Instead, she simply answers their questions, and lets them figure out the rest. When Scout asks to visit Calpurnia at her house, Calpurnia doesn't go into a dissertation about how white children generally don't spend time in black people's homes, she just smiles and says, "'We'd be glad to have you. Ironically, Aunt Alexandra holds many of Maycomb's prejudices against blacks. She has an African-American chauffeur, and says "'Put my bag in the front bedroom, Calpurnia'" before she even says hello.
The fact that Jem insists on taking the bag shows both maturity and lack of prejudice on his part. Still, Aunt Alexandra's various prejudices cause Scout to comment "There was indeed a caste system in Maycomb, but to my mind it worked this way: the older citizens, the present generation of people who had lived side by side for years and years, were utterly predictable to one another.
Aunt Alexandra claims that the main reason she's come to live with them is to provide "some feminine influence" for Scout. Of course, Scout considers Calpurnia to be a sufficient feminine influence. Aunt Alexandra would be quick to say that the finest black woman can't ever be a proper role model for a white child.
In these chapters, Scout confronts the issue of femininity through others in her household, as well:. Jem and Atticus: In a major and unexpected shift, Jem stops chastising Scout for acting like a girl, and instead says, "'It's time you started bein' a girl and acting right! Later, Atticus further confuses the children by deeming that they need to start "'behaving like the little lady and gentleman that you are.
He then tries to make light of the whole situation to cheer the children up. Curiously, Scout recognizes that "Atticus was only a man. It takes a woman to do that kind of work. Calpurnia: With much more gentle tactics than Aunt Alexandra, Calpurnia shows Scout a great deal about femininity. Scout absorbs Calpurnia's lessons willingly because Calpurnia doesn't try to force any standards on her. Scout simply starts joining her in the kitchen as Jem enters adolescence and she remarks "by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.
Lee shows the juxtaposition between Calpurnia and Aunt Alexandra by the fact that Alexandra won't let Calpurnia cook for her lady friends. Ironically, though, at Calpurnia's church, Scout is "confronted with the Impurity of Women doctrine. It is indeed a confusing time for Scout. Shadrach Bible one of the three captives who came out of the fiery furnace miraculously unharmed: Dan. 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.
So now Scout is curious, and she peppers Calpurnia with basic questions like when her birthday is she doesn't actually know, not even the year and where she grew up near Finch's Landing. But while Cal shares the basic facts of her life, we don't learn how she feels about them. Does she miss her childhood home? Was she happy there? Did she leave family members behind? What does she do on her days off? Scout does learn to see Calpurnia as a real person over the course of the novel, but it's still an open question: how much does the novel give Calpurnia a real identity, and how much does it just push her into the role of wise black woman?
Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. By Harper Lee. Previous Next. Calpurnia Tough Love Sure, everyone in the novel is filtered through Scout's perception. But we get the sense that Calpurnia in particular is colored by Scout's perspective—and her perspective sounds a little like Cinderella thinking about her wicked stepmother : She was all angles and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.
Walter Cunningham Jr. Tired of ads? Join today and never see them again. The Negro community made payments in kind after Atticus defended Tom Robinson. They too couldn't afford to pay him in real money, so chose to use a different kind of payment. The stories are set in small towns that have tight-knit communities, outsiders struggle to fit into Maycomb and Lindal because of the fixed ways and traditions that are hundreds of years old.
Scout refers to this as 'Maycomb's set of rules. Want to read the rest? Sign up to view the whole essay and download the PDF for anytime access on your computer, tablet or smartphone. Don't have an account yet? Create one now! Already have an account? Log in now! JavaScript seem to be disabled in your browser. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website.
Join over 1. Page 1. Save View my saved documents Submit similar document. Share this Facebook. Extracts from this document Introduction English Coursework - To kill a Mockingbird Describe the importance of Calpurnia in the lives of the Finch family, and in the novel as a whole. Conclusion She also helped to show the children how the people in Maycomb don't realize their own hypocrisy and she gives them an insight into what Negro life is actually like.
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