Analysis Of Atticus Finch In Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD CHARACTER ESSAY - ATTICUS FINCH

A good neighbour is someone who says hello every morning, who asks how one is doing, is meaningful and is a memorable person in life. In Harper Lee’s American classic; To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is the good neighbour. Atticus clearly displays his acts of bravery, intelligence, and fairness throughout the novel, Firstly, Atticus is a very brave person. To start, Atticus is brave because he took the case that no other lawyer in Maycomb could want. While explaining the situation to his daughter, Atticus says, “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess” (Lee 101). This helps prove

He especially does so in his job as a lawyer. During the trial, Atticus had found out that Mayella Ewell’s right eye was blackened and wanted her father, Bob Ewell, to write his name down. As Atticus’s daughter was watching, she thought, “Atticus was trying to show, it seemed to me, that Mr. Ewell could have beat up Mayella. [...] If her right eye was blackened and she was beaten mostly on the right side of her face, it would tend to show that a left handed person did it” (238). This shows that Atticus was smart enough to know that Tom, a right-handed person, could not have punched Mayella and that her father could have. Also, intelligence is shown when Atticus teaches Scout to read before her teachers did (22-23). It proves how he as a father is intelligent enough to teach a young child to do something that most cannot do themselves. Additionally, not only is Atticus intelligent in his job and to his children, but he is intelligent in his life. While explaining her father’s life, Scout says, “During his first five years in Maycomb, Atticus practised economy more than anything, [...] but after getting Uncle Jack started, Atticus derived a reasonable income from the law” (3-4). Here it shows how Atticus helped his brother through medical school and then after started working in law again. He was intellectually capable of helping an up and coming doctor while being in a field in no relation to health. One who is