How Is Atticus Finch Respected

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People who take on decision-based roles, such as coaching, being involved with politics or being catalysts for ideas that are ahead of their time are often ridiculed by the same people who respect them. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird the character of Atticus Finch is both criticized and respected. This is true because he does a job that nobody else wants to. He questions society's treatment of blacks and is put in a difficult moral dilemma. Throughout the novel, Atticus is shown respect from the majority of the townsfolk. He also receives a lot of criticism behind his back over his decision to properly defend Tom Robinson. It would be argued that he is met with both respect and criticism because he has been put in an obvious moral …show more content…

The first example of this is when Cecil Jacobs calls Scout out to declare that “....Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers…” (Lee, pg. 99) This is the first time that the reader ever hears a resident of Maycomb disrespecting Atticus Finch. The best example of someone who respects yet criticizes Atticus is Mrs. Dubose. Mrs. Dubose obviously respects Atticus very much since he is one of the few people that she does not scold in his presence. She is also one of Atticus’ biggest critics when he is not around to hear her. She furiously disagrees with his attitudes towards black people and expresses this not to him, but to his children. Atticus may be well-respected around Maycomb, but he also receives a good amount of …show more content…

Not only does he defend Tom Robinson to the best of his abilities he also brings into question the segregation of blacks and whites in the south. Miss Maudie describes it the best when she consoles Jem after the trial explaining that “There are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father’s one of them” (Lee, pg.288) What she means by this is that Atticus is doing the town a great service by being the one to defend Tom Robinson. The townspeople understand the moral dilemma that this must put him in and even though they disagree with his decision they respect him for being able to make one. This is why he is respected, but also why he is criticized. A good example of this behavior is shown by Mrs. Dubose who criticizes Atticus’ decision to be “ in the courthouse lawing for niggers” (Lee, pg.135). She never criticizes him to his face because she respects the situation that he has been put in and knows that it would be difficult for her to make any decision in that situation. Atticus is met with both respect and criticism because he makes the unpopular decision in a hard

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