I don 't want to lose him and Scout because they 're all I 've got." In this quotation, Atticus is stating to Heck the importance of being true to oneself. Atticus feels, that he must proudly lead a life where he demonstrates his good values and morals, for the benefit of his children. Consequently, Atticus is the epitome of being a “good person”, as he showcases the necessity of his values in the real world. Atticus strives to be the best father he can possibly be, constantly enriching his children.
Not only did Atticus show compassion towards friends, he also showed compassion to his enemy and their family. Atticus stepped in the shoes of the Ewells and said that "if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that 's something I 'll gladly take." (Lee 218) This represents compassion because he would gladly protect a victim of abuse with his own life. This shows that Atticus can understand and forgive anyone that has ever done him wrong, and will always look for the best outcome of a bad situation. Atticus is the character that shows the most compassion because he takes the anger of an entire town and the hate of an enemy and turns it into positive outlooks and is able to forgive and forget.
Atticus Finch says empathy is based on sympathy, on being able to see another person 's point of view and comprehend why they act the way they do even if it 's hard to agree with it. He is allocating fatherly advice to Scout by telling her that Miss Caroline was probably just trying to do her best in a new environment. This piece of advice supports Scouts development throughout the novel by making her not as agile to judge. Although Atticus is crucial to his children 's growth, he can’t give a “feminine” input which sometimes flaws his parenting, but Lee proves that good parenting requires a person to do the right thing, no matter the circumstances through fairness, perspective, and integrity. Atticus’ fairness displays he is a good parent because he considers that everyone deserves a chance to be understood and have motives for their actions.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.” This quote is one of the many applicable to the American class, To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee introduces the reader to the Finch family consisting of Atticus, Jem, and Scout. The book is told from Scout’s point of view, which adds an interesting component considering she is six when the story starts. She is very intelligent for her age, however, she has a short temper that occasionally gets her into trouble. They live in Maycomb, Alabama; a tight-knit town that has hosted the same generations for centuries.
Atticus is the primary character Lee uses to show the difficulty of acting courageous as he is faced with challenge to defend Tom Robison, a black man who has been accused of rape by the Ewell family. With doubt he decided to take the case as if he was to argue, upholding his sense of justice and equality. " The main one is, if I didn 't I couldn 't hold up my head in this town, I couldn 't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn 't even tell you or Jem not to do something again" (Lee 100). Atticus is explaining he basically would have been a hypocrite if he did not take on this case. He could have simply shown up at the court room and not do much, but that’s helpless to Tom, and no one would think less of him but
There are countless amounts of empathy, which enforces how important empathy is. Atticus Finch has a great quote very similar to the Native American’s. He says “You can never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-- until you climb into his and walk around in it.” (39 Lee) This comes at a very important time in Scouts growing up. She just came back from her first day of school and Atticus has her think about what Miss Caroline is going through and she has an epiphany. It’s a major turning point in her thinking and it influences her thinking throughout the rest of the book.
An important aspect of being a good person is to have empathy. Empathy helps to communicate in a way with others in a way that we can understand them. We can all grow and benefit by being empathetic. Atticus Finch demonstrates the risks and rewards of practicing empathy in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus risks his reputation by showing empathy towards the black community by trying to help their community to be treated equally, he is rewarded with empathy by telling Walter Cunningham that he does not need to pay back his debt, and his final reward of empathy is teaching Scout and Jem the importance of empathy.
Modesty is one of the most important values emphasized in the novel. The first character who is exceptionally modest is Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch is fifty years old and feeble, according to the narrator Jean Louise Finch (Scout). They believe that all he is good for is reading and doing boring office work. On one normal day during the summertime, Atticus had to show off some of his skills, which took the children aback; he shot a dog in one try.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird empathy plays a big role in the character’s lives. People’s ability to understand empathy determines their quality of life. When empathy is used correctly and in the right way, it can make a huge positive impact on someone’s life. Empathy is something that people gain as they lose their childhood innocence, but that doesn’t mean that they will be able to use it to help people. As the main character, Scout, gets older she starts to lose her innocence and gain empathy, but she doesn’t quite get the concept.
In the book Atticus is seen as the wisest person in Maycomb and from what he says is that could be true. Atticus is a great person to learn about the importance of not prejudging people saying things such as this, “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” (Lee,27) Atticus tends to find the good in everyone and that is what people should do if they want to really live in equality. What has been explained in this essay is not only what Scout learns through characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, it’s also what we as people should learn about prejudice and do our best to avoid it. Will we ever eliminate prejudice? No, It’s human nature to have first impressions about everything, and there will always be evil people in world however, rather instead of trying to eliminate prejudice, we should work together to get to know one another better and not separate ourselves based on our