Parenting has always been a hard thing to do, and it’s easily influenced by the parents social status and outlook on life. This results in some parents having more success in raising their children to be well rounded people than others, and no parents show this better than the parents of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The Ewells and Cunninghams have different backgrounds and outlooks on life than the Finches do, which results in their ways of parenting to be a sort of foil to each other throughout the novel.
One reason Atticus’s parenting style is so different than Mr. Ewell’s or Mr. Cunningham's is that he thinks in a more “updated” way, and encourages his children to also think like that. While the rest of Maycomb is stuck in the …show more content…
Atticus treats Jem and Scout like they’re adults, reasoning with them, explaining things to them, not saying “because I said so”, and insisting on them calling him Atticus instead of Dad. He also treats them kindly, as shown when Jem says that Atticus never hit him. On the contrary, Mr. Ewell is much more cruel to his children, and it is revealed during the trial when Atticus reveals that it was very possible that he could have beat Mayella, and also when Tom Robinson says to the jury, “He [said] you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya.” Neither Atticus nor Mr. Cunningham would ever dare say something like that to their children, which shows substantial difference in how they raise their children. Mr. Cunningham, on the other hand, gives his kid opportunities to go to school, while also needing his help at home to chop …show more content…
Atticus shows this quite obviously throughout the novel, an example being that he shows genuine concern for Scout and Jem when he says that he can’t protect them from the evils of the world. Mr. Cunningham also shows this in the fact that he wants his son to go to school and be fed. Even Mr. Ewell shows this in the fact that he testified in Mayella’s trial. But their parenting styles are still very different despite this similarity, as well as their social status in Maycomb and outlooks on
One reason Atticus’s parenting style is so different than Mr. Ewell’s or Mr. Cunningham's is that he thinks in a more “updated” way, and encourages his children to also think like that. While the rest of Maycomb is stuck in the …show more content…
Atticus treats Jem and Scout like they’re adults, reasoning with them, explaining things to them, not saying “because I said so”, and insisting on them calling him Atticus instead of Dad. He also treats them kindly, as shown when Jem says that Atticus never hit him. On the contrary, Mr. Ewell is much more cruel to his children, and it is revealed during the trial when Atticus reveals that it was very possible that he could have beat Mayella, and also when Tom Robinson says to the jury, “He [said] you goddamn whore, I’ll kill ya.” Neither Atticus nor Mr. Cunningham would ever dare say something like that to their children, which shows substantial difference in how they raise their children. Mr. Cunningham, on the other hand, gives his kid opportunities to go to school, while also needing his help at home to chop …show more content…
Atticus shows this quite obviously throughout the novel, an example being that he shows genuine concern for Scout and Jem when he says that he can’t protect them from the evils of the world. Mr. Cunningham also shows this in the fact that he wants his son to go to school and be fed. Even Mr. Ewell shows this in the fact that he testified in Mayella’s trial. But their parenting styles are still very different despite this similarity, as well as their social status in Maycomb and outlooks on