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The role of family in To Kill a Mockingbird
Who shows moral courage to kill a mockingbird
Who shows moral courage to kill a mockingbird
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The Staunch Woman of Maycomb According to Scout “[Calpurnia’s] hands was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard”(Lee 6). Calpurnia is good at getting her point across. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee challenges the readers to see the different sides of Calpurnia. Through direct and indirect characterization, Calpurnia is depicted as a female authoritarian that provides love and life-lessons to Jem and Scout while acting as their mother figure. Harper Lee uses both direct and indirect characterization to exhibit differing views of Calpurnia, including her own gallant view of herself versus Scout’s antagonistic view of her. To illustrate Calpurnia advises Scout, “there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language”(Lee
Scout does not heed Atticus’ advice in Chapter 4 of To Kill a Mockingbird, as she continues to express her biased hatred for Calpurnia, and also openly contradicts Jem, without considering the perspectives to which they are taking. As stated by Harper Lee, “...Calpurnia’s tyranny, unfairness, and meddling in my business had faded to gentle grumbling of general disapproval (45)”. This quote expresses the many ways Scout thinks of Calpurnia, a great many of which as terrible and controlling. This biased description of Calpurnia shows how Scout is still unable to understand why Calpurnia consistently disciplines her, and from what standpoint she is doing so. Also stated by Lee, “Jem stamped his foot. “Don’t you know you’re not suppose to even
Scout is a young girl growing up in the south, she is intelligent, thoughtful, and good natured. Her identity is somewhat uncommon during the time she lives in. She is characterized as a tomboy, who doesn’t always act “lady like” or proper by southern standards. Scout most likely became the type of person she is by the care of her father, Atticus. He shapes her mind, while trying to protect her from a dangerous world and preserving her childhood.
Shaw-Thornburg, Angela. “On Reading To Kill a Mockingbird: Fifty Years Later.” Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: New Essays. Meyer, Michael J. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. 113-127. Print.
Little by little Jem, Scout, and Dill get exposed to the real world; changing their perspective and their attitude towards people and subjects. This event focuses on Scout and Jem, Atticus is away and Calpurnia decides to take them to her church. While they are at the church Jem and Scout notice, Calpurnia talks a different way to negros than to whites. “‘Cal,’ I asked, “why do you talk niggertalk to the—to your folks when you know it’s not right?” ‘Well, in the first place I’m black—’ ‘That doesn’t mean you hafta talk that way when you know better,’ said Jem. Calpurnia tilted her hat and scratched her head, then pressed her hat down carefully over her ears. ‘It’s right hard to say,’ she said. ‘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 beat Moses.’ ‘But Cal, you know better,’ I said. ‘It’s not necessary to tell all you know. It’s not ladylike—in the second place, folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin‘ more than they do. It aggravates ’em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talkin‘ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.’” (167) Calpurnia
In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” the author shows that Calpurnia and Miss Caroline play a big part in Scout’s early education. Calpurnia and Miss Caroline both differ in their methods and aim. Calpurnia is an African American maid for the Finch family. She had more education then most people and she is like a mother towards Scout. Scout never liked Calpurnia very much because Calpurnia always complained about her behavior. Calpurnia aim and method of teaching is to be disciplined and humble. Calpurnia wants Scout to know the right and the wrong. For example, when Walter Cunningham was comes over for dinner, he drowns all of his meal in syrup, and Scout was angry. However, Calpurnia called her to the kitchen and said, “He ain’t company, Cal, he’s just a Cunningham-” “Hush your mouth! Don’t matter who they are, anybody sets foot in this house’s yo‘ comp’ny, and don’t you let me catch you remarkin’ on their ways like you was so high and mighty!”
One subtle example of discrimination the reader sees is the treatment of Calpurnia, a black woman, the housekeeper/nanny for the Finch family. Although she is treated fairly, it is obvious that she is considered to be on a lower social level than the Finches. She calls Scout ma'am and Jem sir, although these are titles usually reserved for elders.
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there is an abundance of minor characters. Three of these characters, Dill, Alexandra, and Calpurnia are especially significant because of the influence they had on Scout.
