Sunday, July 1, 2012

In To Kill a Mockingbird, how does Scout develop in her perspective of her Aunt Alexandra?

Scout does not appreciate her Aunt Alexandra at all at first--except for maybe her good cooking. Scout is forced to go to Finch's Landing every Christmas where the family gets together with Uncle Jack and Aunt Alexandra's family. Scout views her Aunt like "Mount Everest." This seems to suggest that her aunt is an insurmountable obstacle that must either be conquered or left alone. From a little girl's perspective, Aunt Alexandra is probably something to be left alone. Specifically, Scout describes her aunt as follows:



". . . when Jem told me about changelings and siblings, I decided that she had been swapped at birth, that my grandparents had perhaps received a Crawford instead of a Finch. Had I ever harbored the mystical notions about mountains that seem to obsess lawyers and judges, Aunt Alexandra would have been analogous to Mount Everest: throughout my life, she was cold and there" (77).



 Later, Aunt Alexandra comes to live in Scout's home with the family, partly because she feels the children need more of a motherly-type woman in the house to teach them manners. She feels that Scout should wear dresses and be taught how to become a lady. She even feels that Scout should choose better friends and Scout rebels as best as she can. But after the stress and strain of going through the vicissitudes of life in the prejudiced South, Scout matures and views her Aunt with more careful eyes in the end.



"Aunt Alexandra looked across the room at me and smiled. She looked at a tray of cookies on the table and nodded at them. I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some.


After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I" (237).



Even though Scout and Aunt Alexandra don't see eye-to-eye on many things, Scout warms up to the good qualities that she does see. Aunt Alexandra is strong. A woman like that is someone to notice, although not always one to agree with. Scout, in fact, does learn to be a lady, too, which she wouldn't have learned without her aunt's example.

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