How Parents Raise Their Children In To Kill A Mockingbird

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” (Lee 39). Growing up and finding yourself is always a challenge, especially for Scout Finch, a little girl who is growing up in Alabama during the Great Depression. Throughout her journey she learns morals and values from characters that shape who she is. By using characterization Harper Lee displays the theme that how parents raise their children affects who they become in life, in the American classic To Kill A Mockingbird. Scout looks up to her father and he teaches her morals important to society. When a student in Scout’s class makes fun of her because her dad, Atticus, is defending a colored man, Scout asks him if he feels ashamed and why he is doing it when the town will eventually go against him. He replies “No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat.” (Lee 101). He tells Scout to fight for what she believes in even if society is against the idea because that is what is important in life. Later she asks a boy in her class named Walter Cunningham to join her and her family for dinner because his family does not make much …show more content…
But the Ewell family has improper morals that they are teaching. When Scout starts talking about Burris Ewell and the incident that happened in school to Atticus, he says that is a typical Ewell and that they have been “the disgrace of Maycomb” (Lee 40) for generations. Bob Ewell does not treat his kids properly and during the trial when Atticus asks Mayella if her father treats her right, she is unsure of what to reply. She lies and says he does treat her good except sometimes. Atticus asks “except when he’s drinking,”(Lee 224). Mayella nods and reveals Bob abuses her at home. Bob forces Mayella to lie and accuse Tom of rape when it was really him who beat her up. The Ewell family has bad moral that will affect their kids in the