Important event notes – Calpurnia takes the children to church
26th March 2012
Jem and Scout go to church with Calpurnia, Atticus is away and Cal doesn’t trust them to go to their own church alone. Lula makes a scene when they arrive, Cal stands her ground. The children
are greeted on the whole positively and are mentioned by the Rev as special guests.
This event highlights some things for us –
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Opens the children’s eyes to the fact that people are not all equal in the community. Not all have the same rights/resources
How important the children are to Calpurnia – the pride she takes in them and the way she stands up for them on the steps of the church.
Shows the children that there is more to people than meets the eye – Cal changing her accent, Zeebo being literate even though he is ‘just’ the dump truck driver.
PLOT
CHARACTER
THEME
SYMBOLS/LINKS
QUOTES
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Lula –
She is a minor character. Used to show
us that racism occurs in reverse. This is
an eye opener for Scout and Jem and
also the reader. She’s an outsider in
her own community shown by the way
she acts. This indicates to us a
bitterness about the way she has been
treated by white people. She is
affronted because this is her safe
haven, where there needs to be no
excuse for being who she is and now
there are two white folk on the steps;
this is threatening to her. “You ain’t got
no business bring your chilun’ here,
they got their church and we got ours.”
Racism and racial acceptance Shows the depth of racism and that it
is two sided. Highlights that everyone
has a choice about how they behave
and the actions they take. Highlights
how engrained the racism has
become and how that is inherently
passed to each generation who then
does not tend to question it.
The congregation they meet them
become the people they shared the
emotional rollercoaster that was the
trial with.
“If Calpurnia had ever bathed me roughly
before, it was nothing compared to her
supervision of that Saturday night.”
Calpurnia –
That she acts differently when she is
surrounded by her black community.
This is where she is at ‘home’ and this is
different and important for the children
to see. “That Calpurnia led a modest
double life never dawned on me. The
idea that she had a separate existence
outside our household was a novel one,
to say nothing of her having command
of two languages.” She speaks
differently. “They’d think I was putting
on airs to beat Moses.” This highlights
to us the extent to which the two
Innocence of children –
Scout is amazed at how little the
black church has. She has never
questioned the haves and have not’s
before.
“I was bursting with questions, but
decided I would wait and let
Calpurnia answer them.”
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We as readers see Black
people showing racism
where we have only ever
seen in work in reverse to
this point. It highlights a
shift in the story because
we now understand that
the Black people have their
own thoughts about what
is going on and how
everyone conducts
themselves.
Serves as a way of
introducing the children to
Rev Sykes and the black
congregation. They end up
sitting with this ‘crowd’ at
the trial.
This event gives the two
Finch children their first
knowledge of what Tom
Robinson has done and so
then the need for Atticus
to defend him.
Growing up amongst racism –
The slow awareness of what is
happening around them and also the
sheltered life they have led thus far.
Jem is amazed that they can’t read.
He and Scout assumed this was a skill
everyone was taught…that it just
happened.
You could make links between Aunt
Alexander and Lula.
“I don’t want anybody sayin’ I don’t look after
my children.”
“Negroes worshipped in it on Sunday’s and
white men gambled in it on weekdays.”
“When they saw Jem and me with Calpurnia,
the men stepped back and took off their hats;
the women crossed their arms at their waists,
weekday gestures of respectful attention.”
“And again I thought her voice strange. She
was talking like the rest of them.”
“…we were are particularly glad to have
company with us this morning. Mister and
Miss Finch. You all know their father.”
“Again, as I had often met it in my own
church, I was confronted with the Impurity of
Women doctrine that seemed to preoccupy all
clergymen.”
different components of the community
existed and the innocence of the
children in their lack of understanding
awareness of this.
She is proud. This is first shown when
she is readying the children for their
outing to her church. “I don’t want
anyone saying I don’t look after my
children.” She goes overboard with the
scrubbing and the starch.
When the congregation is contributing
their morning offering she refuses to let
the children share the money their
father left for them to take to their
church. She gives them money to
share.
This event highlights how important her
relationship with the two children is to
her when she stands up for them as if
they were her own after being
challenged by Lula.
Scout –
This visit to the First Purchase Church is
an eye opener for Scout. Scout is
intrigued about the proceedings during
the morning – the closing of the doors
in order to force the congregation to
contribute, seeing black people in their
own environment. She is amazed at the
lack of items in the church – hymn
books, adornments on the walls and
organs etc. This is in stark contrast to
what they have in their church. The
lack of books in particular is odd to her.
Education and books have played such
an important part in their own lives.
Scout is curious about many things and
finds it difficult keep her questions to
herself. She asks what why they were
collecting for Tom Robinson.