TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Chapter 13
Chapter 13
When they get back home after church, Aunt Alexandra is waiting on their front porch. Aunt Alexandra is Atticus's sister. She comes to stay to help look after the children. “Your father and I decided I needed to stay with you for a while,” she says. In Maycomb, “for a while” means anywhere between three days and thirty years.
Aunt Alexandra will also stay because the trial is starting. The trial will not be easy. Atticus will be away from the house for a long time. Atticus needs her to help with Scout and Jem.
Aunt Alexandra is strict and severe. Scout is not happy her Aunt is there. Aunt Alexandra talks about the family. She is very interested in their family history. She believes the Finch family is one of the greatest families in the region.
She is very proud of her family. She also thinks that she knows what is best for the family. But Scout doesn't care. She doesn't want to be like her Aunt. Plus, Scout knows there is good and bad in every family.
Aunt Alexandra says that because she is staying with the family, she will teach Scout to be a lady. She thinks it is her responsibility, as a woman in the family. She does not want Calpurnia to work at the house anymore. She does not want her to take care of Scout, because she doesn’t want a black woman to teach Scout to be a ‘proper’ lady.
But Atticus defends Calpurnia! He thinks she is very important to the family. He thinks she has done a wonderful job helping with the children. He will not fire Clapurnia. “Calpurina is family,” he says. “She stays.” They do not argue about Calpurnia any more.
Maycomb welcomes Aunt Alexandra. She has many visitors. Because there are many women like her in Maycomb. “It’s funny,” Jem tells Scout. “Aunt Alexandra gossips about other families here in Maycomb. She says bad things about them. But we are related to most people in Maycomb.”
“She says that people who live on their land for a long time are ‘fine people’.” Scout thinks that being a fine person means that you do good things. A fine person tries to do the best with the things they have. “But that’s not true,” Scout says. “The Ewells have lived on their land forever. That means that the Ewells are fine people.” “We know they aren’t,” Jem says. “Mr. Ewell is mean. He’s not nice to people.”
