In chapter 13, Aunt Alexandria says that she wants to stay with Scout and Jem for a little while so that they could have a "feminine influence". "We decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence. It won't be many years, Jean Louise, before you become interested in clothes and boys--". Aunt Alexandria wants to be with the kids while they grow up so that she could see Jem and Scout get older. She says that it's not long until Scout likes boys because she wants to be Scout's role model when she gets older. She also could be there because their mother died so she is coming to replace her so that the kids could sort of feel like they have a motherly figure with them. When Aunt Alexandria came she also very proud of the Finches, but she gets disappointed because she realizes that Jem and Scout don't uphold their family name and makes Atticus lecture both Jem and Scout. After the lecture Scout feels sad because she's worried about following what the Finches are supposed to do.
Why do you think Scout feels worried about doing what Finches are "supposed to do"? Do you think Aunt Alexandria is there to be a motherly figure or for another reason?
Alex, I agree with you on all of your points. I also think that she not only has influence over Atticus and his family, but most of the town as well. Around page 172, the book discusses all of the things which ALexandra does in the town and how she seems to "fit into the town like a hand into a glove" (Lee 175). Aunt Alexandra is a very manipulative woman, however, I am not sure yet of her true reasons for coming to Maycomb.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I agree with you on all of your points. I also think that she not only has influence over Atticus and his family, but most of the town as well. Around page 172, the book discusses all of the things which ALexandra does in the town and how she seems to "fit into the town like a hand into a glove" (Lee 175). Aunt Alexandra is a very manipulative woman, however, I am not sure yet of her true reasons for coming to Maycomb.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Aunt Alexandra is not at the house to be the "feminine influence" she claims to be, but is there to be a criticiser in all the Finchs' ways. Already, we begin to notice her behavior towards Jem and Scout. She makes Atticus have a conversation to them of how to act like grown-ups and "Finches." Scout takes this to heart because she feels that she must not be the ruination of the family, as Francis had once claimed Atticus to be. Also, I think that there is some truth in what Francis said. Aunt Alexandra really does believe that Atticus puts Blacks above Whites and she is there to watch over him, and make sure it doesn't get too extreme.
ReplyDeleteI think that Aunt Alexandra may be trying to be a motherly figure to Scout but she doesn't understand how to do that. She believes that all girls should like "clothes and boys" but that isn't the aproach a mother should take. She is not there for Scout like a mother would be. For example, Scout says that Aunt Alexandra is like Mount Everest, she was just "cold and there". Aunt Alexandra could do a way better job at trying to be a mother.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you I think that Aunt Alexandra comes because she thinks that Atticus is ruining the family. She disproves of him defending Tom Robinson, she also disapproves of Scout. I think the reason she comes is because she wants the family to stay the way it has always been and not change from how it originally was. She wants Scout to follow traditional gender roles. She comes to make Scout more feminine. "...it would be best for you to have some feminine influence,"(Lee 170). She means that she wants to be around to make her more feminine and change her to be. Aunt Alexandra only comes to change the family not to help them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you I think that Aunt Alexandra comes because she thinks that Atticus is ruining the family. She disproves of him defending Tom Robinson, she also disapproves of Scout. I think the reason she comes is because she wants the family to stay the way it has always been and not change from how it originally was. She wants Scout to follow traditional gender roles. She comes to make Scout more feminine. "...it would be best for you to have some feminine influence,"(Lee 170). She means that she wants to be around to make her more feminine and change her to be. Aunt Alexandra only comes to change the family not to help them.
ReplyDeleteI think that in these chapters Calpurnia and Alexandra are being compared as the two main female figures in Scout's life. When Alexandra says "'We decided that it
ReplyDeletewould be best for you to have some feminine influence'" Scout actually thinks to say "Cal's a girl" (Lee 170). Calpurnia is remarkable, she can read although most people in her community can't, she is a great caregiver to Jem and Scout, and is a black woman in a time when both black people and women are treated like garbage. Alexandra on the other hand is what Scout is supposed to become. She is proper and feminine. I think that this is another example of the book's morals about stereotypes and prejudice.
I think that Scout feels worried about doing what the Finches are "supposed to do" because she likes the way she lives her life, and she does not want someone like Aunt Alexandra to start controlling it. Scout and Jem don't want to change their way of life just for their family name, they want to keep living their lives and not have to live up to Aunt Alexandra's perfect vision of the Finches. At the end of Chapter 13, Scout reacts to her father's lecture about holding the family name: "I felt myself beginning to cry... This was not my father... Aunt Alexandra had put him up to this" (Lee 178). Scout feels very saddened when Atticus tells them to act like Finches, and she begins to cry because that is not like her father, and she does not want to change her way of life.
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