Here is another question to contribute to on the main page here.
Calpurnia has been with the Finch family since the children were very young. When going to Cal's church, Scout and Jem learn that there is another side to her. How and why does Cal act differently when she is around the Finch family in Maycomb and another way when she is with her own family on the other side of town?
Do you think that people change their behavior according to whom they are with? If so, why might they change their behavior?
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Calpurnia acts differently when with the Blacks than when with the Whites. This is because this is how all the other Blacks speak, and it would be weird if she spoke like she does with the whites. Calpurnia tells the children that her talking like the whites to the blacks would be like them speaking like the Blacks to their family members and their friends. The children then understood.
Calpurnia changes the way she speaks so that she can fit into both communities, black and white. Calpurnia uses her skills of speaking correctly when it is most appropriate for her. She realizes that speaking in one as she would another would be wrong. . When she is with the Finches, she speaks grammatically correct, since Atticus is a lawyer who speaks very sophisticatedly all of the time. When she is with her fellow African-Americans, she uses the slang that they use. She does not want to make them feel inferior or less intelligent than her. Calpurnia understands that to speak as she would with the Finches at her church would be inappropriate, and vice-versa.
People change there behavior so they feel like they belong where they are and who they are with.
When Calpurnia is with the Finch family, she acts as intelligent as she truly is, but when she is with the African American population, she talks the way that they all talk. She talks unintelligently with the African American population because she wants to fit into the community. She knows that if she began talking in a way that is considered “white,” the black people will think that she has picked up “white” habits and that she is prejudice against them. Cal speaks differently because she wants to be accepted in the African American population.
We think that people act differently according to who they are with, mostly to fit into the environment that they happen to be in. For example, we act differently with our friends as opposed to with our grandparents, or when we are applying for a job.
Calpurnia has two different personalities because she wants to make the people that she is around feel comfortable. If she spoke like Atticus when she was in her neighborhood or at her church, her African American neighbors would feel as though they were inferior to her. She wants them to feel like they are equals. Calpurnia speaks like Atticus at the Finches' home because she wants them to recognize that although she is African American, she is able to speak just as well as they can.
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