Atticus Finch Is A Good Role Model Essay

Atticus Finch is portrayed as great parent in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The way Atticus Finch acts at home and on the streets provide a good role model for Jem and Scout. He is a parent who always does the right thing and stays true to himself and to his children at all times.

Atticus is a positive role model for his children because he is the same character wherever he goes and whoever he talks to. When Scout misinterprets Miss Maudie’s words she attempts to defend his father about how he does not do anything at home different than what he would do at work. Miss maudie replies, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets”(Lee 61). This means that he is not someone who he is not. Also at the trial,

He is not controlling his children’s futures. He makes it so that they can grow up the way they want to. Scout hangs out with Jem and Dill often and she acts like a boy. Most of the women in maycomb does not like it, especially her aunt. So she convinces Atticus to tell Jem and scout to live up to their names of the Finches. Scout does not believe her father would say this and cries. She does not want to remember it and she does not want to act the way her aunt wants her to. Atticus then realizes that this is not who he is and says, “Forget it”(179). This shows that no matter what anyone says, Atticus will let Scout be who she wants to be. Another time is when Scout first starts to go to school, her teacher notices that Scout already knows how to read. The teacher then says that she can not read anymore. Scout complains about this to her father and says she does not want to go to school anymore. Atticus compromises, “If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night”(41). This shows that not only he wants his child to go to school, but he also lets the child do what she is obligated to