This marks one of the philosophies that Atticus tries the hardest to teach his children, that you should look at things from others’ points of view before judging them and should act with compassion and an open-mind at all times- Jem begins to understand this later in the book when he says to Scout, ‘I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time…it’s because he wants to stay inside.’ (p233).
Atticus also teaches his children to abide by their own morals and not to judge something right just because a powerful or ‘respectable’ person says it is. He emphasis this whilst discussing the court case with Jem. Jem questions the juries decision, saying you could not ‘convict a man on evidence like that’(p227), Atticus, instead of condoning the juries actions says, ‘As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.’ (p227)Most adults would have handled this situation very differently, they would either have tried to avoid answering Jem’s questions or would have told him to respect the adults, but Atticus answers him straight and in no uncertain terms, condemning their behaviour and ensuring Jem knew it was wrong. This is another example of how Atticus treats his children as equals and stresses the importance of judging people by their actions and not by their race or wealth etc.
Atticus treats his children with respect, and because of this they reciprocate this respect, it is not something Atticus demands, he tells this to Scout when she questions him as to why he accepted the Tom Robinson case. He says he took the case ‘for a number of reasons. The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town…I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something’ (p81). This was one of the main incentives for Atticus to take the case, even though he knew there was no chance of him succeeding, he felt he had to in order to maintain his integrity and to continue to command respect from his children.
Throughout the book Atticus is seen as a very liberal parent, although some characters, e.g. Aunt Alexandra, feel that he allows his children too much freedom and that he does not discipline them enough, especially Scout. Aunt Alexandra makes her opinions clear when she tells Atticus that although, ‘it’s all right to be soft hearted…you have a daughter to think of.’(p142) Throughout the book, Alexandra attempts to discipline Scout and to provide some ‘female influence’ (p133).
However, Atticus maintains that it is best to let children learn from their mistakes and does not always punish them for their misdemeanours; an example of this is when Jem, Scout and Dill trespass on the Radley property. Mr Radley sees them and shoots, whilst escaping Jem tears his trousers. Although Dill tries to cover up by saying that they were playing strip poker, Atticus knows the truth. Despite this, he accepts their excuse and the children get away without reprimand, for, as Atticus knows, their guilt was punishment enough.
Atticus also has strong views on bravery; he believes that much bravery is false, i.e. when someone has a gun, and, in this case, is far from commendable. This view was instrumental in Atticus’ decision not to tell his children about his skill at shooting, however they find out when Atticus is asked by the sheriff to shoot a rabid dog in the street. This surprises both the children, especially Scout, who had previously thought that her ‘father didn’t do anything.’(p95) However, Jem realises that Atticus is not proud of his talent, and Miss Maudie explains that Atticus thought that ‘God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things’ (p104).
Atticus also role models his sense of bravery by refusing to carry a gun to protect Tom Robinson from angry farmers and refusing to carry a gun to protect himself after Bob Ewell threatens guns. But bravery runs deeper than the decision to carry a gun. Atticus shows bravery when he takes Tom's case despite knowing that his town would turn against him and his children. Throughout the book Atticus tries to teach his children bravery, he struggles to make Scout realise that it is, in actual fact, braver to turn away from people who antagonise her, than to fight; something that she would have to face a lot during her father’s involvement in Tom Robinson’s case.
On a different level, Atticus strives to help Jem obtain a feeling of bravery. When Jem cuts off the heads of all Mrs Dubose’s flowers in Chapter 11, Atticus told Jem that he has to read to Mrs Dubose every day after school for a month, although Jem does not realise it at the time, the punishment imposed by Atticus was meant to help Jem ‘see what real courage is’. As he tells Jem, even though, on the surface, Mrs Dubose seemed like a sour, old lady, ‘she was the bravest person [he] ever knew’ (p118). This is yet another example of Atticus teaching his children not to judge a book by its cover.
Whilst, in most situations, Atticus is straight forward with Jem and Scout, throughout the book, he does seem rather distrustful of his emotions, which may be a reflection of his career as a lawyer. In fact, only once on the book does Atticus seem to express any major emotions at all. This is during the Tom Robinson trial when a lynch mob arrives at the jail. Atticus narrowly escapes from harm due to the arrival of Jem and Scout, even though the situation upsets him greatly; his fingers were trembling when he folded up his newspaper, he tries to appear as normal as possible, telling Scout and Jem to go home.
I think this distrust of emotions features strongly in the way he brings up his children, he fears that Scout’s emotions will get her in trouble and goes to great lengths to try and teach her to conquer her outbursts. It also explains Atticus’ liberality in his parenting, as he is reluctant to use emotions such as anger or fear to control his children; he attempts to conquer this reluctance by using reason so that his children can see for themselves which is the right path. Above all he teaches them to live to their own morals and not to reflect societies views, in his words; ‘they're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions, but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.’(p111)