Atticus: a True Father Figure

Pefrects fathers are not so easily found, the kind of father figure represented by Atticus is a rare sight in the common world. Atticus is a well respected lawyer in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama in the late 1930s. He is pressed with the responsibility of defending a black man from false charges against a white female for rape. Atticus is also a single father to two children whom which are very well educated, informed, and well off on their own for their young ages. As told in the fictional story To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee Within the fiction novel Atticus demonstrates the clear advantages of him being a father like his sense of justice, the wisdom he sheds, and his unwavering beliefs.

Atticus has an especially strong sense in and of justice, this allows his to be the fair and just father as he tends to be. As shown in this example where hes is speaking to Scout about a classmate from her school who had come over and displayed some uncommon tendencies, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his shoes and walk a mile in it.”(Lee 33). Here he is saying that you should take the time and effort to understand someone’s situation or reasoning behind their actions and words. This is an important lesson for children to learn, they need empathy, Scout later also shows that that is something she tends to lack. In this quote Atticus was talking with Jem after he’d beaten the flowers off the bushes at Mrs.Dubose’s home after the continuous slander of Atticus for his work with black people in trials, “Son, I have no doubt in my mind that you’ve been annoyed by your contemporaries about me lawing for n*****s, as you say, but to do something like this to a slick old lady is is inexcusable. I strongly advise you to go down and have a talk with Mrs.Dubose…”(Lee 43). This is another instance of him seeking out justice for others. Even though what Mrs.Dubose had said was not okay Jem still had no right to strike back at her with the same force. Instead of allowing Jem to get off scot free he made him responsible for his actions, following suit with a proper punishment. The justice that comes from Atticus’ morality give him amazing skills as a father, he is able to find faults and improve upon them with ease.

As a father Atticus uses his intelligence and great wisdom keeping to the best of his ability. An example of this would be where Mrs.Dubose had passed after her long battle with addiction and he turned this into a lesson for his children, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’ve been licked before you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”(Lee 128). Here it is apparent he able to grasp the meaning of things to a higher degree. This allows for him to rightfully expose his kids for the gain of its lessons and values without forcefully enveloping them into his own ideas, letting them have a mind of their own. Thus another demonstration of this is talking about trials along with his own trial in general, “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right in a jury box.”(Lee 257). Atticus has enough of a brain to realize the faults of the court. Again, he is able to see the reasons behind them as to why it operates the way it does, the racism heavily evident, he can predict what is to come. Using this to his advantage Atticus is able to help his children out and lead them the right way offering them ways to grow and learn suited to their needs.

Lastly, Atticus stands firm in his beliefs and teachings, this is an immensely important part of parenting. For one of the lessons taught, Jem is gifted a pop gun and he is told by his father that he may,“Shoot all the blue jays you want , if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(Lee 103). What can be taken from this Atticus quote is the kinds of messages and morals he wants to teach his kids. He wants them to be devoid of . Along with this quote you can also see that here, “‘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.”(Lee 221). Once again he is standing on top of his rock of beliefs, something he is unwilling to give up on. This is especially for Atticus when it comes to someone life, in his trials, or in his own kids.

Atticus exhibits qualities of which make him a great father those of which are his sense of justice, his wisdom, and how he stands by his beliefs. The first quality, his sense of justice, it is important as he needs to be fair in just or to not be overly one sided and take the time to understand a person. The second quality, is the wisdom, Atticus makes an effort for his kids to be their own person and to do right by themselves. The last quality, his unwavering beliefs play a big part in Atticus’ parenting, with this he is strong as a parent and his children can always confide in what he says and have a rock to hold onto. Thus knowing this is important because it helps anyone to find out what a good father should be.

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