In which ways is the character of Atticus important to the novel To Kill A Mockingbird?
Atticus plays an important role throughout the novel because of his empathetic and moral character. The integrity Atticus expresses shows us that he is the moral conscience of the novel as his attitude has a big affect on most of the characters throughout.
Atticus plays an important role as a father throughout the whole novel and his children, Jem and Scout are influenced by him. Atticus sits down on the porch and talks to Scout about her troubles at school. He tells Scout “You can 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.” Atticus challenges racism and prejudice which is brought out through his children and from this quote we, the reader, can see this. Atticus tells the children to call Boo Radley by his real name, Arthur. This forces the children to think twice about their actions towards Arthur and makes them curious about his past. Looking at the
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He shows this by not following the majority conscience, for example, he took on a “coloured” persons case, which shows how he opposes racism despite the hate he will receive from the people in Maycomb. He not only teaches Jem and Scout but he also teaches us, the reader, our principles, for example, “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”. The word sin in this quotation shows a religious point of view, which emphasises the word. Miss Maudie states “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy”, this links into many events taking place in the novel, for example, Tom Robinsons case. This particular event focuses on Tom Robinson, the mockingbird of the novel, he is the mockingbird because he is being judged by the people in Macomb for “raping” a white girl, which he didn’t do, this also shows Atticus’s integrity as he is the only person supporting