Why Is Calpurnia A Better Mother Than Aunt Alexandra?

To start off, Calpurnia has proven to be a better mother than Aunt Alexandra. First of all, Alexandra is too strict of a motherly figure. This is first proven in the words she says upon arriving, which is commanding Calpurnia to put her bag in the front bedroom, and Jean Louise to stop scratching her head (Lee 169). In fact, most of what their aunt says to them are remarks to do this or to be more like that. This suggests that she is too hard on Jem and Scout. Rather than building the kids up like a good mother should, Aunt Alexandra chooses to push them down with all of her insults and rules. Calpurnia too has many rules, but she does not enforce them as harshly as Alexandra tends to; her rules are usually sensible enough that Jem and Scout …show more content…
Another reason why Calpurnia is a better mother than Aunt Alexandra is because Cal acts as if they are her own kids. The first piece of evidence that shows this is when she offers to hang out with Scout. Scout is upset with Jem’s new attitude, and Calpurnia responds by saying, “’He’s gonna want to be off to himself a lot now, doin’ whatever boys do, so you just come right on in the kitchen when you feel lonesome. We’ll find lots of things to do in here’” (Lee 154). With this in mind, it is clear that mothers will do almost anything to make their children happy, which is what Cal was doing here by offering to give her company whenever she needed it. Later, it says that Calpurnia is happy to see Scout, and mothers are happy to see their children. Aunt Alexandra rarely, if at all, spends quality time with the children doing what they want to do and would rather criticize them than listen to what they have to say. Also, Calpurnia acts as if Jem and Scout are her own kids when she tried to shield them from the bad in the world. First, she tries to keep them behind her so they will not be frightened by the “mad dog” (Lee