In 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' what lessons does Atticus atempt to teach Scout about the use of racial slurs?Language is powerful, as the novel shows....

Atticus sends the ball back in the far side of the court, so to speak, when he turns the word "nigger-lover" (a slur name he has been called) into something positive.

Atticus explains to the children that indeed he loves Negroes as one should love and respect all men and not just a select few. Atticus changes the connotation of the word to adhere to its denotation, its literal definition void of highly-charged emotional insinuations.