Atticus Finch Social Issue

In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a social issue is Racism. Many people in Maycomb are biased and prejudiced and this social issue is combated by Atticus Finch’s moral character. A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society, moreover there are negative consequences that need to be addressed. Racism is when a person has a negative opinion about someone that has a different race or ethnicity and they express it violently with either words or actions. The Radley’s are treated differently just because of their unsociable lifestyle. Another example is the use of the N word by characters who are white; which is very racist. Atticus Finch combats the social issue by defending Tom Robinson in trial because

The town made many rumors since they didn’t know what was even going on with the Radley’s as they are hushed and serious. Our narrator Scout explains, “A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked. The Maycomb school grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot; from the Radley chickenyard tall pecan trees shook their fruit into the schoolyard, but the nuts lay untouched by the children: “Radley pecans would kill you” (5). The Radley’s and their house was that “scary” that not even a negr0 wanted to walk by their house and kids wouldn’t touch the pecans that fell on the floor because it would be “poisonous” as it’s from the Radley’s property. This shows the town is prejudiced as now even kids are being told to be cautious of the Radley’s properties which shows how biasness is being passed down to the kids and even with black people, they are avoiding the Radley’s because they think that they will hurt them. When anything in Maycomb happened such as any stealthy small crimes committed, it was blamed on the Radleys. Like one time “the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard

Atticus says, “ ‘You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change… it’s a good one, even if it does resist learning.’ ‘Atticus, are we going to win it?’ ‘No, honey.’ ‘Then why—’ ‘Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,’ Atticus said'' (41). Atticus tells Scout that though people may talk bad about him but she should keep herself down, as it’s no use. Though Atticus knows that he is going to lose the trial because no n3gr0 has ever won a case he still tries because once you start something you have to keep going and in this case he’s trying to back up a black person. Francis says, “ Grandma says it’s bad enough he lets you all run wild, but now he’s turned out a nigger-lover we’ll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb again. He’s ruinin‘ the family, that’s what he’s doin’ (45). Now Atticus’s family is turning away from him because he’s ruining the family by supporting a black man during trial. But this doesn’t stop Atticus because his job is to defend Tom during trial and he actually could be innocent but the people aren’t