What Is Aunt Alexandra's Role In To Kill A Mockingbird

Decent Essays
Aunt Alexandra stays in the Finches' home, in order to make some feminine influence on Scout. Although Scout's mother died early, Miss Maudie seems to take the role in her past years, and Aunt Alexandra continues that role.

Maycomb's geographical and historical background is described. Although it is a fictional town, the author delicately designs it. I am not familiar with U.S. geography and history, but I guess Maycomb represents a typical town in the Southern U.S. during the Great Depression. With such a rich background, the residents' daily life is presented vividly.

There is a caste system in the town. Significant family traditions inherit over generations. The saying ``No Crawford Minds His Own Business'' matches Miss Stephanie Crawford's

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    How Is Maycomb Changed

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the book Go Set a Watchman we can clearly see that the small town known as, Maycomb has changed since Scout Finch had last lived there as a child. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird Scout shows us that Maycomb is a small, but very fun and exciting place. In the summer Scout hung out and played with her neighbors in Maycomb. This may be because Scout was an adventurous kid when To Kill a Mockingbird took place. When Scout Finch comes back to Maycomb to visit she comes back to the same Maycomb she grew up in, but with a changed reality.…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She recognizes the fact that being a southerner, it was a source of shame to some members that they had no recorded ancestors, there was tons of racism, and everyone in the town of Maycomb delt with drama and extreme racism almost everyday. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley are metaphorically portrayed as mockingbirds. Atticus Finch was a mockingbird. Atticus was a really good man, believe it or not.…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many authors choose to write what they know about. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, author, Nelle Harper Lee use her childhood life as a model for the book. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in 1930s Maycomb Alabama. The narrator, Scout Finch, is a young tomboy who tells the story of a trial her father, Atticus, and how he chose to defend a black man, regardless of his. The characters and setting of the novel impact the plot in many ways.…

    • 1734 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone has experienced prejudice or has been prejudice at some point in their lives. Many of us have been pre-judged or we have pre-judged ourselves at one point or another, sometimes we don't even realize we are judging someone until we really stop to think. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra's perspective had been changed drastically. Her sexist and racist opinions have been changed in a few different ways. She realizes Scout is not going to change just because she wants her to.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout the novel, Harper Lee displays various prime themes that array the segregation and setting in Maycomb, a fictional town in the heart of Alabama. This unforgettable story of a childhood in a quaint town and a watershed that changes everything, is compassionate, dramatic, whole hearted, and courageous. The coming of age symbolizes one of these many themes throughout this novel and is crucial to how the characters come together. Jem Finch is one of the significant examples that resembles the coming of age and matures over the course of 3 years. During the events in chapters 1- 31 in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem has signifficantly grown from a childish, playful boy that he was from the begining of the novel, to a more calm, composed…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finches discover important themes through the lives and events of the people in Maycomb. To Kill a Mockingbird centers around Scout Finch, who is a young girl living in the 1930s during the Great Depression. In the story, Scout is upset because of the ignorance that her teacher showed because of the short time she lived in Maycomb. Her dad, Atticus, told Scout to put herself in the teacher’s shoes so she could better understand the teacher. This major theme, which is revisited throughout the novel, is empathy.…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the entirety of the book, Aunt Alexandra remains one of the most dynamic character in To Kill a Mockingbird. When she comes to stay in Maycomb with Atticus and the children, Scout says, ¨Aunt Alexandra fitted into the world of Maycomb like a hand in a glove, but never into the world of Jem and me” (150). In the beginning of her appearance as a character, she constantly criticizes and judges Atticus, Jem, Scout, and the various citizens of Maycomb. For this reason, she doesn't fit well with Jem and Scout, as Atticus taught them not to judge based on family history. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Aunt Alexandra does not change in appearance, but her personality and moral compass transform as the novel unravels.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The missionary meeting was a turning point in Aunt Alexandra’s demeanor towards all others. She, “Smiled brilliantly. ‘Stay with us, Jean Louise,’ she said.” (p. 307). Even though Aunt Alexandra was only doing this to change Scout, it was different from how Scout was treated before.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The book To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in Maycomb County, an imaginary district in southern Alabama. To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated by a double consciousness, alternating between the Finch siblings. The events in the story take place in the early 1930’s, during the Great Depression. The cultural norm during this time allowed, and in some cases, encouraged discrimination based on someone’s social class, race, or gender. In this story Mayella Ewell, a poor white female who lives behind the dump, is often disregarded and forgotten.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alexandra ploys to make Scout more ' Lady like ' and berating Scout for not wanting to wear dresses makes Scout grow to dislike her Aunt. While Atticus worked on the Tom Robinson case Alexandra comes to Maycomb to live with Scout and Jem to provide a 'feminine influence '. Aunt Alexandra, along with the rest of the Finch Household does not approve of Atticus defending a Tom Robinson, a black man. As the Tom Robinson case goes on Alexandra sees how passionate Atticus is about giving Tom a fair trial . When Tom Robinson is found guilty Alexandra notices the effects of racism and how much it bothers her nephew.…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    This would encourage discrimination against individuals. Maycomb County’s beliefs are provoked by the social structure in which they live. Highlighted throughout the novel is how the blacks are immediately discarded as below the rest of the general public. This is demonstrated when Aunt Alexandra, who has the typical views of a white middle class person, refuses Scout to go to Calpurnia’s house purely because she is black. Later, Alexandra refuses Scout to…

    • 1726 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Family in To Kill a Mockingbird “Family is not an important thing, it’s everything,” stated Michael J. Fox. Family is a meaningful theme in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which is written by Harper Lee. The main characters are Scout, Jem, and Atticus, their father. The setting takes place in a small town called Maycomb County in Alabama. Scout and Jem have to deal with the problems that occur because of Atticus’s trial.…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scout is a noteworthy character that exemplifies personal growth under the guidance of Atticus’ moral voice. Throughout the novel, Scout uncovers the good and evil in the Maycomb society which develops her naïve perceptions into greater awareness, assisting her in understanding others. We are reminded of the power of the innocence of youth through Scout’s first-person narration and dialogue to her Aunt Alexandra proclaiming, “I remembered the distant disastrous occasion when I rushed to young Walter Cunningham’s defence. Now I was glad I’d done it. ‘Soon’s school starts I’m gonna ask Walter home to dinner…’”…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It has been proposed that Maycomb, is the counterpart to Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, and the events that took place are based on events in Lee’s childhood. Scout, like Lee, grew up in the depression era south, and was born to parents, Atticus Finch and an unnamed mother. Atticus Finch in the novel, serves as a lawyer, member of the state legislature, similarly to Lee’s own father. In the novel, the character Scout and her brother Jem’s, mother is not present and is assumed dead. Although her own mother was not dead, she did suffer from mental illness and was not really “present” in Harper Lee’s life.…

    • 1973 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Maycomb is a small place, isolated from any of the major cities and towns. Scout is a tomboy who lives in a small town. The small town ideologies such as black people are only three-fourths of a person. That men and women have specific gender roles they must play and that Maycomb’s way, is the right way. Scout’s environment is shown to have influenced her to an extent.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays