In Harper Lee's Southern literary classic, "To Kill A Mockingbird", the reader is continually subjected to families in the old-fashioned county of Maycomb, Alabama. Lee emphasizes the slow-paced, good-natured feel of life in Maycomb, and deliberately juxtaposes small-town values and moral education in order to examine more closely the various forces of the family role in conflict and conflict resolution.

This is explored most powerfully through the relationship between Atticus and his children: he devotes himself to instilling a social conscience in Jem and Scout. This parallels dramatically with the role that family plays in conflict and conflict resolution. The way the children are taught in the Finch house, with heavy outside influences, reflect heavily on the way they handle conflict. In the novel Atticus is appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a respectable, humble and kind "negro." Because of the strong controversy that surrounds the trial and its...