To Kill a Mocking Bird
Discus the relationship of Atticus to his children. Compare this with a parent/child relationship.
Atticus Finch is a single parent and lawyer who is upright and tolerant to differences. Atticus is the same way with his kids, Scout and Jem. At the beginning of this book Scout is 6 and Jem is 10 years old. Unlike most children Jem and Scout don’t call their father “father”. Jem and Scout call their father by his first name, Atticus. Atticus is a very loving father to his children but he also has a very unusual relationship with his kids.
Atticus is a lawyer in Maycomb and when he goes to work he leaves his kids home with the house keeper, Calpurnia. Scout and Jem would always play with Dill during the day. Dill came to Maycomb every summer and stayed with his aunt. At the end of the day Jem and Scout would race up the sidewalk to meet Atticus when he came around the corner every afternoon. Jem and Scout would walk back with him to the house (pg. 28).
After work Atticus would ask Jem and Scout questions about their day while Calpurnia fixed them dinner (pg.28-29).
Atticus would read to Scout every day. When Scout went to school on the first day her teacher, Miss Caroline yelled at her for already knowing how to read. Miss Caroline told her she was not to read with Atticus anymore (pg. 17).
Atticus later sense’s there’s something wrong with Scout. Scout says she doesn’t want to go to school anymore but Atticus tells her she has to go by law and that he’ll keep reading to her as long as she doesn’t tell the teacher (pg. 30).
The Essay on Jail House Atticus Scout Jem
... came alive and Jem and Scout stood beleaguered that there father had that much personal fortitude. His children did not know that Atticus was the ... be worse than the first day at school. Atticus is a law abiding citizen, and he wants his children to follow like him. ... like the Ewell family, he accepts Negroes as an every day normal human being. During the period which the book is ...
There were many places in the book when Jem and Scout would ask Attics a question. Atticus would take the time to explain the answer to them rather than saying a simple yes or no answer. Jem and Scout wrote a note for the person leaving the gifts in the tree hole. Jem and Scout noticed that the hole had been filled by Mr. Nathan Radley because he said that the tree was sick (pg. 62).
When Atticus came home that day Jem asked Atticus if the tree was sick and dying and Atticus said, “Why no, son, I don’t think so. Look at the leaves, they’re all green and full, no brown patches anywhere.” (pg.63).
Atticus could have just said “No the tree’s not sick” like a lot of hard working parents would do after a long day of work. Atticus took the time to explain why it was sick. During the Tom Robinson case Scout asks Atticus, “What’s rape?” Atticus looks around for a second and then answers that rape is carnal knowledge of a female by force without consent (pg. 135).
For adults who are asked sexual questions form their young kids would usually say “When you’re older you’ll understand”. Instead of Atticus answering like that he was upright and honest to Scout.
When Jem and Scout disobeyed Atticus or did something they weren’t suppose to, Atticus didn’t discipline them by hitting them like most parents did back then. When Atticus caught Jem, Scout and Dill writing a note to Boo Radley saying they wanted him to come out. Atticus told the kids that they had to stop tormenting Boo and leave him alone and that what he does is none of their business (pg.49).
When Christmas time came, Atticus’s family got together for dinner. Earlier that year Scout had promised Atticus she wouldn’t fight anymore (pg. 77), but when her cousin Francis called her a nigger lover, Scout punched him in the face. Scout’s uncle Jack was the one to punish her and he did it by spanking her (pg.85).
Scout then ran to Atticus for comfort but Atticus did tell Scout she had it coming (pg. 85).
Later that night Atticus told Jack he had never laid a hand on Scout because, “She minds me as well as she can” (pg. 88).
Jem and Scout look up to Atticus as their role model and they want to be just like him. One day as Jem and Scout were walking by Mrs. Dubose’s house, Mrs. Dubose attacked Jem with nasty insults. Jem lost his temper took Scouts baton and used it to cut off all the tops of Mrs. Dubose’s camellias (pg. 102-103).
The Term Paper on Aunt Alexandra Scout Jem Atticus
CH. 1 Scout, the narrator, remembers the summer that her brother Jem broke his arm, and she looks back over the years to recall the incidents that led to that climactic event. Scout provides a brief introduction to the town of Maycomb, Alabama and its inhabitants, including her widowed father Atticus Finch, attorney and state legislator; Calpurnia, their "Negro" cook and housekeeper; and various ...
When Jem came home that day Atticus told him that he had to read to Mrs. Dubose every day for a month as his punishment.
Jem and Scout have the biggest respect for Atticus, when Atticus tells them to do something they do it to please him and they also would do anything for Atticus because they love him so much. The night Tom Robinson was moved to the Maycomb jail; Atticus went to the jail that night and sat by the door so nobody would bother Tom. Jem and Scout were worried about Atticus, so Jem, Scout and Dill snuck out and followed Atticus to the jail. They saw a mob of men show up and tell Atticus to move out of the way. Jem, Scout and Dill ran out and cut through the men to get to Atticus. Atticus told the kids to leave but Jem said no. Scout notices Mr. Cunningham in the crowd and starts talking to him about his son and his entailment. After Scouts talk with Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Cunningham gets everybody to go home (pg. 151-153).
Jem wouldn’t take Scout and Dill home when Atticus told him to because Jem was worried about Atticus and didn’t want to leave him alone with the mob of angry men.
Atticus Finch does a great job as a single parent raising his two kids, Jem and Scout. Atticus loves his kids more than anything because there all he’s got. Even though Jem and Scout don’t call Atticus father or dad they still have the most upright respect for him. Atticus is always there for his kids and protects them from any danger and helps them get throw the toughest situations they get in. Atticus’s relationship between him and his kids is very different to most parents and their kids but it’s very special and unique.
