To Kill A Mockingbird-A Fathers Shadow Essay

Submitted By ORitter14
Words: 496
Pages: 2

A Fathers Shadow “‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around it”’(30). To Kill a Mockingbird was written during the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement. Its setting was during the Great Depression in a fictional town called Maycomb, in the real state of Alabama. The book was translated into more than 30 languages and in 1961 it was nominated best seller of the year. In Harper Lee’s award-winning novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, it shows that children are a reflection of their father’s values, or lack of values. Scout and Jem, being Atticus’s children, reflect his positive values of education and empathy. Atticus always tells Scout that even though school might not be the best thing in the world, that she must go to school. He also taught Scout how to read and write before she even started going to school. Sense Atticus is a lawyer, he is highly educated himself. Lastly, he is always teaching his kids life lessons about many things. For example, he tells them to look at things from another person’s point of view before they judge them, and what courage actually is. When Scout is complaining about her first day of school, Atticus tells her that if she learned a simple trick, of seeing things from another person’s point of view, she will get along a lot better with all kinds of fold. Atticus also tells Scout ‘“If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night just as we always have. Is it a bargain?”’(31). This quote shows how important Atticus values education.
Bob Ewell has the most negative influence on his children out of everyone in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. He is a very selfish man, who spends the money he gets on alcohol instead of his children.