Question

The last line of chapter 9 reads “ it was not until many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said.” Explain what scout means and expound on Atticus parenting style.

Answer 1

Scout and Atticus bond.

‘It was not until many years later that I realized he wanted me to hear every word he said’ this is a line from the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ The statement was said by Scout who is a daughter of Atticus.

Atticus was a lawyer and he was defending Tom Robinson’s case. Because of this, Scout and Jem will be facing difficulty in school. And that was the time when Atticus told Jem that ‘When a child asks you something, answer him. But don't make a production of it’, by this he meant don’t complicate things or elaborate them.

Atticus knew that Scout was listening to their conversation, so this was his way to notify and alert scout about the upcoming months to come. And that was when scout knew that Atticus wanted her to hear his every word. From this we also come to known the kind of father Atticus was. He always taught his children a moral sense of what's right and what's wrong.