A major theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is the moral nature of humans. At the beginning of the novel, Scout and Jem live in their childhood world, intuitively assuming that everyone is good because not once in their lives have they seen what evil truly is. As Jem and Scout transition from their naïveté and innocence, Atticus is there every step of the way, in order to guide them towards the right path. He is neither the strictest parent nor the most affectionate, but the reader comes to see Atticus as the noblest man and father one could ever encounter. As Tom Robinson's trial looms around the corner,…
“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a ripple hope… and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy… [they] build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance” this quote from Robert F. Kennedy connects to Atticus because he helps Maycomb county reach a major checkpoint during the Tom Robinson case. Many people start to give a second thought about sentencing him which shows they start care. This is why Atticus is the most important citizen in Maycomb, he plays such a large role in the novel. Harper Lee portrays Atticus as fairly well situated during the poverty in the Great Depression. Since he is portrayed this way Atticus takes the role as an intelligent, exemplary individual. This also contributes to the respect he receives from everyone, including the poor like the Cunninghams. His calm and wise nature gives the town a backbone and causes them to rely on him for many things, thus putting him in the position to change Maycomb’ citizens’ ways.…
The reason Atticus said ¨It is a sin to kill a Mockingbird¨ is because the mockingbirds do not do anything to us but sing. Atticus is also comparing people to being a mockingbird. Just like Boo Radley because it is not his fault he is a recluse, he leaves the house just to save Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell, therefore risking become the town hero. What Atticus is trying to say is that to not judge people by what they look like. Have standards and stick to them no matter what happens to them. He says it is not a sin to kill a bluejay, because bluejays represent bullies, racism, and the anger in everyone. Some of the examples for the bluejays are Bob Ewell, and the mad dog that Atticus attacks. When someone kills a bluejay it represents stopping…
With this word, Atticus encourages Scout to think about the impact that all of her friends and neighbors had on her life. In addition, Atticus is shown to have a kind, patient tone, which emphasizes his role as a father figure in this book. With this quote, readers can understand the malevolence that is being shown towards the Finch family due to the Tom Robinson case. However, when Scout is upset about her neighbors’ disrespectful comments regarding this case, Atticus reminds her that they are not her enemies but rather, her friends and Maycomb County is still their home. Most of all, this quote foreshadows the building tension that is to come as the court trial for the Tom Robinson case…
As of today, we still have problem with prejudice and racism towards blacks. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel illustrating the struggles of a racist town in Alabama. Characters are at a struggle to comprehend the way people act. Knowing this, they have to learn what is right and act accordingly. Throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, characters discover and begin to emphasize each other’s lives in large portions and in doing so, many characters develop and mature to understand the world they live in.…
The remarks about Atticus helping Toim Robinson were arising from all over Maycomb County. Family, adults and even children who repeat whatever their parents say talk about Atticus in a poor manner. For instance, in the process of Francis aggravating Scout, he explains to her that Aunt Alexandria had said that Atticus was, “ruinin’ the family”, because he’s turned into a “nigger-lover”, and therefore they’ll, “never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb County”. If the people of Maycomb County put themselves in Tom Robinson’s shoes and showed empathy towards him, then the community wouldn’t shame him as much as they do now. In addition, in this particular case, empathy for Tom Robinson wouldn’t only justify and clarify the prejudices people have towards him, it would also stop the rants against Atticus Finch, because since Tom Robinson is being represented in court by Atticus, he often gets kicked out of the…
“The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience” (Lee 108). There are many admirable characters in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus Finch is one of these characters that we see. He is very true to who he is and has very good character. He is likely the best character in the entire novel.…
In the novel to kill a mockingbird they present Atticus Finch a character who seems Christ like centered. However Maycomb the small town where to kill a mockingbird takes place is racist we will see how Atticus acts upon this. Atticus is a Christ like centered character because he has many similar characteristics to Jesus. This essay talks about three traits; loving, compassionate, caring.…
Surrounded by people who easily cast their judgment, Atticus stood firm in his belief that every person merited a chance to be understood before he formed his opinion about them. He said, “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee 374). Atticus saw plainly how the people in his town evaluated each other and spread absurd rumors from house to house. Realizing that the people’s preconception in the town influenced his children, Atticus taught his kids by example to not pass judgment on any person. Thus Scout and Jem learned that “… there is one kind of folks, folks” (Lee 304), recognizing that no person should be seen differently because everyone is equal. In conclusion, Atticus’s differ in beliefs opened the door for him to be courageous and a hero as he showed…
