1 What does Scout really know about Calpurnia? Claudia Durst Johnson, Interview: A Perspective on the 1930s Vocabulary Warm-Up Section A 1. To instill something in someone means to introduce particular thoughts or feelings into someone. 2. The benefit of sharecropping is that you can make a living without having to buy a piece of land. The costs of sharecropping are that you get to keep only a small portion of your profits, and may even lose money if you have to pay the landowner for the right to work the land. You are also subject to the wishes of the landowner; if he or she wants to give the land to someone else or to sell it or develop it into something other than farmland, you would have no option but to find another place to live and work. 3. The proceeds would have been the crops themselves and/or the profits received from selling those crops. Section B 1. a 2. b Section C 1. In this case, to mind someone means to pay attention to and follow their instructions. 2. The verb proceed means to go somewhere, and the noun proceeds refers to the results of some kind of transaction or effort (profits). You would go to the bank to deposit the money you received in payment for your work. Section D 1. She is offering to split the money she receives in payment for babysitting. 2. I would expect someone who lived in prominent neighborhood to be rich because neighborhoods are often considered prominent because wealthy, famous and/or powerful people live there. 3. Some of the explicit rules in a school might be that cell phones are not allowed in class, and that students must arrive at school on time. They are explicit because they are stated in the school s rules and articulated by the administration and faculty. An implicit rule might be that the seniors have lunch in a particular corner of the cafeteria. It s not written in the student handbook, but everyone just knows that that s how things work. 4. I look for honesty and understanding in a friend. Those are important traits or qualities because you need to know that you can trust a friend and that he or she is going to listen to and support you. Section E 1. b 2. c
2 Check for Understanding 1. c 2. d 3. b 4. c 5. b Writing and Discussion Section A: What is a positive stereotype? 1. Stereotyping is ascribing particular traits or behaviors to a certain group or type of person, based on race, age, gender, etc. There can be stereotypes about positive traits, like people of a certain ethnicity are particularly good at something that society values, or they can be negative, in which people of a particular gender or race are considered inferior in a certain way. Both can be damaging because they place burdensome expectations or limitations on individual people who may deviate from those stereotypes. 2. Table A-1: Stereotypes Stereotypes Stereotyping use of language Black nurses were they were really really religious Black nurses directly shaped the characters of the white children they cared for Sharecroppers trusted landowners completely Black children know how to dance well Black men and women did not really care for the white people the way that the white people felt very attached to them religious the black people that took care of these little white children instilled in us the most wonderful traits. They stood for everything that was honest and Christian. part of your character came from your nurses they trusted her implicitly that s where I learned to love to dance We were incredibly attached to the black people we knew well the black people didn't feel that way about us. Your reflections Probably all black nurses were not really religious Probably not all black nurses had such a dramatic impact on the children they cared for; probably not all were honest and Christian. Some might have trusted Camille s grandmother, but since it was unspoken, Camille doesn t really know what they felt about the conditions of their relationship. Probably not all black children knew how to dance well Probably not all white people loved and cared for the black people in their lives, and individual black men and women probably had a variety of feelings about the different white people in their lives.
3 3. Students may discuss how limited and presumptuous the white women s view of the black men and women they knew seems. Part of this limitation is likely due to the fact that they were children, but they have clearly not questioned their assumptions in adulthood, except in noting that the black people didn t feel [very attached to] us, based on something one of them had read in a book. Throughout the interview, the white women speak about the black women and men they knew as a single group with a single set of characteristics, whether positive or negative. They also assume that the relationship was as wholly positive and beneficial for the black men and women as it was for the white people. Section B: What is the backstory here? 1. The white women paint a picture of harmonious, mutually beneficial relations between black and white people during the 1930s, only acknowledging that that might not have completely been the case based on a book one of them read. They are only seeing and telling what they experienced as white children who had the benefit of black nurses caring for them. Given that they were children, they might have been less than fully aware of the realities of being a working adult, let alone what black men and women faced in making a living during this time period and as domestic workers. Their version of events is reasonable and plausible from their point of view, but does not come close to telling the whole story, since it leaves out the viewpoints of any of the black men and women they are discussing. 2. Students should discuss the qualities ascribed to the black mammy stereotype: always nurturing and kind, always a good listener, always happy and self-sacrificing, never angry or bitter. Students should consider the impact of such a stereotype on black women. Regarding black sharecroppers, students should examine the realities of this socioeconomic institution. While black sharecroppers were technically no longer slaves, they often made so little money that they were completely tied to the land they worked and lived at the whim of the landowner, who in some cases had owned them or their ancestors as slaves before emancipation. 3. Students may observe that the white women interviewed in this excerpt traffic in stereotypes by ascribing one set of characteristics to all black men and women. While they consider these stereotypes to be positive, they are still extremely limiting and cast all black men and women as servants of or beholden to white people. They misrepresent the realities of black men and women during this time by assuming that their relationship was mutually beneficial and ignoring the substantial limitations black men and women faced due to poverty, social inequality, and prejudice. Section C: What did white children really know about their black nurses? 1. Table C-1: What do the children learn about Calpurnia? What the children learn Textual evidence Reflections The children learn that Calpurnia is older than Atticus. I m older than Mr. Finch, even. To children, all adults seem old or older, but it is interesting that Calpurnia seems ageless compared to Atticus whom Jem sees as old and feeble.
