Atticus An Effective Parent Analysis

What is parenting? What is effective parenting? Effective parenting is when, after all the years of parenting and taking care of a child, they become self-sufficient and happy adults. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is an historical fiction story in which the reader learns about a little girl who lived in Alabama in the 1930’s where she tells us about her childhood. In her childhood, she experiences the wrongful accusation and sentencing to death of a colored man and meets the true person behind a harmful cloud of rumors and gossip. Through all this she has her father to guide her. Atticus is an effective parent because listens to all sides of a story and he cares deeply for his children. The first reason that Atticus is an effective …show more content…
‘Well, in the first place you never stopped to gimme a chance to tell you my side of it- you just lit right into me. When Jem an’ I fuss Atticus doesn’t ever just listen to Jem’s side of the it, he hears mine too,’”(113). That shows that Atticus is an effective parent because he teaches them the difference between wrong and right. After listening to both Scout and Jem’s sides of something he tells them which side is in the right and they then know in the future when something similar happens what is right and what is wrong. Another example is during the trial in which Tom Robinson, a black man, was being tried for having raped Mayella Ewell, a white woman. Atticus questioned both his own witness and the opposing witnesses to get the truth …show more content…
Caroline when Scout is asked if her father taught her how to read, “‘Teach me?’ I said in surprise. ‘He hasn’t taught me anything , Miss Caroline. Atticus ain’t got time to teach me anything,’”(22). While this shows that Atticus doesn’t have a lot of time for his kids, he still cares deeply for his children, making him an effective parent. For example, when Scout told Atticus about Miss Caroline forbidding her to read with him at night and Scout not wanting to go back to school because of that, he says, “‘If you’ll concede the necessity of going to school, we’ll go on reading every night just as we always have.’”(41). This indicates that Atticus cares deeply for his kids because he wants them to have a good education, but he also wants them to be happy. Any effective parent just wants their children to have an education and for them to be happy at any point in their lives. Another example is after Arthur “Boo” Radley killed Bob Ewell to keep him from killing Scout and Jem and after Scout talked with Boo, thanking him for everything. Scout asks Atticus to read to her from the book he was reading at first he refused, but then, “Atticus opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again. He took his thumb from the middle of the book and turned back to the first page. I moved over and leaned my head against his knee. ‘H’rm’ he said. ‘The Gray Ghost, by Seckatary

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