Compare And Contrast Atticus And Davis

Daniel Guo

Mrs. Windsor

9th English H

29 September 2014

Atticus and Davis Compare and Contrast Essay Ethical men often find themselves in difficult situations. The purpose of a courtroom is to resolve contentious issues. There are two different types of people who sit in judgment in a court of law. Lawyers try to get the best result for their clients while jurors seek the truth. In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Atticus is more than a simple country lawyer, he is a Southern lawyer defending a “nigger,” a disgrace thing to do. In “Twelve Angry Men,” which was written six years earlier by Reginald Rose, Davis is a juror seeking for justice and the truth. Although Atticus and Davis differ in regard to their legal training and background,

Atticus defends a “nigger” (Lee 99) and Davis defends a “boy”, both of whom everyone else is suspicious of. People of the town begin to look down on Atticus and his family because he is defending Tom Robinson. Davis is put pressure on by the 11 other jurors who think the boy is guilty. No one attacks Atticus directly (Lee 242), but Atticus’s children suffer from verbal abuse by the other people in town. Davis is attacked verbally and directly by all the other jurors. Whatever the others throw at them, they both take it calmly in the search for their

Scout almost gets into a fight over his father but declines because her father asked her not to do so. She felt much shame walking away, but she was willing for her father, who she felt she would be letting down, had she engaged in the fight, regardless of victory. The accuser of Tom Robinson, Bob Ewell’s daughter, also has a bad relationship with her father. It is hinted that her father beat her whenever he was drunk. It is also hinted that he was drunk quite often (Lee 245, 246). During Tom Robinson’s trial Atticus always treated everyone with respect and politeness. He never showed any sign of negative emotions. (Lee 243-261). Davis reveals he had 3 kids whom we can assume he had a good relationship with and defended the boy because of this unlike the other juror who insisted the boy was guilty because he had a bad relationship with his son who had abandoned him. However throughout the argument between Davis and the other juror, Davis is seemingly less influenced by emotion while the other juror enrages many times. (Twelve Angry Men). Their calm and logical ways of thinking are shown throughout these