- This chapter gives us some quick background on Aunt Alexandra:
- She has a son who looks like a horse, and she is married to a man—but they don't live together.
- Alexandra has lived with Atticus ever since his oldest son, Jem, died.
- Yes, for all you Mockingbird fans out there, Jem's dead. No, we don't know how yet.
- After Jem died, the family's cook, Calpurnia, left and never came back.
- Atticus sold their house and moved across town. An ice cream parlor now stands where their house used to be.
- Aunt Alexandra is "giving a Coffee" (3.34) for Jean Louise, which means a bunch of annoying girls her age will come over (boo!) drink coffee (yay!) and gossip about husbands and babies. (Um, where's the door?)
- She continues forcing herself into Jean Louise's life by saying that she will never be allowed to marry Henry.
- Even though Jean Louise doesn't actually want to marry, she is mad that she is being told not to.
- Alexandra's reason: Henry is the child "of rednecked white trash" (3.72).
- She also thinks that Henry is trying to "take over" (3.75) Atticus's law firm.
- Jean Louise is fed up. She has nothing to say, other than telling Alexandra to go pee in her hat.
- That night, Atticus gently rebukes her before Henry shows up, and Jean Louise goes out on her date with her favorite piece of trash.