The True Character Of Atticus Finch In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Corona Del Mar

Mrs. Levitt

Freshman English Period 3

April 17, 2019

The True Character Of Atticus Finch

True role models are those who interest us in a way to make us want to be a better person and who possess the qualities that we would want to be a better person. Atticus Finch happens to be one of those role models. Judge Taylor had said, “Mr. Finch is always courteous to everybody. He's not trying to mock you, he's trying to be polite" (Lee 243). Atticus Finch is an older dad who is a public defending lawyer. He is always considerate of others, non- judgemental and a very polite person. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb, Alabama starting in the 1930s. It is about Atticus’s kids named

Discrimination was huge in the book, white people were always favored over black people. Atticus chose to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. Atticus knows he is going to get a lot of criticism for defending a black man but it does it anyways because he knows Tom is innocent of raping Mayella Ewell. Scout and Jem are getting a lot of hate for Atticus defending a black man so Atticus said, “You just hold your head up high and keep those fist down. No matter what anyone says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat” (Lee 101). Bob Ewell has always been one of Atticus’s enemies and after the trial Atticus had proved Bob raped Mayella and not Tom. Bob had spit in Atticus’s face and Atticus said, “So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take” (Lee 292). Instead of getting mad that Bob Ewell spit in his face, he found the good in it by saving Mayella from a

Atticus said, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand” (Lee 149). Atticus says this to Jem because he wanted Jem to know the difference between what true courage is and the outward appearance of courage. One of the most important quotes Atticus has said was, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Lee 39). Atticus implies this saying mostly toward Scout because she judges people too easily before considering things from their point of view. Scout finally realizes that Atticus was right when she really learns who Boo is as a person. When Jem got an air-rifle he wanted to kill birds but Atticus had said, “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”(Lee 119). It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because they do nothing but good for us. In To Kill a Mockingbird both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley represent mockingbirds because all they have done is good for people. Jem and Scout finally realize that they do represent a mockingbird and what Atticus has taught them is really