Character pair: Miss Maudie Atkinson and Mr. Avery
The characters mentioned above, Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery, are starkly contrasting in personality. While both have been shaped by the often quiet life of Maycomb, they have different views on life. We could say Miss Maudie is more open minded than Mr. Avery, and less set in her ways. Although, both are persistent and hold strongly to their beliefs. From their interactions with Dill, Jem, and mainly Scout the reader can tell Mr. Avery doesn't care for children all that much. However, based on Miss Maudie's interactions with Scout, we can see she has a great patience for children. In this respect, Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery are foils of each other. Both are religious, but one takes it to a father extremity (Avery). From the way Mr. Avery speaks of his beliefs, and how Miss Maudie passes on wisdom more than moral evaluation, they both bring out the best and worst in each other. Perhaps the most important of their similarities is that Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery both work on arbitrary conditions, which means they both work for the greater good and will always assist those in need.
Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery both hold that neighborly relationship with Scout; the one where all parties are unsure of where they stand with one another. From Scout's words and actions, the reader can see Scout holds Miss Maudie in higher regard. Certainly, she wouldn't go about mocking her with a caricature on a snowman... It's not that Scout
doesn't respect Mr. Avery, it's that he doesn't hold very much respect for her. If I were to put myself in her shoes, I would definitely prefer Miss Maudie to Mr. Avery based on the way they treat me. The contrast in both characters shows which types of people Scout prefers and what she actually wants. While there may be an underlying desire for another female figure in Scout, we can see Scout really wants to be listened to. Going along with the recurring theme of coming-of-age, Miss Maudie helps Scout through that when she is ostracized by the boys. Mr. Avery also offers advice to Scout. Rather, he admonishes her and her sibling. But Scout takes it well (relative to her other reactions) so the reader can see she may like Mr. Avery.
Scout uses Miss Maudie as an example, and Mr. Avery as more of a cautionary tale. Again, this shows that Miss Maudie and Mr. Avery are foils of each other; but also that Scout and Mr. Avery are foils as well. Scout, although she may be too young for me to say for sure, is open-minded and inquisitive. She sees Mr. Avery as a grumpy old 'preacher' and from that I think she takes caution not to become someone like that. With open-minded and more abstract thinking Miss Maudie, we can see Scout's admiration of her reflect in Scout's actions. She heeds her advice more than Mr. Avery's - and rightly so. For the virtue of brevity, I'll just keep this at: Miss Maudie could be seen as an alter-ego of Scout. Perhaps an older alter-ego, Miss Maudie could be a glimpse into stubbornly independent Scout's adult life.
reading the Bible.
