In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee tells a story to the readers by including a few families. Harper Lee first introduces the story with the Finches’ family and the way they live. As she moves on, she shows readers there are other families like the Ewells, Cunninghams, and the Robinsons. Each of these families obviously behaves differently from the others.
In fact, the readers can actually learn a lot about human nature by examining the family relationships consisting positive human nature in the Finches’ family and the family relationships consisting negative human nature in the Ewells’ family as these two families show both positive and negative side of human nature in the society today. The Finches possess the good and positive side of human nature. In the Finches’ family, the whole family treats each other and everyone with care. Jem and Scout care about each other, Atticus and Calpurnia. An example of Jem caring about Scout is when Bob Ewell attacks them.
Jem gets hurt but he still tries to help Scout escape from Bob Ewell. Scout cares about Jem because she worries if Jem is going to die when his arm is injured from Bob Ewell’s attack. On the other hand, Atticus and Calpurnia care about Jem and Scout just as much. Atticus and Calpurnia may yell or lecture the children sometimes but they don’t just yell and lecture Jem and Scout for no reason. Atticus and Calpurnia yell and lecture the children because they care and want the best for Jem and Scout. An example of Calpurnia and Atticus caring about the children is when Calpurnia yells at Scout for acting rude to her company at dinner table.
One other example of Atticus caring about the children is when he calls a doctor right away to have a look at Jem’s arm after Bob Ewell’s attack unlike Bob Ewell, who have done nothing about his daughter, Mayella’s injury. Atticus is the main supporter in the Finches’ family and he remains responsible as a supporter. He makes sure his children are healthy and happy. Atticus also has a good nature because he never does anything in the house to the children that are not appropriate to do outside the house. He treats them just the same at all times.
Atticus will never love his children less anywhere. The children really respect Atticus for his admirable characteristics. The Finches’ family is a very good example of good nature in the novel because it shows how some people in society treat their family and how they behave to their family with love, respect and care. While the Finches are a good example of positive human nature in the novel, the Ewells, on the other hand, are a good example of negative human nature. In the Ewells’ family, there is not much caring between the children and the father.
The main supporter of the family, Bob Ewell, has a lot of children. But he is not responsible enough to give any of them care. Bob Ewell never gives them enough to eat, never disciplines or cares for the children’s health. He uses the money he gets to buy alcohol and does not care if the children starve or not. Bob Ewell also shows the bad side of human behavior by being racist. If he had had a good human nature like Atticus, he would not have raped his own daughter and blamed the act on an innocent black man. Thus, readers can see what negative human nature really is.
However, this kind of behavior does not only stay in novels, it happens in real life too. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces readers to a lot of different kinds of families such as the Finches, the Ewells, the Robinsons and the Cunninghams. Although they are all different, however, their human nature can be classified in two different sections. The two different sections are simply good and bad. Most of the families, especially the Finches, belong to the side of having good human nature, but the Ewells are definitely on the negative side of human nature.
Many people think that these kinds of human nature are only in stories and fairy tales. But these people are wrong. Nowadays, many people in the world have a good side of human nature like Atticus, who treats his family with love, care and respect. However, there are also people in this world who don’t love or care for their family just like the Ewells. These people will regret about not loving and caring about their families very much later as family is something very precious. From the novel, readers can really learn and understand a lot about human nature by examining the family relationships in the story.
