Aunt Alexandra, meanwhile, takes over the Finch household and imposes her vision of social order. With her rigid notions of class and her habit of declaring what’s best for the family, she naturally clashes with Calpurnia, whose presence she deems unnecessary. The reader may side with Scout at this juncture and consider Aunt Alexandra inflexible and narrow-minded, but (like most of the book’s characters) she has many redeeming qualities. She may not have her brother’s fierce yearning for justice or his parenting abilities, but her eagerness to rear Jem and Scout properly and her pride in the Finch name demonstrate that she cares deeply about her family.
Aunt Alexandra’s faults result from caring too much rather than too little. Aunt Alexandra is a woman who “never lets a chance escape her, to point out the shortcomings of other tribal groups to the glory of our own.” Aunt Alexandra holds many of Maycomb’s prejudices against blacks. She has an African-American chauffeur, and says “‘Put my bag in the front bedroom, Calpurnia’” before she even says hello. Aunt Alexandra’s various prejudices cause Scout to comment “There was indeed a caste system in Maycomb, but to my mind it worked this way: the older citizens, the present generation of people who had lived side by side for years and years, were utterly predictable to one another.”
Aunt Alexandra is so committed to her feminine duties that she makes woolen rugs, a very hot job, in the dead of summer. The work must be done, women must do it, and comfort doesn’t matter. This woman is obsessed with turning Scout into a lady. Jem finally tells Scout that Aunt Alexandra’s “‘not used to girls, . . leastways not girls like you. She’s tryin’ to make you a lady. Can’t you take up sewin’ or somethin’?’” Scout’s very funny answer confirms her refusal to accept societal expectations at face value. Scout is astounded when Aunt Alexandra informs her that she can’t invite Walter Cunningham to play at her house “‘Because—he—is—trash” and because “‘Finch women aren’t interested in that sort of people.’” Jem later explains the real Maycomb caste system to Scout, introducing her to the fact that prejudice exists in whites amongst themselves as much as against people of color.
Although when we are first introduced to Aunt Alexandra we do not appreciate her character as we consider her to be too haughty and vain. However as the novel progresses her character develops and we learn that although Aunt Alexandra might be arrogant sometimes, she is very caring especially when it comes to her family. This is obvious when after losing Tom Robinson’s trial when Atticus and the children return home, for the first time ever Aunt Alexandra refers to Atticus as ‘brother’. This sign of loving tenderness and endearment has never been shown by Aunt Alexandra and at this point the reader realizes that behind all the pride lies a sweet and loving personality a side that she does not show that often through out the novel.
Words: 684.
