To Kill A Mockingbird Minor Character Analysis

Significance of Minor Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird

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.

Dill is an outsider of the town. He provides another child’s point of view, a child who is not related to Scout. According to the text, “Dill was from Meridian, Mississippi, was spending the summer with his aunt, Miss Rachel, and would be spending every summer in Maycomb from now on” (8). Dill isn’t from Maycomb, so he sees things differently than the natives of the town. It adds a new layer into all the things Scout is going through. Dill is young, but more mature than

Scout is. This can be seen especially in the beginning of chapter twenty, when he cries during the trial, and in the encounter with Mr. Raymond afterwards. “‘Things haven’t caught up with that one’s instinct yet. Let him get a little older and he won’t get sick and cry’” (269). His maturity can be seen in this scene, as he sees and understands more than Scout. Dill offers the perspective of a foreign child.
Aunt Alexandra is a mother figure to Scout. In the first chapter, Scout says “Our mother died when I was two . . . I did not miss her” (7). Scout doesn’t remember her mother. The only female she was raised with was Calpurnia, who is more of a nursemaid than mother figure. Scout realizes that she needs a female helping to raise her after a fight with her father, and states that “It takes a woman to do that kind of work” (179). Also, Alexandra knows what is ‘proper’ for a lady, while Scout’s tomboyish nature is considered unusual. Alexandra’s presence slowly begins to affect her behavior. When Alexandra manages to pull herself together and continue the meeting with the other women in the town, Scout gains strength from the idea that “If Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I” (318). At this point, Scout begins to act a bit more feminine. Aunt Alexandra represents the mother figure Scout never had.
Calpurnia allows Scout to view some of what is going on from the perspective of the black community.

One Sunday, while their father is away, Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church. The reverend says, “‘The collection taken up today and for the next three Sundays will go to Helen-his wife, to help her out at home’” (160). This reveals that the entire black community is involved in the Tom Robinson case, and they are all working together to help him and his family. During the trail, Scout, Jem, and Dill sit in the balcony with the reverend they met at church. After Tom is declared guilty, Scout says, “I looked around. They were standing. All around us and in the balcony on the opposite wall, the Negroes were getting to their feet” (283). The fact that they all stand shows their respect for Tom and Atticus, and is another example of the black community uniting. In the twenty fourth chapter, Atticus comes home with the news that Tom was shot and killed. He says “‘Cal, I want you to come out with me and help me tell Helen.’”(315). Calpurnia does go with him, to aid him. This is another example of blacks helping blacks.. The unity of the black community throughout the novel was only seen through Calpurnia.
To Kill a Mockingbird has dozens of minor characters that are important to the novel. The three most important, however, are Dill, Alexandra, and Calpurnia. They each have their own unique effect on Scout, which helps shape her personality as she matures throughout the course of the

novel.