For quite some time, Aunt Alexandra is the scourge of
Scout's childhood. As a proud daughter of the Old South, Alexandra has very definite
opinions of appropriate behavior for "young ladies" and does not hesitate to share them
with her niece. Alexandra is unrelenting in her campaign to reform Scout's dress and
manners so that they conform with her standards of acceptability. This particular
passage seems to sum up Alexandra's own attitude and behavior in the
matter:
Aunt
Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a
lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't
supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra's vision of my
deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl
necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my
father's lonely life. I suggested that one could be a ray of sunshine in pants just as
well, but Aunty said that one had to behave like a sunbeam, that I was born good but had
grown progressively worse every year. She hurt my feelings and set my teeth permanently
on edge . . . .
In her zeal
to turn Scout into a "little lady," Alexandra fails to recognize all that is wonderful
in her.
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