Aunt Alexandra Influence In To Kill A Mockingbird

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra is a motherly influence on Scout and Jem who tries to teach them how a Finch should act. For example, Aunt Alexandra teaches the children how to act when she first arrives at the house. In fact, she corrects Scout soon after she steps through the door. “Jean Louise, stop scratching your head,” Aunt Alexandra sternly demands. When Scout asks Atticus if she can visit Calpurnia at her house next Sunday, Aunt Alexandra tries to intervene. “You may not!” Aunt Alexandra interrupts abruptly. “I wasn’t talking to you!” Scout replies vigorously. Scout does not like Aunt Alexandra because Aunt Alexandra is too strict, does not like blacks, and wants her to change her childish ways. Aunt Alexandra wants

Scout feels uncomfortable around the proper ladies because the ladies laugh at her answers to their questions. Although Scout prefers to socialize with men rather than women, she tries to make her aunt proud of her by acting properly. “After all, if Aunty could be a lady in a time like this, so could I,” Scout thinks proudly to herself. Perhaps the most significant example of Aunt Alexandra’s care for her children occurs after Tom Robinson’s trial. Aunt Alexandra shows care for her niece and nephew because she worries where the children have gone. She nearly faints when Calpurnia finds Jem and Scout at the trial. “I didn’t think it wise in the first place to let them (go),” Aunt Alexandra utters bitterly to Atticus when he returns home from the trial. One of Alexandra’s main goals as mother is to keep Jem and Scout innocent from their society as they grow up. According to Aunt Alexandra, adolescents do not need to listen to racist remarks and talk about rape. In short, Aunt Alexandra may not be liked necessarily by Jem and Scout, but behind her toughness is a loving and caring