The Rise And Fall Of Atticus Finch In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Yara Abdelhamid

Mrs. Kollasch

English 9

March 14, 2023

“The Rise and Fall Of Atticus Finch”

Is the world black and white? or is it shades of gray? Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, tells the story of a child's experiences living in Maycomb, Alabama during a time of racism and prejudge. The too intelligent for her own good narrator, Scout, takes her readers for a ride as she fights school bullies, plays with maycomb rumors and experiences the dirt behind mob mentality and a society in which the color of your skin means more than one's innocence. This 8 year old tells her story and introduces us to her family; a brother named Jem and a father named Atticus Finch. Atticus, the 50 year old lawyer, must defend a black man

Atticus was given this case by the state, even though he is not the state's lawyer (for those that can't afford a lawyer). Mattress may claim that Atticus doesn’t lift a finger to try and help fight racism, but he is wrong. Atticus not only takes the case legally but also in a personal way. Mattress states that when asked about his motives for taking the case, “Atticus focus distinctly on himself,Not his client. he makes it clear several times that it is his own sense of personal rectitude and his need to be seen as virtuous by others that compel him to take Tom's case,”(Mattress 5). While mattress is telling a viable truth, he completely misses the fact that Atticus is a lawyer to the end. When he took that case he chose to take it seriously and make it a case in which he was an active participant in, instead of throwing it away for the Ewells. Atticus explains himself saying that , “every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally, (Lee 101).” This case hits too close to home. Not only does his family know the prosecution's side, but Tom is also well known through the black community as a good and hard working man. The case, however, paints him as a rapist and a man ready to take advantage of a person's kindness. Although he is the one on trial, Atticus’s reputation is also

Unfortunately Mattress would still like to disagree, saying that Atticus is almost excessively celebrated in the book. He asks if Atticus could not have “..voluntarily…make the slightest change in the pervasive social injustice of his own town. . . And could he not represent a Tom Robinson just once without a court order to do so? (Mattress 5).” WHile this may be a good question, it is idealistic. During the Finches times, desegregation activists were commonly shot and killed due to their viewpoints not lining up with societal norms. Atticus simply did what he had to do to stay in his position without seeming too biased. During the trial, he even tries to apeal to the reasoning of the court. He asks the court “What did she do? she tempted a negro. she was white, and she tempted a negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed the black man. not an old uncle, but a strong young negro man. no code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards”(Lee 272). He had a good point. Mayella is well known to be starved of kindness in her home, so any ounce of kindness from Tom was seen as flirting. It was easily guessed by many that Bob forced his daughter to tell a lie to get rid of the only other person who would dare tell the truth. He might have been a dirty man but he would rather put a black man away than have his