Compare Atticus and Bob Ewell as single parents

Compare Atticus and Bob Ewell as single parents

Atticus and Bob Ewell throughout the novel in ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’

are completely different characters. They have opposites roles in the

way that they live in the community, their behaviour towards other

people, but the most predominant is the way in which they raise their

children.

Atticus has a lot of respect for children; he wants his own children

to be educated, and to be brought up in a good world where there is no

racism. On the other hand Bob Ewell has no standards for his children,

allowing them to play truant, having no basic hygiene or safety rules.

Atticus also has a lot of respect for even the youngest of children.

This becomes apparent when Atticus went to the Robinson’s house to

inform Helen, Tom’s wife that he had died. Helen’s youngest child came

to the door, and Atticus took off his hat and gave the girl his

finger, as she was too small to navigate the stairs on her own. This

paragraph portrays Atticus to be a friendly character that young

children warm to. Similarly, when Scout has her first day at school,

and she has a fight and an argument with the teacher about her

reading, she is told she cannot read with Atticus anymore, thus making

her not wishing to go back to school. It is when Atticus talks to

Scout about this that he is able to make her feel better and

compromises with Scout that if she continues going to school, they can

still read together. Atticus wants Scout to keep on reading because he

knows that she enjoys it, and it makes her happy. It is as though he

can see himself in Scout.

Jem and Scout have a lot of reasons to look up to Atticus as a role

model, as he is a respected member of the Maycomb community, he is

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...oing, or was angry with

them he would probably use violence to have control. Atticus would

not. Atticus would find a solution to the problem. Atticus is always a

very loving father and will always try and protect his children.

Surprisingly you could say Bob Ewell wants to also protect his

children from the rest of the community because he was trying to

protect his daughter Mayella from the rest of the community because he

thought it was the right thing to do. As of his deep set hatred for

the community from which he lives he cannot show this care for his

children in the right way. So even though these two characters are

opposite in the way they act, they are similar in protecting their

children; Atticus knows how to protect his children in the right way,

but Bob Ewell doesn’t, which makes him vicious and violent towards

Maycomb and even his own children.