Saturday, March 17, 2012

In "To Kill a Mockingbird", what type of man did Alexandra marry?

Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Alexandra's husband, is part of the story's "background" characters -- that is to say, he never really appears, but we hear mention of him and his personality throughout the book, and Scout's opinion is none too high regarding him.

His only words to her in the past have been of a corrective or near-disciplinary nature ("Get off the fence"), and when he doesn't show up with Aunt Alexandra to stay with Atticus and family, his wife shows no great remorse.

As Scout put it, Uncle Jimmy present or absent made no difference (paraphrase). When Alexandra is asked if she will miss him, she shirks off the question by simply ignoring it. The reader is led to infer all kinds of things about Uncle Jimmy: He could just be insensitive, but we might also speculate that perhaps he goes beyond being emotionally cold, which is why Aunt Alexandra does not miss his presence. 

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