Are Calpurnia's actions different when she is at her church in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

When comparing the actions of Calpurnia in Chapter 12 to the way we see her behaving otherwise, such as in the Finch home, our comparison will be different depending on what characters Calpurnia is interacting with. At her church, we see Calpurnia behave very bravely and assertively. While she is certainly much more humble when she is interacting with Atticus, her bravery and assertiveness is displayed each time she interacts with the Finch children.

In Chapter 12 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Calpurnia displays a sense of bravery and assertiveness when faced with the racist ridicule of Lula in front of the church's doors. Lula rebukes Calpurnia for bringing white children to an all-black church; she even stoops so low as to suggest that Calpurnia is sexually involved with Atticus. However, Calpurnia very bravely asserts her right to bring any company she would like to her own church, and the rest of the church members support her.

In contrast to Calpurnia's bold and assertive actions towards Lula at the church, Calpurnia acts with more humility when speaking to Atticus though he strives to treat her as one of the family. The best example can be seen the morning after Tom Robinson's trial when she very meekly answers his questions about where all of the extra dishes being served at breakfast came from. She shows Atticus into the kitchen and explains that all of the African-American citizens left him gifts of food at the doorstep in order to show their appreciation for his defense of Robinson. She particularly very humbly asks, "They--they aren't oversteppin' themselves, are they?" (Ch. 22). In other words, she is asking if her people are overstepping their social boundaries by reaching out to a white lawyer to show him gratitude. The question is humble because it assumes, based on racial discrimination, that her people would not have the right to do that. In answer to her humility, Atticus asks her to thank her community for him wholeheartedly.

In contrast to her humble interaction with Atticus in Chapter 22, we see Calpurnia never fail to aggressively assert herself as a caretaker of Atticus's children, just as she is very bold and aggressive to protect the children from Lula's insults. A good example can be seen in Chapter 10 when the children, as well as the rest of the neighborhood, are threatened by a rabid dog. She is very quick to protect the children by ordering them inside the house, phoning Atticus, and warning the neighborhood. She even very aggressively attempts to protect the children from the vision of their father shooting the dog by standing between the children and the screen door; regardless, her efforts are thwarted because the children see "from beneath her arms" (Ch. 10).

Hence, all in all, Calpurnia does not behave any differently at her church than she does at home, at least not with respect to the Finch children.