To begin, I will be discussing the similarities and differences between Atticus Finch and Bob Ewell. Atticus is the most moral person in this novel, meanwhile Bob Ewell is the complete opposite of Atticus. Mr. Ewell uses, abuses, and manipulates to get his way. Although Atticus and Mr. Ewell have some similarities, but not many. Mr. Ewell and Atticus seem to represent the sides of good and evil in this bestseller.…
Atticus showed Scout and the reader to have empathy by understand other people’s point of view. Those things were shown well by the Movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus and Scout were talking about her the day of school and Scout complained of her “dumb” teacher trying to give a Cunningham money, and Atticus responded to that by,“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”(Harper 30) .The reader and Scout learned about empathy by Atticus telling us, in this context, what the teacher may or may not have gone through in her life. Atticus pointed out that the teacher obviously did not know to not offer money to…
Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, wrote her novel with the intentions of showing people that people's actions and perspectives or ways of thinking reflect their morals or beliefs. Each perspective of each person was different according to their age, sex, race, economic background and many other factors. Reading this novel showed that not everyone sees things the same way or understands why some people do the things they do. Atticus teaches Scout that sometimes breaking the rules is necessary, Jem realizes with great power comes great responsibility, and that violence is never the answer.…
When Reverend Sykes, the minister at First Purchase M.E. African Church, sees them sitting in the courtroom and hoping that the judge will decide in favor of Tom, he tells them, “Now don’t you be so confident…. I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man” (238). Scout and Jem, however, do not lose hope. Having learned some valuable lessons from their father, the children refuse to give up. Scout strongly believes in the co-existence of good and evil in the world and prays that good will inch over evil for Tom Robinson. "Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom's jury, but you saw something come between them and reason… There's something in our world that makes men lose their heads - they couldn't be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life” (220). When Atticus verbalizes this, he emphasizes the fact that all good men are reasonable men, but evil in the occurrence of convicting Tom because of the color of his…
Even though Atticus is just seen as a lawyer in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird", Jem and Scout, his kids, come to realize what kind of a great father he is. Many people think a gun is used to kill innocent people or animals. Atticus shot this mad dog because if he had not, the dog would have been danger towards others. Miss Maudie tells Scout and Jem "forgot to tell you the other day that besides playing the Jew’s harp, Atticus Finch was the deadest shot in Maycomb County in his time" (Lee 98). This demonstrates that Scout and Jem come to understand and value Atticus when they see him come and kill the dog. Before this innocent happened they thought that Atticus was just a man who solved cases, but they never knew about the other side of their father. Atticus in this story is a lawyer who defends a black male named Tom Robinson. One of Atticus’s reason to defend Tom Robinson was that if he didn’t then he couldn’t be able to hold up his head in town and couldn’t represent this county in the legislature. He also couldn’t even tell Scout or Jem not to do something again. Jem and Scout come to admire Atticus when they figure out that Atticus is standing up for what he believes in even though most of the whole county doesn’t. Finally Atticus speaks to Jem about courage. He tries to develop that relationship with Jem by making him see things the way he does. For instance he talks about Mrs. Dubose to Jem and says “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (112). This proves that Jem comes to admire Atticus through his speech because Atticus is using another person as an example then himself. He is using Mrs. Dubose as an example and tried to make him understand that she died beholden to nothing and no one. The reason Atticus explained it this way was because, he wanted Jem to understand…
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”(33) Scout interrupted him with “Sir?”(33) Atticus had then finished with “—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”(33), Atticus had then explained the Cunninghams from his point of view and about how they survive by hunting out of the hunting season. This is the moment when Scout had realized her wrongdoing and that she needs to understand things from other people’s perspective to better understand the people around her and the circumstances they experience. She still had an issue about what Miss Caroline had said about not letting Atticus read to her, Scout had told him this and so Atticus had made a deal with her that made is so that if Scout doesn’t continue to complain to him about her needing stay in school, they could continue their nightly…