Francis Hancock is Aunt Alexandria's grandson, which makes him Jem and Scout's cousin. Scout gets into a physical altercation with Francis in chapter nine when he calls Atticus a "n*****-lover." Scout has absolutely nothing in common with Francis, who is portrayed as a haughty, rude child. Francis is a year older than Scout, and she comments that she "avoided him on principle."

According to Scout, Francis "enjoyed everything I disapproved of, and disliked my ingenuous diversions." Scout interacts with her cousin in chapter nine when her family visits Finch's Landing for a Christmas gathering. After dinner, Scout and Francis go outside and Francis begins to make fun of Dill for being "passed around from relative to relative." Ironically, Francis is in a similar situation as Dill and cannot see that his parents refuse to spend Christmas with him. Scout resents Francis for ridiculing her best friend and quickly comes to Dill's defense.

Francis then makes several disparaging remarks about Atticus embarrassing the family by defending a Black man and repeats his grandmother's unflattering comments. Francis begins repeatedly calling Atticus a "n*****-lover," which infuriates Scout. Even though Scout does not understand the meaning of the term, she knows it is negative and patiently waits to get revenge.

Scout pretends to ignore Francis until he comes within striking distance. Once Francis approaches Scout, she punches him in the mouth, splitting her knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. The adults immediately run outside to break up the fight and Uncle Jack quickly grabs Scout. Later that evening, Scout explains to Uncle Jack why she attacked Francis, and he apologizes for jumping to conclusions.

Francis is Scout and Jem's cousin, but he takes more after Aunt Alexandra's side of the family than Atticus's. Among other things, this means that he's not the most likable of characters. And that's putting it mildly. In addition, Scout finds him a crashing bore because, unlike her, he doesn't enjoy playing games or getting messy.

There's no easy way to say this, but Francis Hancock is also a thoroughly nasty piece of work. He has this deeply unpleasant habit of parroting negative things said by adults in his presence. For instance, when he chides Atticus for being a “n****r lover,” you can be sure that he got this from some racist adult who criticized Atticus for agreeing to defend Tom Robinson.

When Scout hears Francis say these hateful words, she immediately defends her father's honor by giving her cousin a good smack in the mouth. As one can imagine, this gets Scout into serious trouble, and she's given a good spanking by her Uncle Jack as punishment. Not unreasonably, Scout feels as though she's been wronged. It was Francis who started the whole thing off, not her. He was the one who leveled such a hurtful insult at her father.

When Scout and her family go to Finch’s Landing at Christmastime, one aspect of the visit that she does not enjoy is spending time with her cousin Francis Hancock. Although they are only a year apart, the two children are very different. Scout finds Francis boring because he does not share her interests; she is an active tomboy, while Francis does not enjoy physical activities and seems overly concerned about neatness. In addition, Francis has a cruel streak and a tendency to repeat negative comments that he hears from adults.

During one particular visit, Francis insults her friend Dill, calling him a runt. It bothers Scout to hear Francis mock him because she knows he has a difficult family situation. Francis then calls Scout “mighty dumb” for having such a friend, and continues by criticizing Atticus. As Scout worships her father, this is the last straw. Although she does not understand what Francis means by calling her father a “n——r lover,” she knows it is an insult. After she chases him around for a while, he tattles to Aunt Alexandra (his grandmother). When he repeats the insult, Scout punches Francis in the mouth, hurting her knuckle. This time, he lies to the adults about what Scout said.

Blaming Scout for initiating the fight, Uncle Jack punishes her with a spanking. She regards this treatment as an outrage. She later explains to him that he was not fair because he did not consider her side of the story, and concludes that he does not understand children.

As was mentioned in the previous post, Francis Hancock is Scout's cousin who she absolutely cannot stand. Francis is entitled, arrogant, and prejudiced. In Chapter 9, Scout is forced to hang out with Francis during their family's Christmas get-together at Finch's Landing. Francis is Scout's complete opposite. Scout believes that Francis is the most boring child she's ever met because he is not athletic, cares about his appearance, and has nothing in common with her. After the family dinner, Francis goes outside with Scout, where he begins to make fun of Dill. Francis then tells Scout that her father is shaming their family because he's a "nigger-lover." Despite not knowing the meaning of Francis's racial slur, Scout gets upset and eventually punches him in the face. Scout is the one who gets into trouble when Uncle Jack intervenes and spanks her.

Francis is Aunt Alexandra's grandson. We see his character introduced in Chapter 9, when Jem, Atticus and Scout attend Christmas dinner at Aunt Alexandra's. Scout and Francis are a year apart in age and do not get along at all. Francis first gets Scout going when he says this about her friend Dill:"You mean that little runt... Grandma says he hasn't got a home...he just gets passed from relative to relative...You're mighty dumb sometimes, Jean Louise." Francis is merely repeating what he hears his mother saying about the people that Atticus and his family surround themselves with. He continues with, " Guess you don't know any better though...I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a n-lover..." Francis continues his taunts and Scout's temper explodes. It is here that she gives him what he had coming-a good swift punch to the face. Scout, of course, gets blamed for saying things she didn't say and is then later punished by her Uncle Jack.