Comment on Atticus' role as a father. How does he behave towards his children and what advice does he give them?

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Katie Leahy M5Alpha

Homework                                                                                               7th March 2004

Comment on Atticus’ role as a father. How does he behave towards his children and what advice does he give them?

Throughout the book, Atticus can be seen as the epitome of moral character, he lives by his ethics and in doing so teaches his children and the town alike how to stand up for one’s beliefs; this is particularly evident when he takes on the Tom Robinson case.  Atticus has a close relationship with his children, probably reinforced by his being their only parent. He treats his children like equals, this is apparent from the beginning, especially as they call him Atticus and not father.

   Education is important to Atticus, he believes that education is the key to unlocking the ignorance that causes prejudice, this is noticeable during the Tom Robinson case where Atticus says, ‘confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the…evil assumption…that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their calibre’ (p211). Consequently, he teaches his children from an early age, although he does not employ the conventional methods used to tutor children. Scout was taught to read by following whatever Atticus was reading in the evenings; again, Atticus did not treat her as inferior but allowed her to read from newspapers etc like an adult.

  This is a stark contrast from Scout’s first teacher, Miss Caroline, who is displeased that Scout can already read and commands her to tell Atticus not to teach her to read, telling Scout that is was ‘best to begin reading with a new mind’ (p23). The situation regresses, as Scout tries to explain to Miss Caroline about the various family stereotypes in Maycomb, namely, why Walter Cunningham would not accept money for lunch from her. Miss Caroline’s reaction was to haul Scout to the front of the class and punish her. Later that evening Scout related the events to Atticus, who advised her to sympathize with Miss Caroline, Scout questions this idea and Atticus replies that ‘you never really understand a person until… you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’ (p35).

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   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 ...

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