When Aunt Alexandra has the Missionary Society meeting at
the house, Scout decides to go. She ends up sitting with Mrs. Merriweather and she hears
how Mrs. Merriweather talks about Helen Robinson. Scout is confused as to why Helen
shouldn't be able to work to take care of her kids, but Mrs. Merriweather is convinced
that it would not be okay for her to be around the white people in town. She calls the
Northerners hypocrites for being behind the freeing of slaves, yet they don't want
anything to do with them either.
"Hypocrites, Mrs. Perkins, born hypocrites,"
Mrs. Merriweather was saying. "At least we don't have that sin on our shoulders down
here. People up there set 'em free, but you don't see 'em sittin' at the table with 'em.
At least we don't have the deceit to say to 'em yes you're as good as we are but stay
from us. Down here we just say you live your way and we'll live ours. I think that
woman, that Mrs. Roosevelt's lost her mind coming down to Birmingham and tryin' to sit
with 'em. If I were the Mayor of Birmingham
I'd-"
It is amazing to me
that Mrs. Merriweather is talking bad about the northerners all the while she is one of
the worst hypocrites in town. She thinks that it is all right for the south to still be
okay with slavery because we didn't free them, and the north were the hypocrites because
they freed them, but didn't want to sit at the same table as
them.
No comments:
Post a Comment