TKMB Online Discussion #3

Below is the abstract of a graduate thesis that dealt partially with an aspect of TKAMB that we have yet to discuss: Atticus as a single parent. As you move into part two of the novel this issue will come more into the forefront of the action. Read the abstract below and comment.

Themes such as racial identity and self-exploration are usually discussed in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eves Were Watching God and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Therefore, the less typical aspect found within the characters of the novel's single parents—Nanny and Atticus—form an unusual and representative pair to study. Through a critical analysis of these characters and the novels, the hopes of what any effective parent desires will be shown, i.e. a better life for their offspring and the will to do whatever it takes to ensure that. Against very different American backdrops, the black former slave and the white male attorney raise their children single-handedly during the Depression of the 1930s. They decide what values they want to instill in their children. These single parents are fictional characters, but their childrearing efforts and techniques can speak to a new generation of single parents everywhere.