To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee (Ch. 1-11)

Write a reaction to something you have read:

“‘There’s some folks who don’t eat like us,’ she whispered fiercely, ‘but you ain’t called on to contradict ’em at the table when they don’t. That boy’s yo’ comp’ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear?’” (Harper 33).

When Calpurnia scolded Scout regarding her table manners towards Cal, I was surprised that Calpurnia was allowed to rebuke her. I am used to reading in novels or watching films of African American housekeepers or "the help" seen as inferior. Instead of the children usually ruled the household and could disrespect their caregivers because of their racial and financial status. However, this scene showcased how Calpurnia is the motherly figure of the household ever since Finch's mother died years ago. Hearing her voice on the audiobook gave me chills because it felt that I was being rebuked by Calpurnia or at least by my own grandmother.

However, I am not sure how I feel about Calpurnia's role so far in the novel. I feel that in one way Harper Lee is trying to display her as a bridge between the white and black community for the Finch family. She is the only nonthreatening black person that they truly interact with on a daily basis. Yet, she could also be seen as the stereotypical mammy figure who is always loyal and serving as surrogate mother and/or grandmother to white families. The mammy figure stereotyped black women as just domestic caregivers and content to do whatever to please their white families even to the point of neglecting their own. Some could argue that Calpurnia does dismiss some of the mammy stereotypes of being just obedient and submissive with how she raises Scout and Jem, yet she raises them more than she does her own children.