Strangely enough, Atticus was also able to see the good in Mayella Ewell, and it tore him apart having to destroy her testimony on the stand. In chapter eighteen Scout says, “Atticus hit her hard in a way that was not clear to me, but it gave him no pleasure to do so. He sat with his head down..”(Lee 252). When Atticus had to defend Tom he also had to show the jury that Mayella was speaking lies which made him upset to do so. He knew Mayella was a victim in the situation too and did not want to hurt her more than Bob Ewell already did.
As the court case is coming up and going on the racism gets out of control. Atticus knows that the town will hate him for defending Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white woman. But Atticus simply doesn 't care, he will defend any person of any skin color because that 's the kind of person he is. Atticus is a man of high values and loves everyone equally. To back him up, take this quote for example.
The evidence boils down to you-did-I-didn 't. The jury couldn 't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson 's word against the Ewells, '" Atticus solemnly explains this to his brother. First of all, Atticus demonstrates courage when he undertakes the task of defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of rape. Atticus knows he won 't win the case and like Mrs. Dubose in her battle against morphine, he is "licked" before he begins. Nevertheless, Atticus knows that Tom is innocent and that he must fight for him, since no one else will.
He believed that everyone had at least a little nice in them, but some may just have to be looked at more to see it. He also believed that it was not okay to hate anyone. Atticus was a very
This pushback is shown by multiple instances in which Jem and Scout are made fun of for their father is a “n****r lover”. Secondly, Atticus knows he is going to lose the case for he knows that the moral character of Maycomb is not high enough to be able to see true innocence on account of evidence. This realization did not deter him, for he believed that “the one place a man should get a square deal is in a courtroom” (295). Thus he delivered on behalf of his morals and completed the case. This again shows moral courage, for Atticus knew that he if he forfeited his defense of Tom Robinson the ridicule would stop.
When defending a black man in court, Atticus says, “You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women-black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men” (273). This public defense of minorities is not a seldom action for Atticus. He takes his community members and even his own family mistreating him for defending a black man on nearly a daily basis, but still does it. Due to the fact he is a modern hero, all modern heroes should exhibit this.
Atticus Finch is treated poorly for the choices he made because he wanted to help other people. Despite the racism in the town, Atticus defended Tom Robinson, a Black man accused of raping a White women in the segregated south. “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man.
In this essay, Metress speaks on how Atticus has some flaws in To Kill a Mockingbird; for example, the only thing Atticus does for change in his community was defend Tom for no charge and he did so to his best ability. Also, Atticus, when describing why he chooses to not turn down the case, uses the word “I” more than anything else, suggesting he did it for himself more than he did it for Tom or for anyone else. Metress quotes Freedman in his essay: “Here is a man who does not voluntarily use his training and skills - not once ever - to make the slightest change in the pervasive social injustice of his own
In this time, white people thought of black people as lower than them and did not treat them fairly. Atticus did not act with this arrogance towards people of color. He believed all men deserved equal treatment. Therefore, he accepted the job. All people who dive into this story agree that Atticus is an exceptional lawyer.
‘That’s a compliment,’ explained Jem. ‘He spends his time doin‘ things that wouldn’t get done if nobody did ’em”(Lee 117). In other words, Jem is saying that the cartoon of Atticus in the newspaper is a compliment for Atticus because Atticus works assiduously and does not let anything get in his way. The girls waving at Atticus are trying to distract him, yet Atticus’ attention does not waver from the task he is trying to complete, meaning that the girls are failing to distract him. If no one attempted to do the tasks properly, they would not get