stereotyping in "To Kill A Mockingbird"
...end/her boyfriend, Dill. She is the type of girl who is curious, smart, and dislikes being told she cannot do something. Scout’s caretaker while her father, Atticus, goes off to work during the day is a black woman named Calpurnia. Cal, as she is referred to, cooks for the Finch family, watches the children, and sometimes even takes them to “her” church. She has pretty much raised the Finch children since they were babies (their mother died when Jem was about four years old). Aunt Alexandra is an extremely conservative woman who wants the children to know all about the Finch family and uphold its genteel heritage. She tries to pressure Atticus into telling the children why they should behave and “live up to your name” but he finds himself incapable of doing it. Scout says that, “it takes a woman to do that kind of work,” proving a stereotype that woman are assumed to provide children with such information. Aunt Alexandra's views probably represent the general consensus of traditional assumptions held by the Maycomb community at large. She introduces the idea of "Fine Folks" to Scout, who will be forever puzzled about what criteria are used to determine whether or not she and her family fits this category. The strictness in the patterns of behavior that Aunt Alexandra (and the rest of Maycomb) believes in shows that individuals from white families also are subject to a certain amount of discrimination on the basis of their family's social stature (ie: the Ewells). Individuals are not judged on their own qualities, instead they are judged based upon stereotypes forced upon their entire people. Given the enormous amount of racist feelings in Maycomb, it becomes incredibly unlikely that many whites in such a town will treat blacks with respect. According to Aunt Alexandra's way of thinking, dishonesty and inferiority would be traits that are somehow genetically endemic to the entire race, therefore leaving Calpurnia unfit to watch over the children. Aunt Alexandra then begins trying to make Scout into a proper Southern girl while facing constant opposition. Based upon years of family tradition, Aunt Alexand...