In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mocking Bird the character Atticus is a major role model to his children. During the novel Atticus teaches his children many important values. The main values include: everyone is equal, to put yourself in other peoples shoes, and not to judge others before you get to know them.
Everyone is equal is a major value that Atticus teaches his children. He wants to teach them that no matter what colour, social status or appearance people are people and they should be treated politely and fairly. An example of this is where Atticus chooses to defend a Negro, he shows his children that although this man is a Negro (despised by the white community) he is going to defend him like any other person. “If I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature, I couldn’t tell you or Jem not to do something again.” This shows that if Atticus were to refuse to represent Tom, just because he is a Negro, he would utterly ashamed of himself. He teaches his children that it is wrong to treat someone like badly just because of their different coloured skin. “I don’t see any harm in letting her go out there. Cal’d look after her there as well as she does here.” This quote show’s that Atticus trusts this person. It shows that he considers her as an equal adult and see’s her fit to look after his children out of work hours. This sends a hidden message to his children that everyone is equal no matter what status they have. Equality is a big value that Atticus teaches his children and as they grow up they learn this valuable lesson.
Understanding others is another important value that Atticus wants to teach his children. He wants them to put themselves in other peoples shoes so they can better understand people and accept them for who they are. An example of this is when Scout starts talking about her first day of school and the topic comes to Miss Caroline “-until you climb into his skin