Important Values In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Important Values Parents are a huge influence on their kids and a lot of the time they will behave the same way as them, and it is a significant role for a parent to make sure they behave the right way. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, we see how a father, Atticus, parents his own kids in an extremely racially prejudiced neighborhood in Maycomb Alabama. Atticus is a widowed father of two children, Jem and Scout, and a respected lawyer in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus is respected in his neighborhood by some people for always doing what is right and fighting for justice, even if many people disagree with him. Atticus thinks everyone should be treated similarly, regardless of race or social status, and he teaches these values

When Scout says she doesn't want to go to school anymore because Ms. Caroline yelled at her thinking she was being rude and not showing proper respect when she was only defending Walter. After she got home she told Atticus about this and he told her “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”(Lee 33). Atticus’s parenting is efficiently helping the kids because it shows them not everyone is understanding and people can get things wrong at first. This applies to Ms. Caroline when she scoffed at Scout thinking she was talking back but all she did was tell her reasons Walter was the way he is. This also helps the kids because it shows them the importance of viewing from a different perspective which helps with understatement and empathy. Furthermore, it is found in the article that “Kids listen to and watch what their parents do, taking everything in. As they absorb their parents’ actions and words, they begin to emulate them”(Peterson). Good parenting helps kids in the long run because if they follow the actions of their parents and that parent is good they will follow their lead by being good people. This is present when Atticus is teaching Jem and Scout lessons on what is right and wrong. Therefore Atticus demonstrates amazing leadership and other good techniques