Atticus Finch In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird which has been widely banned across America one character stands out. That character is Atticus Finch. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee explores the concept of moral courage, and in Atticus, gives the model of a perfect human being, a Christ-like man of courage, integrity, and compassion. Harper Lee illustrates that Atticus Finch is a Christ-like figure. Atticus has an exchange with Bob Ewell. Miss Stephanie Crawford describes the account, “Atticus was leaving the post office when Mr. Ewell approached him, cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him” (Lee 291). She also says, “Atticus didn't bat an eye, just took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and stood there and let Mr. Ewell call him names wild horses could not bring to repeat” (Lee 291). This is like when Jesus said "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Atticus embraced this state of mind when he encountered Mr. Ewell, instead of retaliating and making things worse he let Bob get it off his chest. This also took a lot of courage because

An example of this is when he takes the Tom Robinson case. When Atticus says that it isn't popular for white people to defend black people Scout says, “If you shouldn't be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it” (Lee 100). Atticus then replies, “The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this country in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you to Jem not to do something again” (Lee 100). This shows that Atticus has integrity because according to him if he does not do something then he can not tell his children to do it. He likes to lead by example and feels that there are certain things that if he does not do he can no longer be a respectable