Summary Of The Book 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

To Kill A Mockingbird
Maycomb, Alabama is a small Southern town that suffers terribly through the great depression. In Maycomb County there lives a widowed lawyer by the name of Atticus Finch and his two children Jeremy (Jem) Finch and Jean Louise (Scout) Finch. Atticus takes a job defending a black man in this town full of racist people, but Atticus doesn’t realise what kind of danger he would be putting his children in. His attempt of treating people equally no matter their skin color or race will soon explode into chaos. In the book, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Atticus warns Scout about the criticism she and her brother, Jem, will receive saying, “ You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold that head up high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you don’t you let ‘em get
your goat” (Lee 101). Atticus is warning his children that they will be deeply criticised by many people, but to be proud of what their father is doing for these people. Throughout the novel Scout seems to learn more from her father than anyone else. Scout respects her father deeply and values the advice he gives.
Lawyer Atticus Finch takes a job, defending a black man by the name of Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is being accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The problem with this claim is that Tom Robinson is a crippled man. Tom’s left arm is a full twelve inches shorter than his right. “His left arm was fully twelve inches shorter than his right, and hung dead at his side”(Lee 248). Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella, claims she was beaten in the right side of her face very bad. It would have had to take a left-handed person to do something like that, but Tom Robinson couldn’t have done it because he is crippled.
I think that Atticus made a good choice in defending Tom Robinson because he is standing up for what he believes in. Also, he was doing what is right even though he knows his plan might not succeed, “ Simply because we’re licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Lee 101). I think if Atticus would not have taken the job in defending Tom Robinson he would have regretted it, also I don’t think that anybody else would have taken the job. By taking the job Atticus endured a lot of punishment from his family, friends, and people he knew.
Many people think that Atticus made a bad decision taking this case because he is one of the most respected men in Maycomb why would he want to jeopardize that, also if he took the case he would be putting his children in great danger.
Though if you look at all the reasons why he did take the case you would see why his decision was a good one. Atticus took the job to defend Tom Robinson because he values justice and equality. He believes that everyone is equal and therefore just because Tom Robinson is black, doesn't mean that he should not defend him. Moreover, he wanted to set an example for his children and try to teach his children a lesson.
In conclusion I do think that Atticus made a good decision by taking the job. He might have put his children in great danger. By doing this he was standing up for what he believes in. He was trying to show the people of Maycomb that what they were doing is wrong. Judging people by their skin color and appearance is wrong. Atticus might have put his self and children in great danger but he did what he thought was right. This is an amazing book that teaches you many life
lessons.