Christopher Metress To Kill A Mockingbird

For a long time after the publishing of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch, the father of Jem and Scout, was championed and even deified in some cases. He was revered for his vigilant defence of a black man, Tom Robinson. This book came out in a time when racism was taught at home. For many whites in America, especially in the South, this was the first time their eyes had been opened to the injustice of racism. The reason so many people chose Atticus to be their champion of morality was because he represented strong morals and was believed to be one of the first of his people to stand up against the way things were. For a while, the pedestal Atticus was perched upon was up so high that he was of god-like status. But as time

In this essay, Metress speaks on how Atticus has some flaws in To Kill a Mockingbird; for example, the only thing Atticus does for change in his community was defend Tom for no charge and he did so to his best ability. Also, Atticus, when describing why he chooses to not turn down the case, uses the word “I” more than anything else, suggesting he did it for himself more than he did it for Tom or for anyone else. Metress quotes Freedman in his essay: “Here is a man who does not voluntarily use his training and skills - not once ever - to make the slightest change in the pervasive social injustice of his own

You can look at how when To Kill a Mockingbird first came out, America adored him. They found his one act of defending Tom Robinson to be so heroic that they put him on a godlike pedestal. The way they took to him so dearly shows how ignorant and blind they were to injustice on blacks many people in America. As time went on and people changed, however, they began to see the ways in which Atticus really wasn’t any sort of perfect man at all. Now nearly 50 years later, we are able to appreciate the truth about his flaws. Maybe that’s why Lee waited to long to put it out there, maybe she was waiting until her audience was morally mature enough to accept and learn from the true colors of Atticus