Harper Lee published a book that sold over 30,000 copies and takes place in Alabama during the Great Depression. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has a character Atticus who changes some people's mind about how they treat other people and what they think of other people. Atticus Finch stands as a sterling example of a man of principle throughout the whole novel. In chapter 9, Atticus changed Uncle Jack's mind on how he talks to children. Scout asked Uncle Jack what a “whore lady” was and Uncle Jack didn’t tell her exactly what it was. Later that night, Uncle Jack and Atticus were talking and Uncle Jack told Atticus what they were talking about up there. When Atticus was told that Uncle Jack didn’t tell Scout what a “whore lady” …show more content…
Dubose’s flowers and when atticus finds out, he sends Jem to her house everyday for a month to read to her as punishment. After the month of reading to Mrs. Dubose, Atticus teaches jem that not everybody lives there live the same way as him. When Mrs. Dubose died, Atticus told Jem “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with gun in his hand. Its when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (Lee, 128). Nobody needs a gun to be brave, they have a lot of courage that everyone in maycomb believes in them, so if anything stands in there way they will still try anything to make things right. In Chapter 25, September has arrived and things are starting to die down but later in the chapter atticus gets the news about tom's death. But after the trial, Atticus had changes several people's minds because “ Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save tom robinson” (Lee, 275-276). Atticus tried everything he could he managed to show other people in maycomb that just because of someone else's appearance doesn't make them any different from yourself. Even though he lost the trial, atticus was able to change other people's perspective of people that look different from
Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the year of 1960, and is one of the few American classic novels awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The racism that is prevalent in many southern American towns in the 1930s is brought to life with profound imagery in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are several characters in the book, yet the true main character is the narrator's father, Atticus Finch. He is a man of great integrity and intelligence. A very heroic figure in more ways than one, Atticus possesses traits like being principled, determined, and, more importantly, he teaches others. When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird, one can see that Lee uses lots of description, dialogue, and actions to portray Atticus as a heroic individual.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in the depths of the Great Depression. A lawyer named Atticus Finch is called to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. The story is told from one of Atticus’s children, the mature Scout’s point of view. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finch Family faces many struggles and difficulties.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior, to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, and the struggle between blacks and whites. Atticus Finch, a lawyer and single parent in a small southern town in the 1930's, is appointed by the local judge to defend Tom Robinson, a black man, who is accused of raping a white woman. Friends and neighbors object when Atticus puts up a strong and spirited defense on behalf of the accused black man. Atticus renounces violence but stands up for what he believes in. He decides to defend Tom Robinson because if he did not, he would not only lose the respect of his children and the townspeople, but himself as well.
Atticus says in his speech, “She had committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with.” Atticus tells the courtroom that he feels sorry for Mayella because in a moment of weakness she changed her life forever. He uses his own sympathy for her to get the people of Maycomb to understand why Mayella Ewell would bring Tom Robinson to court after he had done nothing to her. Atticus helps them understand that the only reason they were in that courtroom was because of the traditional ways of Maycomb. He also uses pathos when saying, “I am confident that you, gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family.” Everyone knows what it feels like to have a family or at least have imagined what a great family would have been like. By bringing the idea up of family it makes the audience Atticus is addressing feel some sort of remorse for Tom Robinson. Every person in that court room knows what it is like to lose a family member. Tom Robinson has a wife and three kids. Atticus wants the jury and the people in the courtroom to understand the weight of their decision. If they say that he is guilty than he will be sentenced to death and his children will grow up without a father. No matter how much someone might hate another they
The book To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 by an author named Harper Lee. Harper Lee born was April 28, 1926 in Monroeville Alabama Lee had made 2 novels in the time she was alive she had wrote To Kill A Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman. Harper lee had also illustrated a few children's books. So what is courage? To Kill A Mockingbird gives the readers a look into how terrible things were in the south during the 1930’s from prejudice to racism to morality and even youth. When an African American man named Tom Robinson is wrongly accused of raping a young, white girl a lawyer named Atticus Finch takes the case. Atticus Finch is the main character's father. Atticus is very different from most people in Maycomb county, Atticus believes in justice for all and that
Dubose. As the kids discuss the trial with their father, Scout begins to question why Atticus insists on helping Tom. Atticus tells them, “simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Lee 76). Previously, Jem believed that bravery was never turning down a dare. After listening to his father, however, he begins to understand that bravery is much more than that. Atticus’s influence on Jem starts to transform him into a much wiser and more thoughtful person. Additionally, after Jem is forced to read to Mrs. Dubose, he tries to understand why Atticus respects her so much. Atticus says, “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. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do” (Lee 112). Jem finally understands that the true meaning of bravery is to do what is right, even when others disagree. This thought begins to shape Jem’s behavior, in that he starts to act more like Atticus. Being able to understand the meaning of courage allows Jem to act much more mature. As Jem is growing older, his growth in maturity is expanding to not only his family, but to all aspects of his
He sets positive examples for his children by showing them courage and respecting others. In other words, Atticus ' children, Jem and Scout Finch refer to their father as his first name. They do not refer to him as “dad” or “father” or any other name. This is a clever idea because it shows that Atticus wants his children to open up to him and treat him as an equal individual. By calling him “Atticus”, it improves the relationship between him and his children. They open up to Atticus and come to him for advice instead of listening to others. In addition, he educates his children in a manner Maycomb is not familiar with. When Jem was punished to read to Mrs. Dubose for a month, it was also a strategy Atticus used to teach Jem the true definition of courage. At first, Jem thought courage was Atticus holding a gun to shoot the rabid dog, but Mrs. Dubose 's fight with the morphine was an inspiring example of courage. Atticus says, “She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe... son, I told you that if you hadn 't lost your head I 'd have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her- 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). As Atticus ' children grow older, he teaches them about the real world by guiding them with advice. He points out the positive values of a person and tells
In the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" each of the main characters changed quite a bit. Through the experiences each character went through and the natural maturing that occurred in each of them, the characters were altered from the way they were at beginning of the book. The children, Scout and Jem, were the two most dramatically changed characters. However, Scout showed much more change than Jem did because of his mysterious hidden attitude. Scout matured from a helpless and naïve child into a much more experienced and grown-up young lady.
