“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honest and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed”(William Faulkner). William Faulkner is discussing the idea that it is important to speak out against injustice with in injustice. When you raise your voice and speakout it brings in truth, honesty, and compassion towards others. Speaking out about injustice is one of the primary struggles of the characters in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and this struggle in emphasized by the setting of the novel: 1930's, Maycomb, Alabama. There is an Attorney in this novel who is in charge of defending a black man who was accused of raping a girl in the town. In order to determine what is right and true, one must examine the motives and ultimate impact of their actions. Through the …show more content…
He still continues because he knows that it is the right thing. Atticus is the attorney and Tom is the black man that he is defending. While Atticus had the opportunity to not take the job and let someone else defend Tom, but he knew Tom wouldn’t stand even a small chance winning or convincing the trial. He then explains to Scout and Jem why he is defending Tom when he suggests, “I am simply defending a n- [black man]’... ‘The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town…I couldn’t even tellyou or Jem not to do something again”(86). Atticus explains that if he wouldn’t defend him he would have lost all respect for himself and wouldn’t be able to handle himself and wouldn’t be able to tell his own children to do something. He is motivated to show to Scout and Jem that just because there is going to be judged by the rest of the town shouldn’t stop him from doing the right thing in defending Tom. Atticus also teaches Scout and Jem a lesson by making them read to an elderly lady who would yell and cuss at the children. The ladies name was Miss Maudie and we would later learn that she was a morphine addict which was why she would yell