“…what’s rape, Cal?”
“It’s somethin’ you’ll have to ask Mr. Finch about,” she said. “He can explain it better than I can.”
– Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 12. Scout’s question to Calpurnia is in reference to Tom Robinson being accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Calpurnia feels it is more appropriate for a parent to discuss a matter such as the violent crime of rape. Scout does in fact ask her father later on and he gives her a straight-forward explanation, another example of Atticus’s honest parenting in action.