Turns out everyone is an idiot now. I read this as a child and even then I understood the point wasn't that you should be like the character in the book. But that you shouldn't. It gives a child who may not understand the perspective of a parental figure that perspective. It's what it did for me as a child, it made me reflect. If it didn't do that for you as an adult I don't really know what to tell you other than you're way behind the curve.