Aunt Alexanra tells Calpurnia to put her bag in the house and tells Scout to stop scratching her head.
When Aunt Alexandra shows up at the Finch house unexpectedly, she does not greet the children or Calpurnia. She immediately behaves as if she owns the place and starts ordering everyone around.
“Put my bag in the front bedroom, Calpurnia,” was the first thing Aunt Alexandra said. “Jean Louise, stop scratching your head,” was the second thing she said. (Ch. 13)
This behavior is typical of Alexandra. She and Scout do not have a loving relationship. Scout sees her as cold and bossy. The incident at Christmas confirms this, because Scout found out that Alexandra said terrible things about Atticus defending Tom Robinson. Scout was also highly annoyed by her cousin Frances, who was a chip of Alexandra’s block.
Atticus tells Scout that Aunt Alexandra does not understand girls much, because she had no daughters. This means that she tends to want to interfere with Scout’s life and try to show her how to be a lady.
Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. (Ch. 9)
Scout is not thrilled to see Alexandra on her porch. When she finds out her aunt is staying to support her brother during the trial, she is even less happy about it. She knows the two of them will never get along.
The relationship between Scout and Alexandra is a rocky one. Alexandra represents all of the old ways that Atticus has carefully avoided in raising his children. She believes the Finches are better than anyone else because of how long they have lived in Maycomb, while Atticus tried to teach his children to value people for who they were. Yet in her own way, Alexandra is just trying to help Scout by making sure that she is raised the right way.
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