At the beginning of chapter 13, we learn that Aunt Alexandra will be staying with the Finches for a while. Atticus says he decided to do this so that the children could have a taste of the "feminine influence"(Lee 170) that they would most likely see in the real world. As soon as she is introduced into the chapter, she quickly makes herself at home and starts doing things her way. "Aunty had a way of declaring What Is Best For The Family, and I suppose her coming to live with us was in that category"(Lee 171). Although as we progress in the book, we start to see that this idea may have been more of Aunt Alexandra's plan than Atticus'. This may be part of Aunt Alexandra's plan to seemingly perfectionize the rest of the Finch family as she seems to think she and the rest of her family are above/better than the rest of Maycomb proven by the various opinions and categories she has set onto other groups of people. As for Aunt Alexandra's influence on Atticus' family, I think that her presence may cause some infighting between them. This is because ever since she arrived, he's been acting differently; acting to her standards. "Presently I picked up a comb from Jem's dresser and ran its teeth along the edge. 'Stop that noise,' Atticus said. His curtness stung me. [...] For no reason I felt myself beginning to cry, but I could not stop"(Lee 178). It's almost as if he's suddenly becoming more strict but the children don't know why. I think his sudden change of attitude may change the way the Scout and Jem see Atticus. Aunt Alexandra is a ticking time bomb readying itself to explode, the aftereffects of the blast may just turn Atticus into a stranger.
Do you think Atticus will change his style of parenting because of Aunt Alexandra's arrival? How will Jem & Scout react to Atticus' sudden change of attitude? Why do you think Aunt Alexandra's opinions on how a Finch should act are so strong?
To answer the question "Do you think Atticus will change his style of parenting because of Aunt Alexandra?", I do not think Atticus will change his parenting. In the chapter you saw a small glimpse of Aunt Alexandra's tone in Atticus when he snapped at Jem, and Scout. When he snapped scout began to cry, and Atticus came back to his old self. Atticus is a very understanding person, and I think that realization of what he had just done to Scout was enough for the reader to say, Atticus did the wrong thing. Atticus also realized that. When Scout and Jem get yelled at and they don't take it well, it also shows how Atticus has them under a protective shield. When the kids are alone typically things get out of control which symbolizes that they are not ready for the real world.
ReplyDeleteI think Aunt Alexandra's opinions on how a Finch should act are so strong because she holds all of her pride with her family name. The Finch's have owned lots of land near Maycomb for generations, and Aunt Alexandra isn't about to let Jem and Finch forget that. Atticus raised them to be polite and modest, like Calpurnia says, "It's not necessary to tell all you know." (Lee 143) Atticus is also very different from the rest of his family who tend to be racist and unkind to many people for no reason it seems except to prove a point. I think Aunt Alexandra's visit and the upcoming case weren't timed to so close together by accident. Aunt Alexandra may be trying to up the Finch status and have the kids act more like Francis to change Atticus's ways of teaching his kids. When Atticus comes in and talks to them about what Alexandra wants from them, he says "Your aunt has asked me...she asked me to tell you" (Lee 151) which implies that Atticus wants Jem and Scout to know the message isn't from him and that he doesn't necessarily agree with it. Aunt Alexandra still holds the Finch name with pride and wants everyone around her to do so as well, which means learning all of the history behind their family for Jem and Scout.
ReplyDeleteI think aunt Alexandra had a major influence on the family. She said she was going to come live with them for a while to teach scout how to be a lady. Scout reacts to this negatively and I think this is not good of her to "start acting like a lady" especially for a first grader like scout who is a young little girl. Aunt Alexandra also really affects Atticus because before she came Atticus had empathy for his children and if the were to be rude he understood that they are growing. Alexandra is trying to speed up scout's child hood and by doing that it puts pressure on Atticus so i makes him change and he starts telling scout the same thing Alexandra tells her Which is to act like a lady.
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