Atticus a boring old man that has uninteresting traits. He doesn't hunt, he doesn't fish, he doesn't do anything. All Atticus does is work in an office and is blind in his left eye and wears glasses. The average boring that daughter Scout believes him to be. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee Harper, Afficus daughter Scout believed he was a very boring man. She believed this because she couldn’t go to school and brag about the things she and Jem did with there Dad but, she couldn't do that. The main reasoning being for this was because Atticus was An older father. He explained to pam and Jem that he just started late with having a family. In the a section of the story I read Scout explains how everyone can brag but she can’t. This shows that she cares deeply about Being able to tell people how proud she was of her dad and doing things with them but she didn't have that opportunity. In the passage she states He did not do the things our schoolmates’ fathers did; he never went hunting, he did not play
Atticus Finch demonstrates both moral and physical courage through his decisions of taking on and fighting Tom Robinson’s case, despite all the critics and setbacks, by putting his own life at risk to protect his client and doing all in his power to bring justice. In conclusion, true courage is the ability to confront something even if one is “licked” from the start. Tom Robinson, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus Finch all display real courage throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson, being an African-American, living in a prejudiced town and having a crippled arm, still helped Mayella, gave a truthful testimony and tried to escape prison. Mrs. Dubose courageously overcame her morphine addiction despite her age and pain.
Tom Robinson was just a “respectable negro” with a kind nature who was accused in absence of wrong. Mr Robinson is immediately seen as an enemy by most in town of Maycomb. Is it because of his malicious personality? Is it because of his hair colour? Is it because he is arrogant? No, all of these are false he is instantly convicted because he is of a different ethnicity. It seems foolish but this is the reason why Maycomb has discarded a man who is of higher quality than the majority of the town. “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella opened her mouth and screamed.” As soon as the trial began Tom’s opportunity for victory grew slimmer and slimmer and Maycomb knew that Atticus was fighting an unwinnable battle. But Atticus was determined to defend the ‘ultimate mockingbird’ right up until the end; even after the court case Atticus defends Tom at the jail. A final act of Tom’s innocence to prove his mockingbird status was whilst in court, he still didn’t want to accuse Mayella because “she seemed...
We all love that feeling of reading a seemingly life-changing novel...that emotion of not wanting to set the book down, due to the immense levels of imagery and pure intrigue throughout the novel. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of those types of novels. Written by Harper Lee in the 1960’s. The Novel is about a young girl who goes by the name of Scout. Atticus her father, appears to be her solo guardian as her mother passed away when Scout was just a baby.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a beloved novel published in 1960. After reading the novel there were some moments and people that I found particularly enjoyable. My favorite part of the novel was when the children went to Boo Radley's house to try to get a look at him. In addition, Atticus Finch was my favorite character in the novel. In my opinion the book was very good. I felt that it really showed the thoughts and actions, both good and bad, of the people in the South during the time of the Great Depression. At some points it was sad and at others it was comical but overall it conveyed the message that it was trying to send and everyone could learn something from it.
Scout believes at the beginning of the book that courage is all to do with physical feats like fist fighting. Scout and Jem though Atticus was courageous when he shot the mad dog, but Atticus just shrugged it off telling his children that that is not ?real courage?. The children soon see that moral courage is more valuable after Miss Dubose said "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" Chapter 11, Page 113 after they walked past her house. On the way back Atticus just walked by and told Mrs. Dubose, ?you look as pretty as a picture? Mrs. Dubose was so stunned that she could not say a word back to him. Later Jem and scout leaned how courageous Mrs. Dubose really was after Jem cut up her camellia bushes, the kids found out that she was a morphine attic brave enough to get off the drug that killed her.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the most developed characters is Atticus Finch. The story takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus is a layer for the state legislature defending a black man; although, many citizens criticize him for this. He does his best throughout the novel to teach his children Jem and Scout about moral responsibility. The author characterizes Atticus Finch as having strong moral fiber and being respectful, compassionate, and calm through her descriptions of his actions, experiences, and public opinion of him.