Aunt Alexandra was an innocence/way of life destroyer for Atticus, Jem, and Scout. After Aunt Alexandra settled into the Finch home in Maycomb and “life resumed its daily pace” Aunt Alexandra started to act like she lived there all her life and everyone in the town (including Nathan Radley) welcomed her with great enthusiasm. That was when she started to try and change the way of life that Scout, Jem, and Atticus had followed for so many years. “When Aunt Alexandra went to school, self-doubt could not be found in any textbook, so she knew not its meaning. She was never bored, and given the slightest chance she would exercise her royal prerogative: she would arrange, advise, caution, and warn.” (172) This passage from the novel shows that Aunt Alexandra is a strong, cold, motherly figure. That she has her set ways and they are to be followed. So basically, “it’s her way or the highway.” It is this set determination about her that makes Scout uneasy when she firsts arrives. Aunt Alexandra was an old-fashioned, well-mannered, woman who when she saw Scout saw a wild, un-kept animal.
Aunt Alexandra also had poor opinions of her brother’s parenting skills and arrived, ready to fix them. Atticus, uncertain of his own parenting skills allowed her to take over in hope that his sister would fix things, but to Scout, nothing needed to be fixed. Aunt Alexandra started having social gatherings at the Finch house which had probably never been done since Mrs. Finch died. She had Scout and Jem engage in conversation with people they barely knew and tried to teach them they’re family history. All to make them these perfect model children which existed only in her head. Towards the end of this chapter as Aunt Alexandra’s new “ways” and “rules” take effect on Atticus, Scout starts to cry and Jem becomes stricken with silence for they only want there old father back and for things to be normal again. When Atticus realizes how different he’s acting he tries to act normal again and comfort Scout and Jem but as Scout said, “It takes a woman to do that kind of work.” (179)
How do the pictures in this video relate to how Aunt Alexandra is controlling the family and how do the words at the end show possible foreshadowing for something that could happen later on in the novel?
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/control/132F58203753BC40D196132F58203753BC40D196
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I agree that Aunt Alexandra did storm into the life of Maycomb a little too swiftly but i wouldn't say she was a way of life destroyer to Atticus. Atticus's character is not easily changed and Atticus is Atticus, no way of changing him. Jem and Scout's daily routines were changed far more than Atticus because the kids have a totally different personality than their father. It was a shock to the kids to see that Alexandra was such a "big hit" in Maycomb and it gets to Scout as showed. I don't think it really phases Atticus all that much however.
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