FREE ESSAY ON MISUNDERSTOOD

MISUNDERSTOOD

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.