Atticus Character Analysis Essay

To Kill A Mockingbird Character analysis on Atticus

To Kill A Mockingbird is an insightful story about a lawyer named Atticus who is defending Tom Robinson, an African American man, for being accused of rape by the Ewells family. Mr. Ewell, a white man, had beaten his daughter Mayella when he found out she had been having Robinson help her with tasks around the house and yard. He also saw her through a window putting advances on Mr. Robinson. He beat his daughter and blamed Tom Robinson for his daughter's injuries. Atticus had proven that it was impossible for Tom to have beaten Mayella because Tom was right handed and Mr. Ewell was left handed, Mayella's wound prints were clearly made with the left hand. "Atticus was trying to show, it

Atticus never sugar coated anything and treated his children as if they were adults. When his children were curious to what case their dad was working on he told them exactly the truth. He didn’t hide back anything about race, he told his kids that it would never be a fair trial because the majority of people are white and Tom was a African American man. Atticus tried to explain to his children that the ‘N’ word just showed how low some people could be. “Scout, nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything- like snot nose. It’s hard to explain- ignorant, trashy people use it when they think someone is favoring negroes over and above themselves. It’s slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label themselves” (Lee 107). Atticus knows his kids are mature and will understand the real world.

Above all, Atticus is a father that his kids can be proud of. He’s teaching them through his actions and words. He’s being a role model for kindness, truth and justice. Jem and Scout learned valuable life lessons through their time spent with Atticus. I think Atticus was the hero in this book for all the above reasons. I especially like the way he treated Mr. Robinson and his family. Atticus is a fair man, always doing what he thinks is the right thing. Atticus is kind, and he is a very honest