Parental Role

Atticus Finch does not smother his children; Scout says that he treated them with "courteous detachment", which illustrates that he allowed them to make their own decisions and mistakes, but provided guidance and the love that they needed. This is important because throughout the novel Atticus allows his children to see the good and the bad - he allows them to stay and see the outcome of the trial, and doesn't correct Jem's assumption that Tom Robinson will be acquitted. He lets his children learn things the hard way - which is a potential criticism of his parenting skills, yet is used by Lee to ensure that his character is not believed to be too good to be true. Ultimately, the freedom he allows his children is his downfall, because it is the reason that Bob Ewell is able to approach them on a darkened street late at night and attack them.

Lee uses Atticus' parenting skills to contrast those of Bob Ewell, who "spends his relief checks on green whisky" and shoots game out of season. By making Atticus out to be the perfect role model, when the reader learns of the brutality of Bob Ewell, raping and beating his own daughter, it seems that much more horrific than it would if Atticus also drank, and hit his kids - Jem says in Chapter Six "Atticus ain't ever whipped me since I can remember." Atticus' character juxtaposes Bob Ewell's in a poignant and thought provoking manner.

Lee educates the children, Jem and Scout, through Atticus - he teaches them new words through exercising an impressive vocabulary, due to which Scout and Jem are "at all times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our understanding." This starkly contrasts other characters within the book such as Miss Caroline who believes education should be done by the book, and that Atticus should not "read every night" with Scout; and with Bob Ewell, whose son Burris says "don't know how" when asked to spell his name. This technique employed by Lee enables the reader to see that Atticus clearly takes a much greater interest in the development of his children than other figures within Maycomb.

Atticus Finch is a man who believes "courage is more than just a man with a gun in his hand" and who discourages Scout from fighting with people in the playground simply because children call him a "nigger lover" - this shows that he is not a fan of resorting to violence, and would rather settle things peacefully with a discussion. The way in which Lee gives Atticus these almost pacifistic views helps to enforce to the reader, and the children, the danger of the nature of man - which is ultimately Bob Ewell's downfall. However, it is arguable that it is Atticus' firm belief in the goodness of other people that is his blind spot, and the reason that his children are attacked.

When the children find out Atticus was "the deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time", he doesn't dwell on this fact - he shoots the rabid dog out of necessity, not because he wanted to show off. This enforces important lessons about modesty. Atticus has great moral courage and honour, but early on in the novel the reader learns that the children are suitably unimpressed by the fact that their father "got started late". It is only after a display of physical prowess that Jem finally starts to admire his father; which reflects the effect of peer pressure - Scout says "There was nothing Jem or I could say about him when our classmates said "My father"" even on educated kids such as Jem and Scout. Atticus is not infallible - and his children's perceptions of him as a "feeble" nearly-fifty-year-old man help Lee to illustrate this fact, and make him seem more human.

Atticus uses events such as the death of Mrs Dubose to teach his children important life lessons. He makes Jem read to the old lady prior to her death, and informs them of her morphine addiction once she has passed away because he says, "I wanted you to see what real courage is...it's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through, no matter what." Lee uses the voice of Atticus teaching his children to foreshadow the eventual outcome of the trial. Even though Atticus is "licked a hundred years before he began", he still tries to clear Tom Robinson's name. As a father his most important role seems to be as a teacher.

Miss Maudie says "Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets," which illustrates that Atticus is not hypocritical.