In the historical fiction novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, superstition is a major theme of the novel. For example, the children of Maycomb County, especially Scout, have many superstitions about their neighbor Boo Radley. Boo is supposedly a creepy, ugly, mean man who hates children; however, the rumors about him have never been confirmed. Scout receives all of her information from Jem. She has never doubted him because he is older than her, so Jem spreads any superstition he hears to her. These early misconceptions about Boo Radly spread like wildfire through the town until almost every child and even some adults are afraid of a man they have never even met. It takes Jem and Scout a long time to consider the fact that these may …show more content…
To start, Atticus is not only the father of Jem and Scout Finch, but also the lawyer for Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson is a black man; therefore, most of the country does not believe him. Atticus believes in Tom's story, causing a lot of hatred towards himself. Atticus is the only one protecting Tom from the whites. He is called so many different names, and his family even receives threats. Atticus hates doing his job. After finding out that Tom Robinson died, “Mr. Ewell said it made one down and about two more to go”(276). This shows that Mr. Ewell even intended to go to the extreme measures of harming Atticus' family members, simply because Atticus defended his client. Mr. Ewell didn't care about any amount of stress Atticus may have been going through and only cared about the color of Tom's skin. In addition, Atticus’ family members said harsh things about him. “I guess it ain't your fault if Uncle Atticus is a black-lover besides, but I'm here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family”(94). This quote shows how Atticus' nephew, Francis, feels about him. Francis calls Atticus the name that he most likely heard from the adults in the family. Atticus' family is very embarrassed about him. If this was in 2024, Atticus would be treated very differently. He wouldn't be as hated for sticking up for someone as he was in the novel. The community would not consider Tom a liar for being a colored man. People would take into consideration Tom's side of the story. Atticus would be looked at as simply doing his job and nothing more. In conclusion, Atticus was very mistreated in the novel by most people in the town. From being called names to having his and his family's lives at risk. Atticus did not deserve the way he was treated by the people in Maycomb and it would be much different if it was today's
This is a set of morals not only for himself, but for his children to follow as well. Atticus as a father is trying to set an example for his kids and maybe even future generations, and to do that you can't just back down when times get tough. Atticus’s taking on Tom Robinson’s case wasn't just an example for his kids, but for the black community as well. Living in the 1930s for black males and females could be disheartening, while they may not have been slaves anymore they faced persecution they did not deserve. “We’re mighty glad to have you all here.”
Atticus Is the type of person that cares for African Americans. “ There's nothing more sickening to me than a low-grade white man who’ll take advantage of negroes ingrown” (296). Mr Ewell was being rude to Tom a Atticus thinks its wrong. “ Atticus eyes filled with tears. He did not speak for a moment.
He has to deal with all of the hate and consequences from other people for this decision which shows he's courageous because he could've avoided all of that, but instead he did what he wanted to and believed was right. Atticus knows when he first decides to defend Tom, the majority will be against him in this type of society there are
Atticus is a many sided character in many ways he is a lawyer but as well a guy with much talent for guns and aiming. As the story goes along he changes into teaches his kids into good kids who learn the ways into Tom Robinson’s case and how even though he was innocent Jem was very affected from this case but also taught him about the real world and the town and life they live in which Atticus guided him through. That he keeps a common touch even though he walks with kings(Line 20 in poem).That he is a powerful lawyer that is very powerful person in court and he still is very common and talks to people and they don’t just think bad of others but even though as Tom Robinson had really no chance against Bob Ewell’s daughter he still gave his best to make sure he gave Tom the best shot at winning by not giving up on him even though he was going to lose.
Uncle Jack regrets hitting Scout because He didn’t know that Francis called Atticus a “nigger-lover”. Jack realized he hit Scout without hearing her side of the story.
Even those people didn’t like the idea of Atticus helping Tom he still help him. Atticus didn’t care of what the people thinking of him of defending Tom Robinson in court. Which points to Atticus experience injustice do to personal
He is one of the only characters that stand up to his believes. This courageous move already makes a difference on how people view him. People of Maycomb view him as a respective, morally righteous man, who acts like a Christian and refuses to be predisposed by popular opinion. Without a doubt, after the trial, Atticus gained the respect of the black people of Maycomb when they stood up as he left court. Even if some people of Maycomb didn’t respect him for what he said in court, they were still impacted by the things he said.
Atticus Finch is a man of high moral standing. Throughout the book Atticus is threatened, mocked, and verbally abused, yet he doesn't give the reactions that you would expect from a “Southern man” from Alabama. At one point his life was even threatened by a man named Bob Ewell. Mr. Ewell spat in his face and told him that he would”get” Atticus. Instead of Atticus getting angry and retaliating, he just wipes off his face and walks away, Another time Atticus show good morals is when he tond Calpurnia to tell the black community not to bring him anything else and that times were too tough. This shows he wasn’t representing Tom Robinson for respect or attention, rather he was doing it
By defending Tom, Atticus put his kids and himself in risk. They were teased constantly at school. He didn't let that get to him. Jem and Scout were taught to understand what Atticus was doing. The Finches were also being judged by the whole Maycomb population.
Firstly, Tom Robinson is just one character that is prejudged in the novel. He is accused of raping a white girl named Mayella and it is a problem to the jury that a black man is trying to defend himself in court. Atticus realizes how Tom is being treated unfairly and that it is uncommon for African Americans and white people to associate with each other. During Atticus’s speech, Mayella is accused of lying in her testimony when “she kissed a black man [which is] something that in our society is unspeakable” (Lee 272). The black man who Atticus refers to is Tom. He is ridiculed and judged by several people in the book and he gets all this
and Mahatma Gandhi. This is because Atticus was against racism, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela were, and this is shown when he defends Tom Robinson in the trial, despite expecting to lose because Tom would have been charged as guilty since he was black. He also demonstrates being against racism when he tells Scout that repeating the derogatory name people in Maycomb County called the Negros was wrong and didn’t deny to be the derogatory name people called him before the trial took place and stated that he loves everyone. Like other great people, Atticus was brave enough to stand up for what was right and face the consequences. While great people faced assassination and threats to their families’ safety, Atticus faced threats from Bob Ewell and his attack on Scout and Jem.
Overall, Atticus is a genuinely moral literary character, who is a great role model, and deserves nothing but respect. Atticus stood up for Tom Robinson because he doesn’t necessarily care about his race, whereas other people will view Atticus differently because Tom is African American. Atticus kind of gives off determined vibes, because of how determined he is to stand up for Tom. Atticus says to Scout, “nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything like--snot-nose.
Despite people’s point of views on Atticus defending a black person, he is determined to do be Tom’s best defense because he treats everyone equally regardless of their ethnicity. Atticus not only wants to be an example for his kids but also for his
Atticus has a lot of courage. He went against the whole town to defend tom robinson even though he didn’t win and tom robinson died. He didn’t really have any whites that was on his side except his kids and and Mr.Cunningham. He was really brave to do that. Nobody really liked him because of it. People try to hurt his kids because he was defending tom robinson. It was horrible what people tried to do. Jacobs called tom robinson a nickel in front of scout so she had to fight him. That’s one of
When Atticus took the case, he went up against Maycomb, a generally prejudiced town, in order to defend Tom. He understood that taking the case would make him an object of ridicule and that no one would forgive him for believing a black man's word over a white man's. Even his own sister expresses disapproval at his decision, practically telling him he was bringing disgrace to the family. Nevertheless, no matter how much his reputation suffered, he did not change his mind. Standing up for his morals and ethics was more important than what people thought about him. From the very start Atticus knows he will not win the case however he does his job and finishes what he set out to do.