4 The children learn that Calpurnia cares about making a good impression at her church Calpurnia speaks differently when talking to other black people Calpurnia is one of only four people in the First Purchase congregation who can read and taught her son Zeebo to read Calpurnia grew up at Finch Landing, and always worked for the Finches or Bufords If Calpurnia had ever bathed me roughly before, it was nothing compared to her supervision of that Saturday night s routine I don t want anybody sayin I don t look after my children They s my comp ny, said Calpurnia. Again I thought he voice strange: she was talking like the rest of them. Can t but about four folks in First Purchase read... I m one of em. I made him get a page of the Bible every day, and there was a book Miss Buford taught me out of Grew up down there between the Buford Plae and the Landin. I ve spent all my days workin for the Finches or the Bufords, an I moved to Maycomb when your daddy and your momma married. For Scout and Jem, going to Calpurnia s church is a fun deviation from normal routine, but for Calpurnia it s a serious occasion that requires extra effort. Scout is used to hearing Calpurnia speak in generally standard English and assumes she would always speak that way. Calpurnia is practicing code-switching here, and the children don t fully understand why she would do so. Scout and Jem have no idea that many black men and women didn t have access to basic education. Scout and Jem were unaware that Calpurnia had been attached to their family for so long. Scout and Jem are unaware of a great deal about Calpurnia because, like most children, they only consider adults in terms of the roles they play in their lives. However, in this case, Scout and Jem are particularly ignorant of the full scope of Calpurnia s life because so much of it takes place so far from their own social world. 2. Students may consider that if Calpurnia had not taken Scout and Jem with her to church that day, they may have never considered her as a full individual human being. The children may have rarely if ever thought of her as Zeebo s mother or as a respected member of a church congregation. Given how much Scout and Jem don t know about Calpurnia, particularly in terms
5 of Calpurnia s relationship to other black people in her community, it would be interesting to rethink what the three women in the interview did not know about their nurses. Who were these women in their world? And what was the world of black nurses and sharecroppers like outside the gaze of the white children in their care? Section D: What is Lula so angry about? 1. Students should read through this chapter first before tackling their characters, so they can act with some insight into their character. 2. Table D-1: What do we know about Lula? What do we know Textual Evidence about Lula? She is described as She was bullet-headed physically unusual with strange almond-shaped looking eyes, straight nose, and an Indian-bow mouth. She Her attitude is evident from her posture. She has no problem questioning the actions of others. Calpurnia does not like her. She resents Calpurnia bringing the children to the church. The rest of the congregation respects Calpurnia more than Lula. seemed seven feet high. Her weight was on one leg; she rested her left elbow in the curve of her hip, pointing at us with upturned palm. What you up to, Miss Cal? What you want, Lula? she asked, in tones I had never heard her use. She spoke quietly, contemptuously. an I reckon you s comp ny at the Finch house durin the week. You ain t got no business bringin white chillun here they got their church, we got our n. When I looked down the pathway again, Lula was gone. In her place was a solid mass of colored people. Reflections Lula seems, as Scout perceives, to be an imposing figure and to be of a mixed-race heritage. She is very confident about making her opinion known. She refers to Calpurnia as Miss Cal which suggests familiarity but she is also disrespectful in the way she questions Calpurnia s actions. Calpurnia is not intimidated by Lula and resents her question. Lula may be jealous of Calpurnia s position in the Finch household or she may feel that she wants the church to be a place free from white people and the issues of place and position that service to white people brings with it. The other members of the church may want to avoid any trouble or further ugliness, and so they shut Lula out. She is considered a Don t pay no tention to Most members of the congregation
6 trouble-maker Lula, she s contentious because Reverend Sykes threatened to church her. She s a troublemaker from way back, got fancy ideas an haughty ways are less enthusiastic than Lula is to challenge the status quo, especially in terms of relations between blacks and whites. Lula is very different from Calpurnia in how she carries herself and in her manner of speaking. She likely does not have a position as a domestic worker like Calpurnia does, or at least not one that is so harmonious or in which she is respected as much as Calpurnia is by the Finches. She does not care at all about what the white children or anyone else might think of her. 3. Lula is saying that Calpurnia shouldn t have brought the children to her church because white people have their own church. Since black people are not welcome in the churches for white people, then the children should not be welcome at First Purchase. She may simply not want to have to act like she normally would around white people in what she considers her own space. 4. Table D-2: How are the children treated at the church? Character Textual Evidence Reflections Lula they got their church, we got our n. Lula doesn t want the children there. Calpurnia They s my comp ny It s the same God, ain t it? Calpurnia is proud to have them there and suggests that religion (or God) can be shared Reverend Sykes Zeebo Brethren and sisters, we are particularly glad to have company with us this morning. Mister and Miss Finch. You all know their father. we re mighty glad to have you all here. by everyone. Reverend Sykes is happy to have the children there and slightly deferential to them because of his respect for Atticus and Atticus work on behalf of Tom Robinson. Zeebo is fine with the children being there. Lula resents the children being there because she feels like they are violating her own private space. Calpurnia is proud to have them as her company and feels like they reflect well on her. Reverend Sykes welcomes the children because he respects Atticus and is likely grateful for his efforts on behalf of Tom Robinson. Zeebo seems comfortable with the children, perhaps because he has known them for many years, as Calpurnia s son. He may also be generally comfortable with white people given his position in town as garbage collector. He is also Calpurnia s son and would likely support her decision to bring the children to church. 5. Students may discuss how Lula represents the voice of black people who did not have as harmonious a relationship with white people as Calpurnia appears to have with the Finches. She differs from the other black characters in the fact that, in her own church, she does not feel like she has to cater to the expectations of white people. She may differ in this way because she does
7 not have a job that she enjoys or values enough to protect by keeping quiet. Lee probably chose to include her in the novel to reflect the reality of segregation in Maycomb, the fact that relations between blacks and whites were not universally harmonious as readers might be inclined to believe from the attitudes and behavior of other black characters.