A Parental Guidebook

 

Hello everyone! I think this is my third and final blogpost on the novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Atticus is never reluctant to let his children know the worst. Be it the concept of rape, or the segregation in Maycomb. When Alexandra says that it is not necessary for the children to get exposed to such realities at a very young age, Atticus tells her that 'it is just as much Maycomb County as missionary teas'. Meaning, he reflects that it is wrong to get children to believe that the world is virtuous and there is no injustice, since it would hit them hard when they get to know the reality by themselves. What elders do is, they introduce only the virtuous parts of the world to their children, and as the children grow up, the parents themselves violate certain virtues that they taught their children, which is certainly harmful. 

Missionary teas are nothing but discussions that take place in missionary societies, where the members discuss about various plans to further expand their charity work. Now, it is comfortable for every parent to introduce their children to such a world. A world full of charity and goodwill, which would inspire children to develop attitudes of integrity and charity. But, it is also the responsibility of a parent to expose, or in the least, inform their children of the corruptions of the society. Because, it is also a part of the society, and the children need to grow in the society, which consists of everything. A parent cannot forever protect his or her child from the ill aspects of the society.

At some point, they will be exposed to the society as a whole when they set out to take care of themselves. At that point, complete obliviousness to the illness of the society could hit them hard. There is a huge probability of the children getting attracted towards all the corruption and illness of the society, since that is the general texture of corruption. It is glamourous and attractive, and blinds one from foresseing its destructive effects. Let's take one of the ill elements of the society: narcotics. We know its nature. We know how it attracts people, stimulates their dopamine secretion and later leaves them with harmful aftereffects. One could keep away from narcotics only when they know its problems. If one doesn't even know such a thing exists, how would they know if it is good or bad. Here, narcotics is just an example. There are many other things in the society which people are still oblivious to.

It is necessary to inform children about such corruption, and impart them the knowledge to stay alert from getting attracted towards corruption. 

Atticus is aware of this and therefore he doesn't obstruct his children from gaining that knowledge. Such a mindset was behind his answering to Scout about rape. When Scout asked him what the word 'rape' meant, Atticus replied 'it is the carnal knowledge of a female by force and without consent'.

Atticus feels that he wasn't a very responsible parent to his children, but it is evident that he is the most responsible parent in the novel. The main reason for Atticus acting the way he does is, he knows his children look up to him in everything. Therefore, he wants to influence his children in the right way.

Even in the end, Atticus tries as much as he can to avoid a cover-up of Bob Ewell's death even if it means a blackmark on Jem, because he doesn't want to teach hypocrisy to his children. It could even be possible that Atticus left hunting for his children. Maybe Atticus could have known that he wouldn't be able to spend quality time with his children and therefore, he was very careful about abstaining from misguiding his children. This has led him to guide his children like no other parent could have in the entire county.

The whole novel, it appears to me, is meant as a parental guidebook. Both Jem and Jean Louise are exposed to different circumstances, which would impct their personality in a huge way. I believe that even the part of Tom Robinson, whom most people regard to be the important aspect of the novel, was added in the coming of age respect. As I said earlier, Jem and Scout are exposed to different circumstances: they get to know about the loopholes of the judicial system of then United States, the racial partialities, a murder attempt, their father being publicly humiliated, interaction with an isolated and reclusive man (Arthur Radley), etc. During the final chapter, Jean Louise says that there is nothing significant to learn for them in the oncoming years except for a little algebra. Meaning, she and her brother have learned most things about life which their peers haven't yet.

The writer conveys that children must be informed about the society as much as possible by parents themselves. Racism was an inevitable element of the United States. In the Indian context, it could be caste. 

The reason why most parents refrain from explaining their children how society functions could perhaps be their fear of the children questioning the activities of the elders themselves. For instance, when coming to know of racism, a child would question his or her parent about its morality. What does a parent or any other elder person do during such an event? The most common response would be to ask the child to keep quiet, and justifying that they would realize things when they are mature. Atticus is not afraid of such occasions. He could boldly admit that racism is prevalent and it is bad, because he doesn't practice it.

I think this novel has more to it than to just address the issue of racism, and therefore, I recommend everyone to give this one a read and it would be worth your while👍