Avery- To Kill A Mockingbird Scene

Aunt Alexandra was a minor character in the novel, but played a large part of the Finch family. She serves as a feminine role model to Scout and is one of the few examples of a socially acceptable southern woman. Aunt Alexandra is hyperaware of social and class statuses, which isn’t the case with Atticus or his children so it is beneficial to the storyline that she can provide these opinions and keep the family more ‘in touch’ with social expectations, from clothing and manners to gender roles. Scout resists many of her aunt’s lessons and the back-and-forth between the two of them shows many of Scout’s key character traits, like being an independent freethinker. The choice for Aunt Alexandra’s character to be cut from the storyline in the movie changed the dynamic of the Finch family.

It makes sense that the filmmakers wanted to cut and combine characters because of time constraints, but Aunt Alexandra had a unique view on race and class that were not represented elsewhere in the film. Mr. Ewell represented the quintessential racist, ignorant southerner of the time, as did other members of the community, which did counter Atticus’s empathic nature and search for justice, but there was not much in between. Aunt Alexandra held many of the same values as Mr. Ewell, but the difference is that she would make an effort to be ‘politely’ and ‘subtlety’ racist instead of obviously racist. Her inclusion in the film would have shown how attitudes don't have to be obviously expressed and embodied to be discriminatory.