Analysis Of Jem's Father In To Kill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee

In the Finch household the normal family structure of referring to the father figure as Dad, Daddy, Papa, etc. is completely abolished. Jem’s sister Scout shows this through her description of her Dad after a fight when she says, “We were far too old to settle an argument with a fist-fight, so we consulted Atticus. Our father said we were both right” (Lee,3). The children’s peculiar way of referring to their father by his first name rather than the normal phrases children call their father shows the respect they had earned through the way they were brought up. Atticus allows his children to refer to him by his first name as a technique of showing equality and respect. Thus, his ultimate lesson was to uses these actions to try to persuade the children to apply these beliefs to treat people with respect and equality outside the Finches

Atticus treats his children the same as he does in “his house as he is on the public streets” (61). An example of this is when Jem’s sister disobeyes the regulation of not fighting others who do not agree with what Atticus stands for, he does not severely punish her. This is how he treats his children as he uses respect over physical force to teach his children right from wrong. This was different than Jem’s Uncle Jack who used physical force to teach lessons to children. As Uncle Jack shows when talking about Jem’s sister who was in trouble by stating “Atticus, you’ve never laid a hand on her” then Atticus states, “I admit that… Jack she minds me as well as she can. Doesn’t come up to scratch half the time, but she tries” (116). Thus, by not physically punishing his kids, it shows the respect that Atticus treats his children with and this technique helps his children understand the respect they must have for others. Atticus treats everybody as he treats his children, with equality and respect without a care that he is known as a person who favors the blacks and is respectful to