Atticus Finch Justice

The search for justice
“There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” Charles de Montesquieu. Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” novel presents a small town battling racism, through a dramatic court case between a black man and a white woman. Atticus Finch represents the black man, Tom Robinson, as his defense because he knows he is innocent. As a result Atticus’s children were impacted greatly by his view on justice. Atticus defines justice through respect, equality, and peace, but he couldn’t change the town drastically.
Atticus attempts to represent justice throughout the book. In Tom Robinson’s court case, Atticus is giving his final statement about the case. In a final effort to prompt the jury to unanimously decide Robinson’s innocence Atticus says, “A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up.” (Lee 274). Atticus is reminding the jury that their own ethical values will decide the fate of this man. The judicial system is depending on their decision. This demonstrates that Atticus believes justice is equality. A courtroom to Atticus means you will be judged for your crimes and not your skin color, this is equality. Atticus, being a parent, wants his kids to have the best life with the best values. He tells Scout
to “Try fighting with your head for a change.” (Lee 101), when she gets in fist-fights at school. Atticus wants Scout to use her mind and think about what she is doing, in order to use peace not violence. His values include peace which is a major part of justice to him.
Atticus, even doing all he can for justice, could not make any drastic changes to the town’s racism. Before the case was in court, Atticus was speaking to his brother about the case. He commented that “Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand…”(Lee 117), referring to the townspeople that lose their minds. Before the case had even started, the people have long since been racist and that won’t change overnight. Therefore Atticus’s search for justice was in vain. After Tom was unfairly convicted, it’s determined that Atticus’s case was to no avail. Atticus used every tool available to try to free Tom, but “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee 323). There was no chance that Atticus could have succeeded in this part of his search in justice, because Tom was guilty the moment the accusation was said. There was no way for Atticus to undo Mayella’s mistake, so he was destined to fail. “To Kill a Mockingbird” has always been a classic book that has a great meaning, Atticus’s search and fail to find justice can be compared to today’s society.
There are countless times in our current events that racism shows through, but people are not successful in stopping it. When a black student was killed by a white cop within the last few years, other black students created a campaign called “Hands up don’t shoot”. Though their intentions were good, like Atticus the students were unable to drastically change anything. Justice can be defended in many ways, but transforming any society’s view is extremely
difficult.