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Essay On Atticus In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Begin with, Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird shows his care and compassion for Tom as he defends Tom against an entire jury who believes he is guilty because of the color of his skin. Atticus while talking to his children makes the statement, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Mockingbird 76). Atticus is saying that just because many people have been made to believe that blacks do not have the same legal rights as whites do that they cannot win the case, yet Atticus states that he will try his hardest to try and win the case. In addition, he believes everyone’s mind is set on Tom being guilty because of the color of his skin, but he will try everything to change the minds …show more content…

In Harper Lee’s second book Go Set a Watchman Atticus is having a conversation with his youngest child, Scout and he says, “What’s to prevent any Negro from going where he pleases in this country and finding what he wants” (Watchman 242). He is saying that if enough of the black community started doing what they wanted when they wanted to, they could be granted their civil rights. Many people around where Atticus lived believed blacks could only do what the whites wanted them to do, and if they did not do what was wanted they were punished in an unjust way. Atticus on the other hand, believed the blacks could do what they wanted and should not be punished for what they wanted to do. A while later within the same conversation with his daughter Scout, he makes the comment, “Now think about this. What would happen if all the Negros in the south were suddenly given full civil rights?” (Watchman 246). Many people may believe that this quote be viewed as Atticus being racist, but yet they cannot prove their standing point. Atticus is stating that one day it may be possible for the blacks to get the same legal rights as the whites. Seeing it from that point of view, many people may redirect their decision, saying that Atticus was not being portrayed as racist within that quote. Atticus is simply defending that one day the possibility may become a greater chance for the black community

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