TL;DR: Across-the-street neighbor, widowed, tireless gardener. The book's secondary moral voice — the woman who corrects Mrs. Dubose's bile, contextualizes the Radleys for Scout, holds Aunt Alexandra up in the back hall when Atticus brings the news of Tom's death, and tells the children the morning after the verdict that they are "making a baby step, but a step."

Spoiler level: spoiler-light. Discusses her supporting role through the trial aftermath in broad terms.

Snapshot

Maudie Atkinson lives directly across the street from the Finches. She is the gardener of the block, the maker of every pound cake in the household, and the only neighbor the children straightforwardly trust as much as they trust Atticus. Her house burns down in Chapter 8; she rebuilds smaller and cheerier the same week.

Role in the story

Miss Maudie is the book's secondary moral voice — the adult-other-than-Atticus who tells the children the truth when they need it. She corrects Mrs. Dubose's accusations on the sidewalk, debunks the Boo Radley legend in Chapter 5 ("Arthur Radley just stays in the house, that's all"), reveals to the children that Atticus is the deadest shot in Maycomb County in Chapter 10, defends Atticus to the missionary circle in Chapter 24, and serves the pound cake that quiets Jem on the morning after the verdict in Chapter 22.

Personality in plain English

Witty, sun-warm, plain-spoken. Hates her house (until it burns down, after which she gets a smaller one she likes better). Loves her yard. Hates fanatic religion: the "foot-washing Baptists" trade insults with her over the fence and she trades them right back. She believes Atticus Finch is the closest thing to a saint Maycomb is likely to produce, and says so to anyone who needs telling. She takes children seriously, answers their questions seriously, and lets them on her porch without trying to civilize them.

What she wants

Her garden in working order. The Finch children in working order. Maycomb on a slightly steeper moral incline than it currently is. (She believes this is a process of inches.)

What she fears

Less than she should about the fire. Less than she should about the trial. She is one of the few characters in the book whose courage looks like cheerfulness, and the morning of the fire she is the only person in the neighborhood smiling about her own house.

Key relationships

• Atticus — her near-contemporary and her favorite person in Maycomb. The respect is mutual and unspoken.
• Scout — whose porch she colonizes after school. Most of what Scout learns about the Radleys, Atticus's history, and the trial's quiet supporters, she learns on Maudie's porch.
• Jem — to whom she gives pound cake the morning after the verdict, in lieu of the longer conversation he is not ready for.
• Aunt Alexandra — whose missionary circle she attends, partly to keep an eye on. The two are pleasant but their values do not overlap.
• Mrs. Dubose — her diametric foil; the porch neighbor whose insults Maudie has been refusing to take seriously for decades.
• Boo Radley — for whom she carries the most sympathy of anyone in the book except, eventually, Scout.

Visual identity

Tall and angular. Lee describes her with "a broad mouth" and "the chin of a male carved figurehead." A long, somewhat masculine face, high cheekbones with slightly hollow cheeks, long defined chin, strong broad jaw. Clear gray-green deep-set eyes; crow's-feet from sun and laughter. Weathered fair skin; freckled forearms from gardening. Silver-streaked light brown hair worn pinned up in a low bun. She wears full dentures, which she snaps for emphasis to entertain the children — Lee's specific detail. In the yard: khaki men's coveralls cuffed at the ankles, brown leather work boots, a wide straw sun-hat, leather garden gloves tucked into a pocket. On the porch in the evening: a pale floral cotton dress, a simple cardigan in cool weather. At the missionary tea: "a brilliantly painted lady" in a tea dress in a rusty russet color.

Aliases

The following names and references in the book all point to this character. Use any of these as link anchors back to this page.

• Miss Maudie (canonical — the most common form)
• Maudie Atkinson
• Miss Maudie Atkinson

Discussion questions

• Miss Maudie's house burns down and she greets the next morning by planning a smaller one. What is the book showing about her with that cheerful response?
• The morning after the verdict, Maudie tells Jem they are "making a baby step, but a step." Is the book endorsing that optimism or quietly testing it?
• Maudie is the first adult to debunk the Boo Radley legend for Scout — five chapters into the book. Why doesn't Scout's image of Boo update faster?
• In Chapter 24, Maudie quietly holds Aunt Alexandra up in the back hall after Atticus brings the news of Tom's death. What does that scene tell us about both women that the rest of the book does not?
• Why does Lee give the book's clearest moral statements to Maudie instead of expanding Atticus's voice further?