'To Kill a Mockingbird' : Describe the importance of Calpurnia in the lives of the Finch family, and in the novel as a whole.

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English Coursework – To kill a Mockingbird                                              

Describe the importance of Calpurnia in the lives of the Finch family, and in the novel as a whole.

Calpurnia is more than just a family cook to the Finch’s. She also acts as the mother to Jem and Scout by helping to bring them up, teaching them right from wrong, disciplining them and comforting them when they were upset because their mother died when they were very young. She has worked for the Finch’s for a very long time and has a very firm control over the children which causes Scout to resent her.

Atticus trusts and supports Calpurnia because he considers her as a very important member of the family. For example he says “Alexandra, Calpurnia’s not leaving this house until she wants to. You may think otherwise, but I couldn’t have got along without her all these years. She’s a faithful member of this family and you’ll simply have to accept things the way they are”, when Aunt Alexandra wanted to get rid of her. When Aunt Alexandra came to live with Atticus, Jem and Scout she told Atticus that she wanted to get rid of Calpurnia. This was because Aunt Alexandra was very proper and snobbish so she agreed with the people of Maycomb and the Southern attitudes about Negroes.

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Calpurnia is intelligent and is one of the few Negroes in Maycomb who can read and write. She even taught Scout how to write by setting her tasks like copying a passage from the bible to keep her quite when she was board, so she is important in teaching the children. She lives two lives, one working for the Finch family who are white, and another at her home with her fellow Negroes. She acts and speaks differently around her friends and the children find this very surprising when they find out.

Some of the main themes in ...

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