Atticus Finch's Life

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee has a naive view of life in the South of America in the 1930’s. The book is written through the eyes of Jem and Scout Finch. Scout is a young girl that is growing up around her father’s case. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, who is fighting the charge of raping a white lady. The lives of the characters are changed from the effects of racism in the book To Kill a Mockingbird.

In chapter 11 there was a racist comment made towards Scout and Jem. “‘Come on, Scout,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman.’ But Mrs. Dubose held us: ‘Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for niggers!’” (Lee 101). This statement was made because Mrs. Dubose doesn’t agree with Atticus defending Tom Robinson (the accused rapist). She said it to his kids because Atticus is a good lawyer and he could make it to where they find Tom innocent, and she doesn’t believe a black man should be innocent. The author is saying that most whites in the 1930’s were racist against African Americans, and didn’t believe they should have the same rights as whites did.
On page 125 there was a racist conversation between Jem, Scout and Calpurnia. Jem asked Calpurnia why she talked like the rest of the other colored people while in church. Calpurnia started to explain that it’s the right thing to do even though she knows how to talk like