The Relationship Between Atticus and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird

Many people say “Children are the most valuable resource” because children view their surroundings with a lack of bias because of less life experience. In To Kill a Mockingbird, it’s a story about racial tension and a father becomes a lawyer for a black man while being in a racist town, all of this is being observedfrom a child perspective. The kids in the story lack life experience, which made it harder for them to know the world’s harshness. I believe a story about prejudice and tragic events from the perspective of a child who is still being molded by her surroundings rather than a grown adult can show that some circumstances and action will make us the readers rethink how personally view things around us.

Undoubtedly having Atticus as a father, Scout can have a better perspective of what is going on in the world at a tender young age. Atticus is viewed as a wise man in the book that explains numerous things to Scout, but how Scout uses those explanations is what;s impactful. For instance “Atticus said professional people were poor because the farmers were poor.”(19) The setting of this is during the Great Depression and different social classes were also becoming poor, this is why Atticus said even professional people are poor. Scout’s father tells her as well that they are poor but not as poor as others in the town, this may make Scout realize that some people can have it worse than them. This entails Scout to stand up for Walter when he has his head down when he receives a quarter from his teacher. There is no doubt that the scout in this situation, no one else in the class even thought of helping Walter. 

In spite of being a child Scout understands other people’s circumstances in the town that others might at the time find bad, giving us a broader glimpse of the reality and full issues of the story. Scout lives in a time period where there was racial discrimination against others and overall her town is judgemental to others. Mr. Raymond is a character in To Kill A Mockingbird that is known in town for having a black mistress and mulatto children which at the time is frowned upon, he pretends to be drunk so people in town excuses his actions. Scout meets Mr. Raymond and she thinks “I have never encountered a being who deliberately perpetrated fraud against himself.”(180). She also sees through Mr. Raymond façade and thinks he is committing fraud against himself, to commit fraud you need to be able to deceive people. As a result Scout found him fascinating even though he had mixed kids, most people at that time found it very wrong which shows the different views from others Scout has. Therefore Scout gives an opinion that most adults in the town or people in general if they met Mr. Raymond wouldn’t.

Additionally, Scout is around problems that make her think more about her surroundings. Scout is around major events in her town at this time period. Mr. Raymond tells Scout “Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think that they’re people, too.”(180). I believe “they’re people, too” is something that Scout has never thought about until she met Mr. Raymond, that everyone is equal and the same. Mr. Raymond knows these kids can understand what is happening around them, and having someone like Mr. Raymond brings out more truth to how things are going around these events. These words Mr. Raymond gave her cancels out that Scout did not bother to understand how she views black people in her town. Scout's surroundings make her think more of what is truly going on around her. 

Tragedies and prejudice is evident in this story and a child perspective brings a new way the story is impacting. A child is affected by their surroundings Scout in particular is affected by her surroundings. Scout translates situations to make it more understandable to her. Lack of bias makes the  stories more understandable and gives a better perspective of events. A child who thinks deep brings a greater depth to a story. More importantly narrators need to have a good perspective to understand the events and need to click with the readers.