To Kill A Mockingbird Integrity Quotes

“Personal integrity is important, not because it gets us what we want, but because it helps us be what we want.”-Michael Josephson. This quote describes personal integrity perfectly. Personal integrity can vary depending on many different things, but ultimately it is up to that person to decide who they are. This is shown in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Three people in the story show how much personal integrity can vary between people. Bob Ewell, Mr. Cunningham, and Atticus Finch each show different levels of personal integrity in people.

The first character to show a level of personal integrity is Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell is a type of person that comes from a rough background, and does bad things even though he knows it

Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham is yet another person that comes from a rough background, but ultimately tries to to do the right thing. Mr. Cunningham is a person who never takes anything that he knows he can’t pay back (Lee 26), and if he does take something he can’t pay back right away he will pay it back eventually. An example of that would be when Atticus helped Mr. Cunningham with his entailment, and even though he couldn’t pay Atticus back in money he payed him back by giving Atticus stovewood, hickory nuts, smilax, holly, and turnip greens (Lee 27). Mr. Cunningham did lose his way once though. When there was a mob at the jail to try and kill Tom Robinson Mr. Cunningham was there. Scout did talk him out of the mob state of mind and back his kind and loyal state of mind. “Then [Mr. Cunningham] did a peculiar thing. He squatted down and took [Scout] by both shoulders. ‘I’ll tell him you said hey, little lady’...” (Lee 206). Mr. Cunningham is flawed, just like everyone else in the world, and he was blinded by conformity. But, he was brought back and learned from his mistakes. During the trial, some people didn’t know, but one of the Cunninghams’ relatives was on the jury and was right away going for an outright acquittal because Mr. Cunningham had helped convince his family that Atticus deserved respect (Lee 297). “[Atticus] said the other thing about [the Cunninghams] was, once you earned

Atticus is a man who has been through a lot,and has seen a lot of things in his life, but he always tries to do the right thing. Atticus displays his amazing sense of personal integrity when he stays away from guns. Atticus knows that he is the best shot in Maycomb County, but doesn’t shoot because he knows that it isn’t right or fair. “...maybe [Atticus] put his gun down when he realized that God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things” (Lee 130). Also, Atticus tries his best to help Tom win the trial. This isn’t because Judge Taylor put Atticus on the case, but because he knew it was the right thing to do. Atticus even says, “...every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine I guess” (Lee 101). Lastly, Atticus shows strong and incredible personal integrity because he tries not to hate anybody, but actually understand everyone. When Bob Ewell spit in Atticus’ face he said to Jem, “...see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial, if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does” (Lee 292). Atticus takes the blame for what Bob Ewell did to him even though it wasn’t Atticus’ fault. Atticus also says “...I do my best to love everybody…” (Lee 144) which shows that he really does try to care and understand