole town thinks he's evil because he has a mixed colored child, in Maycomb you can only be white and be accepted.

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273 Words | 2 Pages

Although men may hold the primary bias toward women, it is fair to say that the women, however, “perfected” it. From the men around Scout, readers can see that they mostly just made earnest advises on Scout’s need of feminine behavior, but it was the women who emphasized on her lack of decency and aggravated her suffering on the “education of ladyship”. Aunt Alexandra, a textbook paragon of the ideal “southern belle”, the kind of woman who wore a corset even under her bathrobe; she had been Scout’s “tormenter” since the death of her sister-in-law (the Finch kids’ mother) and took on the role of instructing moderate behavior to the children. To her, the boyish attires of Scout was a disgrace that showed how “lack of discipline” the Finch family

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766 Words | 4 Pages

In spite of Scout’s inability to fully comprehend the significance of what Atticus is doing for Tom, she readies herself to defend Atticus, which ultimately portrays that she does not regard society’s expectations on how she should

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