Journal #5 Chapters: 13-15 Perspective: Aunt Alexandria

It has been a long couple of weeks. I came here intending to teach my niece how to live up to being the woman that can carry on the Finch name with pride until she gets married and takes her husbands last name. However, I feel like I am of no use at all they have Calpurnia to do all the cooking, cleaning and scolding and their father to do more scolding. I’m just here to sit back and watch Atticus raise his children like animals, occasionally I put up a fight with Atticus for the things that I feel strong enough about and even then, things usually don’t go my way. Scout wanted to go over Calpurnia’s and I said absolutely no. What does a white person look like in a place of all Negros? Plus, that’s just plain out unsafe those people might try to do something to Scout, but no her father doesn’t see that he just looks at Negros like they’re regular civilized people. I don’t even trust Calpurnia, she’s worked for us Finches long as I can remember and she probably has all kinds of built up anger against us and no telling what she might try to do to those kids when she gets the chance. If I ever tried to explain this to Atticus, he would think I was some crazy person but if something happens to those kids, it would be all of his fault for putting so much trust into Calpurnia and those other Negros. I tried to get him to get rid of her but he absolutely refuses and says she’s apart of the family and I’ll be damned if she’s ever apart of my family. Well now all this talk about Calpurnia got me thinking about the Tom Robinson case. I can’t believe that my brother, a person that was raised by the same parents as me, would be dumb enough to defend him. The guy raped a white little girl and even if he really didn’t do it like Atticus says, he would stand no chance at the trial just because the girl said he did it. That’s just how it works around here and all the other places in the U.S. that I know of, a black person’s word would never over ride anything said by a white person. This case is a waist of my brother’s time and it’s not going to end up doing anything but making him a disgrace to our whole family and even more of a disgrace than Joshua who cost the family $500. I just wish Atticus could see the pain and humility that he was going to cause his family before he took on this case. It even affects his very own children I know they go through town and a lot of people look down upon them. I know this because if they weren’t my niece and nephew, I would be one of those people looking at them in disgust. I just hope with all my heart that no one tries to harm Atticus or any his family for what he has done. My brother’s outrageous and embarrassing decision to accept this case has set such a bad example for Jem and Scout. Atticus already couldn’t raise those kids right before this case and now he can’t raise them right and they are starting not even to mind him. He told me that they snuck out last night and he did nothing to punish them. I was outraged when I herd this because I couldn’t believe they could do something that bad and not even get in trouble for it. Atticus said that he was having a meeting with some people and the kids just all of a sudden run right into the circle and doing something like that in my eyes is way beyond disrespectful. They were with there friend Dill who probably put them up to the whole thing. I don’t understand why my brother allows his kids to play with Dill, he is obviously setting a bad example for the kids and teaching them to act even worse than they already do. The boy ran I don’t know how many miles away from home for heavens sake and probably trying to get Scout and Jem to do the same. All I know is this is one twisted family and I will have to do my best to straighten them out while I’m here. I just prey to god that everything turns out alright.