To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jack Finch, also called Uncle Jack, had an impact on the decisions and actions Scout makes throughout the story. He cared for Scout and her brother Jem as if they were his own children. He could make the bad things, such as a splinter, seem not so bad. He loved on them and was caring but could also lay down the law when necessary. Uncle Jack’s father-like actions toward Scout, that impacts certain things she does, is do to the fact that he was never able to become a father himself.

At a young age Jack Finch fell in love. He was almost done with school when he met Lily. She was blonde-haired and blue eyed, and the prettiest, nicest, most genuine girl he had ever seen or met. They had an instant connection when they met, and were inseparable from then on. About a year or two later when they had finished their education, Jack asked Lily to marry him, which she said yes to. They discussed their wedding and both decided on having a huge wedding, why not have the entire come? In order to have everything that they wanted they decided to wait until the following summer to get married. 3 months later Jack and Lily found out that they were going to have a baby, and it was going to be a girl. Jack was ecstatic and promised that nothing would ever happen to her. A couple months later, before the wedding, Lily was on her way home from visiting her parents who had recently moved to Montgomery, Alabama. Her train ride home was bumpy because of a storm that was producing large gusts of wind and so much rain you couldn’t see 5 feet in front of you. The train slipped on the tracks and was derailed, sending it down a hill, killing everyone on board including Lily and her unborn baby girl. When Jack heard the news he was devastated. He could not believe that this had happened. Right then and there he promised to never love or marry anyone else ,since Lily had been his first love. The realization hit him that he would never become a father and be able to mentor someone and love on them. When his brother, Atticus, married, he told himself that if he was to have nieces and nephews that he would treat them like they were his own children. And Jack did just that.

Uncle Jack loved Scout and would “[swing] [her] high” whenever he arrived in Maycomb (Lee 103). He explained, in detail, small tasks, such as removing a splinter from a foot but would get Scout laughing that she wouldn’t even realize when it was finally out. He loved on Scout and treated her like his own daughter. But he never hesitated to correct her when she would do something not lady-like, like when she asked to “pass the damn ham, please...See me afterwards, young lady” he would say (Lee 105). He didn’t want to hear any of that “unless there’s extreme provocation” (Lee 105). He taught her what was right from wrong, which Atticus didn’t have much time to do. When she “split [her] knuckle to the bone