To Kill a Mockingbird - Calpurnia Cares - 1058 Words

Calpurnia Cares â€Å"Calpurnia was something else again. She was all angles and bones; she was nearsighted; she squinted; her hand was wide as a bed slat and twice as hard.† (Pg 6) This is how Jean Louise â€Å"Scout† Finch describes Calpurnia, a black woman who serves as the Finch family cook and maid in Harper Lee’s â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird.† Although Calpurnia is employed by a high social class family she is still considered to be at the bottom of that social hierarchy because of her African-American descent. The Finches believe Calpurnia to be a valuable part of their family because she is a very hard working individual, she’s very motherly to the Finch children and she is an educated and intellectual black woman. Firstly, Calpurnia is a hard†¦show more content†¦She does this daily for the children, trying to bring them up right in the world in the world that they live in. Calpurnia also refers to Scout and Jem as her own children. When sheâ€℠¢s dressing them up to take them to church, she says to a complaining Scout, â€Å"I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t take look after my children,† she muttered.†(Pg 119) Calling Scout and Jem her own children is a way for Calpurnia to show affection and respect for them. Overall, Calpurnia is like a mother to Scout and Jem, and they’re happy to have her. Finally, Calpurnia is an intellectual black woman, which was rare back in the time of 1930’s Alabama. Calpurnia taught her oldest son, Zeebo how to read and write. â€Å"Yeah, Mister Jem. There wasn’t a school even when he was a boy. I made him learn though.†(Pg 125) She taught her son how to read out of an old book. She wouldn’t let him go around and be uneducated. In order for Calpurnia to teach her son how to read, she must have been able to read and write herself. â€Å"That’s why you don’t talk like the rest of them.† Said Jem. â€Å"Th e rest of who?† â€Å"Rest of the coloured folks.† According to Scout and Jem, Calpurnia speaks fine English, unlike the other black people in Maycomb. Calpurnia also teaches Scout how to read and write, which ends up leaving Scout in trouble at school. â€Å"Besides, I added, she’d already gotten me in trouble once today; she had taught me to writeShow MoreRelated To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee643 Words   |  3 Pages Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, there are many characters with very strong personality traits. These characters are very memorable and easily recognizable because of their traits. These characters have one thing in common, they all have influenced peoples life’s in one way or another. One of these great characters is Calpurnia. 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To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a fictional novel about the drama that happens in a small southern town called Maycomb County. Maycomb is a racially separated town that has been hit hard by the Great Depression; and many people were going through tough times. TheRead MoreTo Kill A Mockingbird Stock Market Analysis907 Words   |  4 Pagesstory To Kill A Mockingbird is about a lawyer named Atticus defending a black man named Tom Robinson in a poor country full of racism. His kids Scout and Jem are being taking care of by a black lady named Calpurnia. Atticus want’s everyone to be treated equally. Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, gives the reader a gist of the 1930’s in many ways using real life situations. Harper Lee describes life during the 1930’s by comparing Maycomb to the Stock Market. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird