To Kill a Mockingbird: Analyse how a main character or individual in the written text(s), was influenced by another for a particular purpose.

“If you had been on that jury along with eleven others like you, Tom Robinson would be a free man. You’re too young to have your judgments clouded by wrong.” Scout, an innocent six year-old girl in Haper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, finds herself facing the harsh reality of conflicting prejudice views apparent at the time of the 1930s in her hometown of Maycomb County. Being as young as she is, she’s vulnerable for her opinions to be influenced by those surrounding, one main character being her father, Atticus Finch. He influences through his words, but more significantly through his actions therefore teaching his children life lessons: the most important form of courage is moral courage; a man should live with integrity everyday; acting with empathic views is integral to ones success and satisfactory existence.

‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ classified as one of the greatest novels of all time, written by Harper Lee, is narrated by a young girl who goes by the name of ‘Scout’ Finch. It follows her experiences of prejudice through sexism, racism, and also classism, which occurs at many stages throughout the novel as a consequence of the trial of Tom Robinson, and her encounters with Boo Radley, her neighbor. Even though Scout is surrounded in numerous acts of prejudice on a daily basis, she does not give in to the narrow-minded views of society instead making assumptions of her own. Her father, Atticus, helps her in keeping her innocence and freedoms, teaching her valuable life lessons on the way; one being that the most important form of courage is moral courage. There are different types of courage: physical, intellectual, and moral. While humble, Atticus undoubtedly possessed physical courage; when Tom Robinson was in jail awaiting trail, he spent the nights outside the cell reading, once encountering an angry mob intent on lynching the prisoner. But moral courage is unquestionably the most vital type of courage, and this Atticus undoubtedly had. Moral courage can be defined as the willingness to do what is right, despite the unpleasant consequences that may sometimes follow. It involves your strength to move beyond your convictions even when the whole world criticizes and torments you for it. The prime example of this is Atticus’s decision to represent Tom Robinson. Atticus was very brave in doing this; back in the 1930s it was almost unheard of. It bought insults and threats, but it was his moral courage that got his family and himself through the ordeal. Moral courage also supplies the determination to take on a fight you know you’ll lose, merely because you consider the cause to be worthy. From the start, I think it was pretty clear that Atticus would lose his defense of Tom Robinson; he knew, Tom knew, the whole town knew, but that wasn’t going to stop Atticus from trying. When Scout asked him why he continued with the trial, Atticus answered: “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and win.” Atticus taught Jem about moral courage through his relationship with Mrs. Dubose. Mrs. Dubose was a very sick and argumentative old woman, always criticizing Jem and Scout as they walked past her house. Jem, attempting to follow in his father’s footsteps, tried to sort it all out in a gentleman-like manner, but instead eventually snapped resulting in him tearing up her flowerbeds. As punishment, Jem was made to read to Mrs. Dubose after school everyday. Jem found that she hardly paid any attention to his reading, and was greatly relieved when his punishment came to an end. When Mrs. Dubose died not too long after, the reason behind Jem’s sentence was exposed: Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict, but promised herself that she would overcome her addiction before she passed; Jem’s reading was the distraction that was needed weaning her off the drug. Atticus explained to Jem: “Son, I told you that if you hadn’t lost your head I’d have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her-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 you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew. “ Courage wasn’t just something that Atticus talked about, he was an example of it himself for his children; he made them do things they wouldn’t have otherwise done, all for them to learn a vital life lessons.

Integrity is defined as steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. Known in Maycomb County as “the same in his house as he is on the public streets,” Atticus taught us that a man should live with integrity everyday. He shared the same morals for business that he did for family; he didn’t have one for weekdays and one for weekends, it was just the standard at which he lived by. He was incapable of doing anything that would broach the unbreakable holiness of his conscience. Even when it was greatly shunned, he made the righteous decision to defend Tom Robinson. “This case, Tom Robinson’s case is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience-Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God is I didn’t try to help that man… They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” It was understood by Atticus that a man’s integrity was his most important quality-the foundation upon which his honor and the trust of others was built. Stripped of integrity, a man becomes weak and powerless, no longer a force for good in his family or community. Scout asked “If you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it?” “For a number of reasons, the main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem to do something again… because I could never ask you to mind me again. Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine.” Atticus was never one to back down, once he believed in something, he stuck with it and followed through, not caring for what the community would think.
If Atticus were to have one dominating quality, it would be his exceptional empathy that he had for others. Another life lesson Jem and Scout were taught was that acting with empathic views is integral to ones success and satisfactory existence. If his children, Jem and Scout were to feel angry at the misconduct or ignorance of the individuals in their town, he would support their tolerance and respect by influencing them to see the other person’s side of things. “If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along better with all kinds of folks. 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.” This shows that Atticus knows how to understand people, or at least tries his best to do so. He wants his children to know that sometimes judging people isn’t right; you have to know where they come from in order to understand them from their situation, take a look at what it’s like to be that person. Atticus understood that not everyone had an ideal upbringing, that people could only be held responsible for what they knew, that folks were doing the best they could in the circumstances in which they found themselves. He was one who attempted to see the good in folks and to figure out why they did the things they did. When Scout complained about her teacher embarrassing a poor student, Atticus got her to see that the teacher was new in town and couldn’t really be expected to know the background of all the children in her class already. When a poor man that Atticus had previously helped with legal problems showed up in the mob to hurt Tom Robinson, Atticus defended him, explaining that he was a really good man who simply had some blind spots and got caught up in the mob mentality. Even when Bob Ewell spit in his face, he found ways to respond with empathy: “Jem, see if you stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes for a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does. So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I’d rather it be me than that houseful of children out there. You understand?” I think that once again, Atticus’s actions spoke louder than his words, teaching not just Scout but the reader too that just because all men were not created equally, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be treated equally.
Atticus, a quiet man of dignity and strength, who remains true to himself, cares for his community and neighbors and most important love his children unconditionally, guides them gently through difficulties and give to them his wonderful brand of wisdom and morals. Though still at an age where her opinions are vulnerable to be greatly influenced by those surrounding, no longer were Scout’s opinions full of ignorance. Over the duration of the novel she found herself in many situations which made her realize the full extent to which society can force you to make assumptions and have opinions which you don’t even have to decide yourself. Day by day, her father helped her in seeing the world from an unbiased view teaching her that the most important form of courage is moral courage, a man should live with integrity everyday, and that acting with empathic views is integral to ones success and satisfactory existence; all life lessons which I believe everyone should be taking note on.