Character Relationship Blog

12/3/2015

John Zalazinski

Character Pair: Atticus and Aunt Alexandra

The way they are similar is that they both want what they think is the best for Scout. Atticus wants her to stay out of trouble. He is very protective of Scout and is always concerned about her well-being. Aunt Alexandra wants her to be feminine, so she could grow up to be a "normal" girl in her eyes. She feels that will make Scout more prepared for the future.

The way they are different is that Atticus is really calm and understanding and Aunt Alexandra is easily annoyed by the small things, in short, she's a perfectionist. When Atticus found out Dill was staying at their house he was very understanding and calm about it. Another example of this when Jem got involved with the police and still gave him affection, because he is so loving, forgiving and understanding of all of his children including Dill. Aunt Alexandra basically thinks everything is a disgrace to your family. The most ridiculous reason for something being disgraceful is Jem not turning on a light. 

Atticus has a really close relationship with Scout, and Aunt Alexandra is really repulsive in her relationship with Scout. Atticus understands Scout and forgives her when she does things that are ridiculously wrong. Atticus most likely does have the strongest bond with Scout because her mother died when she was two, so Scout had a lot of time to build a relationship with her father growing up. Aunt Alexandra is trying to change Scout, when Scout already knows who she wants to be. Aunt Alexandra wants Scout to be more feminine and escape from her tomboy roots. She wants to be a mother figure, but she fails at it because she doesn't love her for who she is.

Atticus has a huge positive effect on Scout, while Aunt Alexandra doesn't have a good effect at all on Scout. Atticus is an understanding and loving father something that will most likely rub off on Scout when she eventually becomes a mother. Aunt Alexandra irritates Scout so she doesn't have a good effect on her. Scout almost always wants to steer clear of Aunt Alexandra, for how she judges people and all of the gossiping she does. Aunt Alexandra always stereotypes and sees the bad things in people the most.