Aunt Alexandra Quotes

The only time I ever heard Atticus speak sharply to anyone was when I once heard him say, “Sister, I do the best I can with them!” It had something to do with my going around in overalls. Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn’t supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra’s vision of my department involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore I should be a ray of sunshine in my father’s lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 9. Aunt Alexandra, Atticus’s sister, is critical of the way he is bringing up his children. Tomboy Scout is a true representative of feminism who dresses like a boy and likes taking part in what are considered boys’ activitities. Alexandra’s vision for Scout is that she do ladylike things and be a “ray of sunshine” for her lonely father. However, Scout is her father’s daughter and feels she can be that ray in pants also.

“If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that’s his own business, like Grandma says, so it ain’t your fault. I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a n*****-lover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family – ”
“Francis, what the hell do you mean?”
“Just what I said. Grandma says it’s bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he’s turned out a n*****-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb agin. He’s ruinin’ the family, that’s what he’s doin’.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 9. The obnoxious young Francis Hancock tells Scout how his grandmother, Aunt Alexandra, doesn’t like the way Atticus is rearing his children and letting Scout run wild. He also reveals Alexandra’s undisguised racism.

Today was Sunday, and Aunt Alexandra was positively irritable on the Lord’s Day. I guess it was her Sunday corset. She was not fat, but solid, and she chose protective garments that drew up her bosom to giddy heights, pinched in her waist, flared out her rear, and managed to suggest that Aunt Alexandra’s was once an hour glass figure. From any angle, it was formidable.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 13. Scout’s description of Aunt Alexandra after she arrives to the Finch household in Maycomb, announcing that she plans to stay for a while. She is particularly irritable on Sundays because of her corset. Austere, cold and disapproving of Scout’s unlady-like, tomboyish ways, she does care deeply for the family and has come to help out with the children during Atticus’s involvement in the Robinson trial.

I never understood her preoccupation with heredity. Somewhere, I had received the impression that Fine Folks were people who did the best they could with the sense they had, but Aunt Alexandra was of the opinion, obliquely expressed, that the longer a family had been squatting on one patch of land the finer it was.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 13. Scout mocks Aunt Alexandra’s snobbish attitudes about family bloodlines making people high class, and that if a family had deep roots in an area it meant they were important. Scout believes what you do with your life is what makes you a fine person.

Atticus’s voice was even: “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.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 14. Atticus defends Calpurnia against Aunt Alexandra, who doesn’t approve of a black woman raising Scout and wants him to get rid of her. He tells his sister that he will never tell Calpurnia to leave the house because she is essentially a member of the family.

“What if he was kin to us, Aunty?”
“The fact is that he is not kin to us, but if he were, my answer would be the same.”
“Aunty,” Jem spoke up, “Atticus says you can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family, an’ they’re still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge ’em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don’t.”
“That’s your father all over again,” said Aunt Alexandra, “and I still say that Jean Louise will not invite Walter Cunningham to this house. If he were her double first cousin once removed he would still not be received in this house unless he comes to see Atticus on business. Now that is that.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23. Aunt Alexandra is challenged by Scout and Jem when she refuses to let Walter Cunningham Jr. come to lunch. Their aunt displays her prejudicial and judgemental nature, looking down her nose on the family of poor farmer Walter Cunningham. But the children show decency and respect for other people – something they learned from their father Atticus. One of the great appeals of the novel is that, despite the absense of Scout’s mother, the Finch family demonstrates family life at its best.

“Background doesn’t mean Old Family,” said Jem. “I think it’s how long your family’s been readin’ and writin’. Scout, I’ve studied this real hard and that’s the only reason I can think of. Somewhere along when the Finches were in Egypt one of ’em must have learned a hieroglyphic or two and he taught his boy.”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23. Jem and Scout are trying to understand what “background” of the Finches that Aunt Alexandra is so proud of. Jem figures that literacy is an important measure of an old, quality or good family.

After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 24. Scout sees her Aunt Alexandra’s strength of character after Atticus tells her of the death of wrongly accused Tom Robinson. She is upset and angry at some of the women at her missionary circle tea who could have given support to Tom. But she composes herself and graciously serves them, repaying their selfishness with her kindness. The normally hotheaded Scout sees that having the courage and strength of a lady like her aunt has real value.

“I don’t like it Atticus, I don’t like it at all,” was Aunt Alexandra’s assessment of these events. “That man seems to have a running grudge against everyone connected with the case. I know how that kind are about paying off grudges, but I don’t understand why he should harbor one – he had his way in court, didn’t he?”

– Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 27. Aunt Alexandra is referring to Bob Ewell, who publicly swore revenge against Atticus after Atticus made him look like a fool during the Tom Robinson trial. Atticus believes he is just sounding off and won’t go through with it, but he is proven wrong when Ewell attacks Atticus’s children.
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