Throughout the story, Atticus teaches Jem and Scout multiple life lessons that they can’t learn from books, making him a loved character. On the first day of school, Scout has a rough day and dislikes her teacher, Miss Caroline. She mentions to Atticus that she doesn’t want to go back to school, but he explains, “You can never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Lee39). This statement illustrates that he is a man who respects everyone, and he does an exceptional job at explaining to his daughter to not judge a person. This is a reason why many people are drawn to his character because although it is a theme that needs to be taught, many Maycomb parents don’t mention it. Later in the novel, Atticus stresses …show more content…
On one particular day, an ill, old woman named Mrs. Dubose made a rude remark towards Jem and Scout mentioning that their father is, “… no better than the niggers and trash he works for…” (Lee 135), referring to a case that their father has just taken. Jem loses his temper and destroys the old lady’s camellia flowers. When Atticus finds out about his sons actions, he allows Mrs. Dubose to make Jem read to her every day for one month. One night when the month is over, Atticus goes to see her and finds out that she has passed. He explains to his son how she had been addicted to a drug called morphine that helped her with the pain she experienced from a terminal illness, and that she was determined to break the habit before she died. Although Jem didn’t understand at first, Atticus is able to turn his punishment into a message by showing him that what Mrs. Dubose did took real courage. She knew there was only a few months until her death and she would experience horrendous withdraw symptoms when going off morphine, but she still choses to do it. Atticus expresses a particular way of educating his kids on a crucial life lesson; this is one of the reasons why Atticus is such a revered character in American
Scout and Jem’s decisions were impacted greatly by how much Atticus has taught them. The methods he uses to bring them up are differ greatly, and give his children a very different set of beliefs than the majority of the people of Maycomb. For example, he teaches them about empathy, a ‘skill’ that much of the community does not know. “You can never really understand a person... until you climb into their skin and walk around in it” (39). Atticus teaches his kids how to empathize with someone, giving them an ideal to live by. As a child grows up, a lot of times they inherit their parent’s belief system as well. He will continue his open-,minded accepting attitude into his children, and their future decisions will be affected greatly by Atticus’s
In the novel, Atticus is seen as a nonjudgmental person that treats everyone alike and that is the reason everybody in Maycomb likes him. Additionally, Atticus is a strong believer in justice and complying with the law. During the novel, Scout asks Atticus if he is “really a nigger-lover” (Lee, 112) and Atticus replies “I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody…” (Lee, 112). Also, “while Walter piled food onto his plate, he and Atticus talked together like two men…” (Lee, 24) To explain, Atticus talks to Walter, a poor farmer boy, as if he was a regular person. Just as the children are trying to give Boo Radley, Atticus catches them and commands them to “stop tormenting that man.”(Lee, 50) To clarify, Atticus orders them to stop because he realizes it is morally wrong to mock the Radley family or any other family which shows that Atticus believes in treating everyone equally and that everyone should have justice.
“As Atticus once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it”. Said Scout (Lee, 57). That’s good advice to give to a young girl that’s just getting to know what life is about. It says that Scout would never consider going over to the Radley house because she would be too scared, so she has no understanding of what Jem feels like. “If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night just as we always have.” Said Atticus to Scout (Lee, 31). Atticus wants Scout to keep going to school, so she can get the education that he never got. Atticus didn’t go to school when he was younger. He wants Scout to have knowledge of what life is about at an early age so she can be a successful,
Atticus’s son, Jem, finds trouble with Mrs. Dubose; this caused a change in her character. Jem becomes angry with Mrs. Dubose because of her comments about Atticus to him and Scout; out of anger Jem “cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves” (103). When Atticus became aware of Jem’s actions he sent him down the street to apologize to Mrs. Dubose for what he had done. As a punishment, Mrs. Dubose asked that Jem to come to her home and read to her every day for a month. As asked Jem did bringing Scout along each day. After a month had went by Jem was asked to continue coming to read to her. Jem was not a fan of the idea but he did not want to disappoint Atticus so he did as he told him. Later, after Mrs. Dubose passes away, Jem is informed of why the reading was important to Mrs. Dubose. She had a morphine addiction and reading to her was helping her to break her habit. Jem
Through her determination to die free of morphine, Mrs. Dubose suffers tremendously from withdrawal showing that mental courage is more difficult to obtain than physical courage. Mrs. Dubose is a morphine addict who appears to be a racist based off of her interactions with Jem and Scout regarding Atticus’ defense of Tom Robinson. In a state of anger, Jem destroys Mrs. Dubose's camellias, and has to read to her for a whole month as a punishment. During this time, the children witnessed the pain that Mrs. Dubose has to endure from not using morphine, yet they could not see her goal and considered her to be disgusting, rather than to show her sympathy for her decision. By the end of her life, Mrs. Dubose has “died beholden to nothing and nobody” (149), she experienced true freedom before she passed away. Mrs. Dubose did
Atticus asked Aunt Alexandra to come for a visit unexpectedly. Aunt Alexandra says, “Jem’s growing up now and you are too, we decided that it would be best for you to have some feminine influence.” (Lee 169-170). It is unfair of Atticus to suddenly want Scout to change her personality just because she is getting older. This could lead to Scout thinking that she is not good enough for Atticus the way she is. That utter disrespect for Scout’s feelings shows Atticus’s ignorance, because if he was an understanding father, he would love her the way she is and not want her to change. Furthermore, Atticus is ignorant because he does not show interest in the activities his children enjoy. Jem and scout had received air rifles for Christmas, from their Uncle Jack. When it came time for them to learn how to shoot, Atticus said that he was not interested in guns. One day a rabid dog was wandering around their neighborhood, Scout explains, “Atticus’s hand yanked a ball-tipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulder. The rifle
