To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee And The Help By Tate Taylor

Most people will not do something if they anticipate criticism or a negative response. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and the film The Help by Tate Taylor, the characters Atticus Finch and Skeeter Phelan go against that and help the black people in their communities knowing there will be a bad outcome. Both the film and novel explore the theme of the true face of courage through these characters. They both break the social mold of being the only white representative for the black communities however, Skeeter could bring justice to Minny and Aibileen by writing her book while Atticus could not prove Tom Robinson innocent to the jury. Similarly, Atticus and Skeeter both try to bring justice to the black people in their communities.

When Atticus’ daughter, Scout, asks him why he decided to take the case, Atticus tells her that even though “we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,” (Lee 87). Atticus knows that racism is prominent throughout Maycomb which doesn’t help Tom’s case. But to Atticus, that doesn’t matter. He believes in equality both in and out of the courtroom. In the end, Atticus wants Tom to have a fair trial that shows the truth. Even though Atticus knew he would get a lot of backlash for taking this case he still took it and fought by Tom’s side to the best of his abilities. Likewise, in The Help, Skeeter decides to write a novel based on stories from African American maids and nannies. Skeeter’s mother tells her that courage tends to “skip a generation” and she's glad she brought it back into their family (Taylor). Skeeter,

After the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird Tom was in prison and ran and “broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over” causing him to get shot 17 times by the guards (Lee 268). Since Atticus was unable to prove him innocent, Tom got sent to prison. While he was in prison he tried making a run for it but got killed. So, since Atticus couldn’t convince the jury, Tom didn’t get the justice he deserved. Conversely, in The Help Skeeter was able to publish her book. In one of the scenes, Aibileen and Minny are shopping in the grocery store and they find someone who is reading Skeeter’s book. In the following scenes, it shows many other characters, including Skeeter’s mother, also reading the book (Taylor). This shows that Skeeter was able to spread the word about how the black maids and nannies were treated and hopefully make an impact. With her being able to share this it’s possible that it changed the view of many people and made a difference. Therefore, Skeeter could make an impact in her’s and other communities while Atticus could