Molly Walsh
April 17, 2012
Post 3 for To Kill a Mockingbird
In chapter 9 Christmas comes around and we get to meet Scout’s relatives including her Alexandra, Francis, and Jack. Let’s talk about Francis first. Oh, what a lovely child, not. He is one of those kids who plays nice in front of adults to make them like him and then once they are gone, he becomes a spoiled, nasty, mean child. He says unacceptable and nasty words to Scout about Atticus and her friend, Dill. Francis is obviously spoiled and doesn’t know how to be a good friend. It’s sad that he is growing up this way and that he cannot have compassion or kindness towards other people. Maybe it has to do with the fact that his parents ship him off to be with his grandmother during Christmas and they seem to not care about as much as they could. As a result, he consoles his loneliness in stuff and tries to act out to hide his feelings and channel any anger or sadness he has. Sorry, I just went a little therapist on you, but Francis is just a misguided soul who is mean because he has no reason to be nice.
When I first encountered Alexandra in the book, she did not resonate with me. It didn’t feel right when she was condemning Scout for not wearing dresses. The grandmother was convincing Scout to give up a part of what made her who she was. I did not appreciate her criticizing Scout for wearing pants and degrading her for being a tomboy. Characters who try to change or make the strong females in books meek are generally not my favorite. Alexandra is trying to make Scout something that she’s not and something that Scout doesn’t have any desire to be. I don’t understand why people like Alexandra have a desire to change people. Alexandra has no business telling Scout what to do and her plea’s for feminitity are not effective. For some reason, I can’t imagine Scout wearing a strand of pearls. Hopefully, throughout the book, Scout keeps her independence, strength and doesn’t let people change her into something she shouldn’t be. Luckily, Atticus does not mind Scout being exactly who she is and reminds his daughter to ignore Alexandra because he didn’t mind her much the way she was.
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