Atticus Finch: A Modern Day Hero

In “To Kill a Mockingbird” Many of the residents of Maycomb are racist, and don’t believe that blacks should have rights like any normal person. Atticus; however, stood up for a Blackman for his trail, because he believes that everyone should have the right to tell the truth and not suffer for false rumors. Knowing he would withstand judgement through the process of the trail for defending the man rightfully, he took the risk anyway. Atticus and his family had to go through the threats of the towns people, bullying, and family drama. The central main idea is, It’s not easy defending for what you believe is right.

People often hesitate to make changes from the fear of being looked upon differently. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character of Atticus is a white male who is a lawyer by profession. He is assigned to defend an innocent black man in a rape trial, but he faces disapproval from the society and challenges to overcoming racism, and to keep his children from its negative influence. The main theme in To Kill a Mockingbird is that outcasts like Atticus and Scout try to make changes in the society even though it is unlikely for them to overcome the odds and succeed. Atticus Finch is an outcast in the society because he is doing what he believed in, by defending a black man in a society pervaded with racism.

The people of Maycomb are now finding out that Atticus will be defending Tom Robinson a black man in the town. The problem is that this town is set in their racist ways and racism is ubiquitous here. Threats and bad comments inundate in on their family. Scout gets terrorized at school for this. When the vociferous Cecil Jacobs yells, “Scout Finch’s daddy defends n******” (Lee 99).

Continually, he realizes that the town he stood by has unethical values that blind the people in Maycomb. Harper Lee illustrates through the experiences of Jem and Scout that to come of age one must realize that society’s views on people are racist. To begin, Jem’s first signs of maturity is when he reads to Mrs. Dubose. In the novel, Jem ruins Mrs. Dubose’s flowers as a result of an offensive comment she remarks about his father. Mrs. Dubose says that Jem and Scouts father, Atticus, is a “nigger lover”.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, against all odds, chooses to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mr. Ewell’s white daughter. During the 1930s, when the story took place, Tom’s hometown Maycomb was very racist and segregated. Negroes were considered inferior to all white people, making it difficult for Atticus to support Mr. Robinson against the “superior”Mr. Ewell. In an effort to explain to Scout, Atticus’s daughter, why he is choosing to help Mr. Robinson, Atticus remarks, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason not to try to win” (Lee 101).

Giving the reader the feelings the characters are feeling at that moment in time. “Why were miggers and whites made? What crime did the uncreated first nigger commit that the curse of birth was decreed for him? And why is this awful difference ,and between white and black?... How hard the nigger’s fate seems, this morning!- yet until last night such a thought never entered my head.”This quote shows that those so called “nigger’s” are upset for the way whites are treated and how differently they are treated.

Atticus tries to protect Scout from the racism and anger of the trial, but realizes they can 't be protected and he lets them return to the trial. Some foreshadowing shown here is, “I ain 't ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white…” (238). Scout sees how people are judged by the color of their skin, which Scout knows is wrong in some way, even if Scout doesn 't fully understand why there is issues with it. The kids are starting to see the racism and they don 't fully understand why it 's happening. Scout

Atticus Takes a Stand “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” ( Lee 101). To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in a town called Maycomb, where coloreds are looked down upon. Atticus, one of the main characters, is a father of a boy and a girl, Scout and Jem. He is assigned a case where a colored man, Tom Robinson, is accused of raping a white girl. “Fair” cases are usually only for white people, so the town gets upset when Atticus is handed the case.

Scout and Jem are forced to deal with racial slurs and insults because of Atticus ' role in the trial. Scout has a very difficult time not physically fighting with other children due to this. Tom is asfsd to be guilty, even after Atticus proves that Tom did not commit the crime. Atticus unintentionally offends Bob Ewell, the father whose daughter is accusing Tom. Ewell then says he will get revenge on Atticus.

Scout is confused by his actions, but rises to defend Atticus anyway. Scout yells at Cecil, “You can just take that back, boy!”(99) when Cecil slanders Atticus for his part in the Tom Robinson case. After Atticus explains to Scout why he was being called out, Scout is puzzled. She wants to know why people are angry just because Atticus is doing his job and defending his client. Furthermore, Scout is angry that anyone would insult her father for just doing his job and providing fair trial to everyone including blacks.

‘I don’t want those niggers going to school with my kids,: he declared, but those people didn 't treat that little girl right.’” (65) At the beginning of the quote, you can clearly see that the father had some type of hatred for the little black girl just because of her color but in the last few words he felt sympathy for her. The reason he acted with hatred is because that’s the way he 's supposed to act according to media. As well as it being ironic the way the father judged his own race for being disrespectful when he was acting the same way as them. This shows the way media can influence you to have the beliefs are everyone else in your race. Also, it shows’s that white people don’t recognize the value of

Cecil Jacob says that Atticus is "defending a nigger" for the whole school to hear and Scout was about to get into a fight until she remembered Atticus was going to scold her. Atticus asked where Scout learned that word and told her if he wasn 't defending Tom then Jem and Scout would no longer have to mind him. Mrs. Dubose ranted at Jem and Scout about how Atticus was no more use than the niggers and the people he 's working for. The day

Gilmer seemed ready to rise to the ceiling” (264). “You felt sorry for her?” This condescending remark Mr. Gilmer makes shows his fury and his supposed superiority that the majority of Maycomb felt towards black people. Just based entirely off of the color of Tom’s skin, they seem unable to accept or view the story from his angle. Emphasis on the word “you” is used in a derogatory manner that screams prejudice, and Mr. Gilmer seems incapable of seeing how a black man like Tom could possibly feel sorry for “her”, a white girl like Mayella. Because the social ladder is built based off of race, Tom immediately gets cast to the bottom without a second thought.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells a story of racial prejudice during the Depression and how it is combated. The main development in the novel is that a Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem, has been appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a young white woman named Mayella. Many people in the town of Maycomb, particularly people involved with the case of Tom, have a negative attitude towards African Americans. Prejudice was a terrible issue in the South during the Depression, but Atticus Finch shows that racial injustice can be combated in two main ways, each having different levels of effectiveness. One way to combat prejudice is to show racially biased people that their ideas are wrong.