How Is Atticus Influence On To Kill A Mockingbird

As Martin Luther King Jr. quotes in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” (qtd.in. Goodreads.com). Atticus’ words of wisdom for the duration of To Kill a Mockingbird are used as a guiding light for not only his children, but the nation as a whole during the Civil Rights Movement. Through the 1950’s and 60’s African-Americans all over the U.S. were fighting to end Jim Crow Laws. Their movement inspired many and was what also influenced by Harper Lee’s to write her first literary work. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lee uses the character Atticus Finch as a moral compass to show that true courage comes from

These lessons were applied for the duration of the Civil Rights Movement including in Martin Luther King’s words in his I Have a Dream speech, the murder of Emmett Till, and use of Jim Crow laws on public facilities. Atticus believes that people should not be judged until they understand things from the other person’s point of view, such teachings also support Martin Luther King’s messages of peace. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led the March on Washington where he delivered the I Have a Dream speech in which he uttered the words, “they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” (qtd.in. Martin Luther King I Have a Dream) His words reflect those of Atticus Finch when he says: “...in our courts all men are created equal” (274). Atticus’ message is relevant because it models what Martin Luther King Jr. wanted for this nation. King wanted to live in a world where people would not have to fear they would be persecuted based on their race. Atticus explains that that is exactly how the world should work. The two of them taught Americans that judgement should be reserved until character is accounted for. Of course, one of the consequences of prejudice in the Civil Rights Era was the death Emmett Till, which went against everything Atticus had ever taught his children. Emmett Till was a fourteen-year-old African American boy who grew up in Chicago in the 1950’s. Unaware of all the racial tension in Mississippi he was reported to having said “‘Bye, baby’ to a white woman”(History.com/Staff). Four days later he was lynched by a mob. Lee presents the hatred that mob mentality stems when Atticus says, “...a gang wild animals can be stopped simply because they are still human” (210). Maybe if those people who had committed this heinous act had listened to Atticus Emmett Till would have lived. But they didn’t listen, and