Essay/Term paper: Misunderstood

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Papers

The definition of a good father is as individual as the individuals involved themselves. A good father is able to support his children"s strengths, along with being able to help them overcome their weaknesses. He is able to do this without appearing to be a know-it-all. The ability to show by example how to live life, while not being afraid to make mistakes and not to be perfect all the time are also very important characteristic.

Atticus was by that definition a very good father. Whenever Scout was mislead by anything, like the legend of Boo Radley or about how grown ups are, or why certain people feel prejudiced about certain people, Atticus was always right there to guide her. Atticus was also a good father because he knew right from wrong. He was different then most of the men in that town, as hard to find as a needle in a haystack. He saw people as people, not black or white. He defended Tom Robinson without caring that everyone in Maycomb was a calling him a "nigger lover" and many other racial slurs. All Atticus did was shrug them off. When Bob Ewell spit in Atticus"s face, Atticus still did not retaliate. Instead, he wiped the spit off of his face and kept walking minding his own business. This showed Scout and Jem that there was no reason to worry themselves with other peoples opinion"s. When Mrs. Dubose called Atticus a nigger lover to Jem, Jem got angry and went home and asked Atticus if he really was a nigger lover. Atticus said straight out with no thought, "I certainly am. I do my best to love everyone…I"m hard to put, sometimes-baby, its never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is , it doesn"t hurt you. So don"t let Mrs. Dubose get you down." This qoatation shows exactly how Atticus in influencing Scout and Jem to be good people. He gave his, what may be called lessons on life, so fluently that it seemed less like a lecture then it really was. He tried his best to teach his children that some people can only feel good about themselves when they attempt to make someone else feel bad.

Atticus taught many lessons to Scout and Jem one being the reality of prejudice and many others but how he did it was the key. He was not straight forward as in he did not make a point of telling them what was right and what was wrong or why certain people acted certain ways. His way of teching his children was to wait until Scout or Jem came to him instead of having him tell hem right there and then when he saw what they had been doing. He let his children decide for themselves wether or not to come to him about there problems. For instance he had seen the game that dill jem and scout had been playing the Boo Radley game he very well new what they were doing., He asked them what they were paying knowing the answer would be anything but the truth and kept along knowing that Jem or scout would soon come to him and ask him what was the deal with Boo.