1) Atticus is an empathetic person who tries to make sure people are treated equally, and in the case of his children, that people should grow up and make a positive difference. Atticus shows his empathy by telling Scout to try to understand what Miss Caroline is going through. Harper Lee is trying to show that with empathy, everyone benefits, and there would be less hate and injustice. Atticus says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39). Atticus is telling Scout to look at the world through Miss Caroline’s eyes, to see why Miss Caroline reacts the way that she does. Atticus believes that if Scout can see how scared Miss Caroline is, with teaching a new school in a new way, then Scout can understand what makes Miss Caroline act the way that she does. When Scout asks Atticus why he is angering the town by defending Tom Robinson, he says that he must, or else he would no longer be reputable. Atticus says, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” (Lee 101) Atticus leads by example, and that if he did not hold himself to the same standard that he wants Scout and Jem to be at, then he is no better than the rest of the town. He knows that he is going to lose, but wants to show his children that it is important to do the right thing no matter the consequences or result, and
All of these pre-conceived ideas are prevalent around Maycomb, but the compassion of Atticus is able to save Scout and Jem from the influence of these ideas and prevents them from contracting ‘Maycomb’s usual disease.’ Atticus is able to use his considerable wisdom and life experience to remove Scout and Jem from prejudice’s influence. Atticus is able to stop the influence, from small things, “Do you defend niggers, Atticus?" "Don't say nigger, Scout. That's common.” This shows that, in any way, shape or form, Atticus is determined for his children to avoid the disease for a more happy future. This comes at a cost though, with Scout slowly losing her childhood innocence as the book goes on. After she witnesses all of the things that have happened, she understands why her father is protecting her
In "To Kill A Mockingbird," Atticus, the father of Jem and Jean, has taken the position of giving Jem and Jean valuable lessons, whether what they are in. One of those lessons, was Jem being a gentleman; Jem was taught by him by promptly going to Mrs. Dubose's house and read for a month - after wrecking her garden -, she had met her demise with little to no agony from her morphine addiction, because of Jem; he went to her house and read to her, that consequently had her head assuage of doing morphine. When Atticus announced him that she was deceased minutes ago, he said that "she was a great lady," and he was perplexed about why he called her a great lady after the slander he received. Anything else than the main idea, the main theme was
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen,” said by Winston Churchill. I think this quote relates to Atticus because of the trial, he has to speak up for what he believes in and he also has to sit down and listen. It also relates to what Atticus tells his kids sometimes, like the time with Scout and school. In To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus is a wise father, a clever lawyer, and a brave man.
What if it was possible to learn lessons outside of school? In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee the main characters, Scout and Jem Finch, learn much more outside of school than inside of school with the help of their father, Atticus Finch. The children are living through a rough time in their small town, Maycomb and need help along the way. Atticus is a strong part of the kids success in their lives even if people don’t agree with his decisions. Atticus is a great role model for not only his kids but for the readers of To Kill A Mockingbird.
Dubose. Jem and Scout see Mrs. Dubose as a grouchy old woman who enjoys making snide comments about them and their family. One day, Jem lost his normal calm and ruined some of her bushes. As punishment, he had to read to her every day of the week for a month. Although they never learned to like her, they came to respect her and view her in a different light. Their respect for her grew after she had died and Atticus told them that she had been a morphine addict. He said, "She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you're as sick as she warm it's all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn't all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that's what she did," (Lee 148). To Atticus, this made her the bravest person he knew. This new description of her was very different from the one the Finch children had originally given her. In this case, Jem had judged before he looked, which later taught him a valuable
Atticus knows from past experiences in Maycomb that it is important to be fearless therefore he teaches his kids the act of being courageous. To begin, Atticus takes the case of a coloured man, despite the opinions of others in Maycomb and past court case results involving a man of colour. Scout wonders why Atticus took the case if he knows they will not win. He revealed “simple because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (101). Atticus tells Scout to do what she believes in no matter if she will win or lose or what the outcome may be, and this teaches her to be confident in her decisions. In addition, to the presence of his children Atticus takes on the challenge of shooting the mad dog.
Atticus punished his son by making Jem read to Mrs. Dubose, who was struggling with a morphine addiction,
Atticus gives Jem and Scout plenty of life lessons. For example, after Jem ruined Mrs. Dubose’s flowers, Atticus made Jem go apologize for his actions.Therefore, Scout was bitter at Atticus since he didn’t care that something could happen to Jem. “When you and Jem are grown, maybe you’ll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn't let you down,” Atticus told her. In my opinion, Atticus is an admirable parent because in this action he’s teaching them that being respectful to their elders and apologizing is an essential