How Does Atticus Show Compassion In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird there was a family in the book that called themselves the Finches. There were 3 people in the family. Scout was the daughter in the book, she is in first, second, and third grade. Jem was the son, through the book he went through fifth, sixth, and seventh grade. Atticus was the dad, he defended Tom Robinson in the trial. The time period of the book was in the Great Depression. Nobody in the book had major money. There were two families that were poor, they were the Cunningham and the Ewell families. 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.

One example of that is when Atticus took the Tom Robinson case. Atticus and Scout are talking about why Atticus is defending someone that he knows he will lose to, “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”(Lee 101). If Atticus knew he was going to lose, why would he want to defend Tom. Well Atticus is a very compassionate person, and even though he will lose he wants to give it his all to try and help Tom be free. Another example of Lee showing Atticus as a man of courage is when Scout is asking Atticus how Mr. Cunningham pays them back. “ I asked Atticus if Mr. Cunningham would ever pay us. “Not in money,” Atticus said, “but before the year is out I will have been payed. You watch.” We watched. One morning Jem and I found a load of stove wood in the backyard. Later, a sack of hickory nuts appeared on the back steps. With Christmas came a crate of smilax and holly. That spring when we found a crokersack full of turnip greens, Atticus said Mr. Cunningham had more than paid him. “Why does he pay you back like that?” Scout asked. “ because that is the only way he can pay me. He has no money.” (Lee 27). Atticus knows that the Cunninghams are poor, so he doesn’t care what way they pay him back. Atticus knows that they will eventually pay him back, not in money but in goods. Atticus is okay with that. Those two events show how Atticus is a man of