Whoever said you can't be friends with your maid? In Harper Lee's book To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finch family's negro maid, Calpurina, is known as a family friend. Calpurnia plays a very important role in the lives of Scout, Jem, and Atticus. While Calpurnia does have a life outside of her job, a majority of her time is spent in the Finch home. Because so much of her time is spent with the children and Atticus, she has an effective impact on them. Calpurnia is known to be humble, motherly, and defensive. Calpurnia is a very humble person. She speaks little of her personal life, or any achievements she may have accomplished in the past. When Scout goes with Calpurnia to church she discovers that Calpurnia lives a separate, intriguing life outside of the Finch's home. Scout states, "That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me." (125) Being a maid, Calpurnia had always lived to serve other people and meet their needs. Yes, she had a low-class job but she never complained about her life. This shows yet another example of her humbleness. …show more content…
Calpurnia was with them through all the years of them growing up. She was the one to give motherly advice, and listen to all the troubles the children may have. In this way, I believe Calpurnia was motherly. Although Calpurnia has children of her own, she cares for Scout and Jem like they were also her children. She bathed them, dressed them, fed them, and took poll of how their day was every evening. " 'I don't want nobody sayin' I don't look after my children,' she muttered." (118) Calpurnia definitely acted like a mother towards Scout and
Ayden Dixon Mrs. Andrews English 1 4/26/2023 “Racism is a disease that can destroy the world”(Lee,) In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the town of Maycomb is a very racist and heated town. Scout and her brother are well enough to have a maid, Calpurnia. Calpurnia has a very different personality and behavior outside of the Finch household. In Chapter 12, the kids and Calpurnia visit the local black church while Atticus is away.
But later on in the book once Scout and Calpurnia’s relationship begins to flower, she slowly begins to realize that Cal is both a friend and role model. Once they have a good relationship Scout begins to look at Cal more as a second mom than anything. The second reason that Calpurnia influences them is because when Walter Cunningham first came over for dinner at their house, Scout insulted Walter when he was pouring molasses all over his food. Walter is poor and his family is very poor, and to make his food flavorful, he has a habit of pouring molasses on his food to improve the taste that his food has. Scout isn’t used to seeing people act in this way, so she found this odd.
She came in to help Atticus with Scout and Jem after the death of their mother. Even though she is a African American she still is a mother figure to Jem and Scout. Jem and Scout also accept Calpurnia as their mother figure even though she is not their mother. This shows that she accepts them for the type of people they are, and that she isn’t
This quote shows Calpurnia in her wrathful righteousness, and shows that she is respectful towards people that are different. It is likely that Calpurnia has witnessed how people treat those who are different, and doesn’t want Scout to be one of those people. This quote is important since it teaches us more about Calpurnia, and shows us where Scout gets her lessons from. Quote #
Calpurnia serves as an amazing role model and mother figure to the children, and yet Aunt Alexandra wants to fire her. She had raised Jem and Scout, and plays an indispensable part of their lives, showering them with discipline, structure, and love. Aunt Alexandra, however, barely existed in the children 's lives up until she moved into the Finch’s home, yet she inflicts great injustice on Calpurnia by failing to recognize the necessitous part of the family that Calpurnia fills. Scout even overhears Aunt Alexandra saying, "...you 've got to do something about her. You 've let things go on too long Atticus, too long.
And that is when she did not tell her father about how she felt about having Aunt Alexandria in her life. “I could have made several answers to this: Cal’s a girl, it would be many years before I would be interested in boys, I would never be interested in clothes… but I kept quiet” (Lee 180). Here in this quote you can tell that Scout is thinking why aunt Alexandra had to come stay with them, when Calpurnia is there. She is starting to have knowledge and think about how things are going to
Calpurnia is an ideal influence for Scout’s coming of age moments. She teaches Scout the importance of manners, and treating people with respect. When Walter Cunningham comes to eat lunch with Scout and Jem one day, Scout
Humility, one of the best virtues to have, gets used in many characters. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee valued humility and incorporated it into the positive characters of the book. She showed many people with non who acted like fools. Then she also had many characters who demonstrated it. She displayed the value of having humility and some of the best characters known for it today come from her book.
Calpurnia is seen both by Atticus and the reader as more than just a housekeeper and a cook; she is a part of the family and fills in the role of a mother to Jem and Scout by helping raise them alongside Atticus. Atticus deeply cherishes Calpurnia’s efforts of taking care of the children. With her doting attitude, yet, strict disciplinary, Calpurnia treats both Scout and Jem as she would her own children. Furthermore, this following quote proves that fatherhood is indeed an arduous and burdensome role as Atticus says these following words. Without Calpurnia by his side, Atticus would have found fatherhood even more of a demanding role without a wife by his side to help support and take care of the family, as well as raise his children to grow
She was hired to be the Finch’s families cook but she had put more into that job then required, she built a close relationship with these kids over the years of her working there, she became a parental figure to them. This was not very common in this time because most families had mom and a dad and if a white family both were white and if it were a black family both were black. Calpurnia was a black worker and was the closest thing the kids had to a mom in the family. During the time of preparation for the trial Atticus was gone a lot and was not able to take the kids to church one Sunday, Calpurnia decided she would take them to her church.
Calpurnia is also a good mother figure for the children, because she can provide them with more culture and knowledge that they can use when they get older. When Scout, Jem, and Calpurnia went to church with Calpurnia, they learned valuable information about a community different than their own. Calpurnia was also very smart when there was a rabid dog. Because it was in the wrong season no one thought that it was true, but Calpurnia did and her never giving up saved people's lives. Lastly, Calpurnia teaches Scout and Jem that even though you know something does not mean you have to show it off all of the time and intimidate people.
Calpurnia is Jem and Scouts mother figure, because their mother died due to a sudden heart attack. Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to her church, First Purchase, and introduces them to the fact that not all black people are bad people. She shows courage because it’s nerve racking to bring 2 white children to an all black church. Calpurnia says, “I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after my children” (Lee pg. 118). Calpurnia takes pride in Jem and Scout and shows a massive amount of courage taking these children to her type of life, and to her church.
Thus, whilst slightly unconventional, Calpurnia has a distinct role in teaching the Finch children respect and responsibility. In conclusion, Atticus Finch and Calpurnia are contrasting characters with the same purpose in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus maintains a fair, wise character throughout the novel, in comparison to Calpurnia's cogent, blunt personality. What brings them together is how they set the correct example for and give life lessons to Jem and Scout.
Calpurina is slowly trying to influence her in a lady like way: "So you just come right on in the kitchen when you feel lonesome." (Lee 154). Calpurnia tries to get Scout in the kitchen because Calpurnia believes that's where women belong. Calpurnia was always happy to see Scout in the kitchen: "She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl." (Lee 154).
Calprina is another mother figure in scout life, she cook’s for the family, and try to show Scout the right from wrong: “It was then that Calpurnia requested my presence in the kitchen. She was furious, and when she was furious Calpurnia’s grammar became erratic. When in tranquility, her grammar was as good as anybody’s in Maycomb. Atticus said Calpurnia had more education than most colored folks. When she squinted down at me the tiny lines around her eyes deepened.