Who Is Calpurnia In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the story To Kill A Mockingbird all the characters descriptions are somewhat filtered by Scout because of her ways of seeing people differently. There is one character in particular whose way of being described gives the reader a sense that it is colored by Scout’s perspective, her name s Calpurnia. Calpurnia is introduced by narrator and main character Scout Finch as the cook. Although later in the story the reader learns that she is not only the cook and housekeeper, but also a mother-type figure to Scout and older brother Jem.
Scout explains to the reader who Calpurnia is and what she’s like, and the reader learns just how long she has worked for them when Scout says, “She had been with us ever since Jem was born, and I had felt her tyrannical

This meaning that Scout expects Calpurnia to only do the right thing, based on how much she confronts Scout on her bad behavior. When Scout asks Calpurnia this question, Calpurnia exclaims to her that it just revolves around where you are, who you’re around and who you’re talking to. Calpurnia says to Jem, “Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’ talk at home it’d be out of place wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked white-folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors? They’d think I was puttin’ on airs to eat Moses.” (Lee 12) Basically what she’s trying to say is that what’s right in one place may not be right in another. Seeing Calpurnia in relation to the African-American community makes Scout realize for the first time that Cal actually continues to exist when she’s not at the Finch house, “That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me. The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one, to say nothing of her having command of two languages.” Now, Scout with her curious mindset, grows a fairly big interest in Calpurnia and starts asking her questions such as when her birthday is and where she grew up. This makes the relationship between the two far deeper than Scout could have ever possibly predicted as. Scout used to look at Calpurnia as some mean lady who cooked them meals and gave