Similar to Atticus, Calpurnia takes a stand against racism and believes everyone is equal. Due to Atticus’ and Calpurnia’s morals toward racism, Jem and Scout are heavily influenced by their views, and will most likely take after them. Calpurnia seeks every opportunity possible to educate Jem and Scout that racism is unacceptable. For example, Calpurnia takes the children with her to her black church called First Purchase, and because of this, the children are able to better understand the vast separation of race. Scout learns that not only are white people prejudice, but black people are also prejudice. Most of the negroes at First Purchase were very welcoming as the three entered except for Lula who made them feel unwelcome. "You ain't got no business bringin' white chillun here—they got their church, we got our'n” (136). Clearly, Lula is prejudice towards white people, similar to how white people are prejudice towards black people. In addition to these prejudice ways, Scout realizes how differently Calpurnia acts around her folks. Calpurnia stated that talking white folks in her church would be “out of place”, and how “folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do” (143). As a result, Calpurnia talks colored-folks’ at her church so she fits in with everyone else, rather than speaking more advanced, which ultimately shows
By utilizing character foil between Aunt Alexandra and Atticus, Lee was able to illustrate a contrast within the white society. In order to show how a typical white person would behave during that time, Lee introduces Aunt Alexandra to portray how most white people would act in Maycomb. “You all were coming back from Calpurnia’s church that Sunday? (Lee, 1960, p. 222)” This quote exemplifies how Aunt Alexandra is always discriminated against black people. She was shocked to hear about Jem and Scout going to black church with Calpurnia. While Calpurnia is portrayed as a well-mannered person who acts like a mother to Scout and Jem in this novel, Aunt Alexandra looks down on Calpurnia, because she was born with different skin color. In response to Calpurnia’s action, she told Atticus, “...you’ve got to do something about her... (Lee, 1960, p.224)” to discrete herself and to prevent Calpurnia from being in the same social class as her. While Aunt Alexandra symbolizes as a racial prejudice in this novel, Atticus is one of the characters that represents both a...
Throughout this piece of literature, there are numerous cases of gender discrimination that are apparent. While this particular prejudice may not play as large of a role as a theme as others, it is still quite critical to the overall storyline. Much of the use of this discriminatory element is obscure throughout Harper Lee's novel. Nonetheless, after careful analyzing of the plot, this component is decidedly noticeable. In the opening chapters of the novel, we are introduced to this unit through Scout's interactions with her older ...
Harper Lee is credited greatly for her ability to captivate the reader by presenting opinions, views of life and its common roadblocks, through eyes of a child. Scout, an intelli...
Calpurnia instills the important lessons of manners, and respect towards others in Scout’s every day life. This lesson especially stands out when Walter Cunningham goes to the Finch hours for lunch during school one day. Walter started pouring syrup all over his food, and got Scout yelling at him, Calpurnia scolded Scout about her judgments, “’There’s some folks who don’t like us,’ she whispered fiercely, ‘but you ain’t called on to contradict ‘em at the table when they don’t. That boy’s yo’ comp’ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him you hear?’”(32). This quote signifies the importance of the lesson Calpurnia is trying to teach Scout through her scolding of Scout’s disrespect towards Walter. Scout was questioning Walter’s ways of living, and Calpurnia teaches Scout th...
To Kill a Mocking Bird is narrated retrospectively from the view of Scout, the daughter of Atticus Finch a lawyer of Maycomb, and younger sister of Jem. The informal vocabulary of the narration is still good enough to suggest it is spoken from the view of an adult Scout, (looking back at her childhood) but is casual enough to be understood by most readers.
For example, when she faces backlash for bringing Scout and Jem to First Purchase African M.E. Church (Lee 119), she defends the children and herself. Even in the face of their differences in society, Calpurnia continues to treat the children like family. Second, despite the fact that Aunt Alexandra degrades and looks down on Calpurnia’s role in the Finch family (Lee 136), Calpurnia does not change her attitude towards Scout and Jem. Her dedication to the family does not waver under judgement of her role. Lastly, Atticus defends Calpurnia when Aunt Alexandra questions her role in the household, saying “(...) I couldn’t have got along without her all these years. She’s a faithful member of this family and you’ll simply have to accept things the way they are (...)” (Lee 137). His faith in Calpurnia is a result of Calpurnia’s proven loyalty to the family. As such, Calpurnia’s steadfast dedication is like that of a mother’s; she provides a constant and reliable source of stability for Scout and
Women have been a big part of history and they have always had a certain standard that they feel like they need to stand by to be looked upon as a woman. Within Harper Lee’s fictional novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the audience is subjected to the harsh impact of women's roles in which the innocent narrator, Scout Finch, struggles to understand the justification for such biased rights. By analyzing major female characters in the novel such as [scout and Calpurnia],one can evaluate the gradual change of female roles and expectations from the 1930s to current day.