Atticus Finch: The Most Courageous Character in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Atticus Finch is a lawyer, father, and inspirational character that has changed literature forever. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel by Harper Lee. It is said to be one of the greatest novels of all time, and is taught in almost every school in the United States. It takes place in Alabama during the 1930s, when the Jim Crow laws were in place, and black people had very little rights. The main characters of the story are Atticus, Jem, and Scout Finch. Atticus is a lawyer, who has taken on the case of Tom Robinson, a black man, a black man who has been accused of rape. In the very racist town of Maycomb, this is a big deal because a white man is defending a black man, …show more content…
Scout and Jem are in the neighborhood playing with their air-rifles, when they see a mad dog coming down the street. They tell their maid, Calpurnia, and she basically alerts the whole neighborhood and Heck Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb. Everyone watches while they decide what to do, and Mr. Tate asks Atticus to shoot him, because in his younger days, he was the best shot in town, and was known as “One Shot Finch”. True to his name, he killed the dog with one shot. This was a courageous moment for Atticus, because he felt that he was protecting his kids, and the people around him. Before that day, Scout and Jem loved their father, but other than being a good lawyer, the did not think he was very impressive. They thought he was old and boring, because he was fifty years old, never tackled Jem when they were playing football, he wasn’t the sheriff, or a farmer, or a garage worker, or anything they thought was cool. But after he shot the mad dog, they thought more of him. The narrator (Scout) describes the shot as “In a fog, Jem and I watched our father take the gun and walk out into the middle of the street. He walked quickly, but I thought he moved like an underwater swimmer: time had slowed to a nauseating crawl….With movements so swift they seemed simultaneous, Atticus’s hand yanked a ball-tipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulder.” Scout describes her father as “swift”, and said that he “moved …show more content…
The Finch’s have a neighbor, Mrs. Dubose, who can be very rude, ill-tempered, and racist. Almost everyday, she sits on her porch and yells at the kids and Atticus when they walk by. One day, Jem and Scout went into town, and there was Mrs. Dubose, sitting on her porch like always. She started yelling at them, saying that they should be sent to reform school, and will end up waiting tables at the O.K. Café. Then she started yelling about Atticus and the trial, and she says “‘Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!’” (Lee 135). This really gets to Jem, and on their way back from town, Mrs. Dubose is not on her porch, so Jem takes advantage of that and destroys her flower garden. Atticus later finds out that it was him, and makes him go apologize. Mrs. Dubose punishes him by making him read to her for a month, which is awful for the kids. When the month is up, Jem and Scout are delighted, but they soon get news from Atticus, saying she died. She was a morphine addict, and was trying to get off the drugs before she died. When Jem and Scout went over, she had withdrawals, and her maid rushed them out, so they didn't really know what happened to her. After she died, the kids had a conversation with Atticus about her death, and during that conversation, Atticus called her “a lady”. The kids were shocked when he said that, because after the awful way she treated him, he still respected her.
Atticus Finch is a lawyer, father, and inspirational character that has changed literature forever. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel by Harper Lee. It is said to be one of the greatest novels of all time, and is taught in almost every school in the United States. It takes place in Alabama during the 1930s, when the Jim Crow laws were in place, and black people had very little rights. The main characters of the story are Atticus, Jem, and Scout Finch. Atticus is a lawyer, who has taken on the case of Tom Robinson, a black man, a black man who has been accused of rape. In the very racist town of Maycomb, this is a big deal because a white man is defending a black man, …show more content…
Scout and Jem are in the neighborhood playing with their air-rifles, when they see a mad dog coming down the street. They tell their maid, Calpurnia, and she basically alerts the whole neighborhood and Heck Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb. Everyone watches while they decide what to do, and Mr. Tate asks Atticus to shoot him, because in his younger days, he was the best shot in town, and was known as “One Shot Finch”. True to his name, he killed the dog with one shot. This was a courageous moment for Atticus, because he felt that he was protecting his kids, and the people around him. Before that day, Scout and Jem loved their father, but other than being a good lawyer, the did not think he was very impressive. They thought he was old and boring, because he was fifty years old, never tackled Jem when they were playing football, he wasn’t the sheriff, or a farmer, or a garage worker, or anything they thought was cool. But after he shot the mad dog, they thought more of him. The narrator (Scout) describes the shot as “In a fog, Jem and I watched our father take the gun and walk out into the middle of the street. He walked quickly, but I thought he moved like an underwater swimmer: time had slowed to a nauseating crawl….With movements so swift they seemed simultaneous, Atticus’s hand yanked a ball-tipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulder.” Scout describes her father as “swift”, and said that he “moved …show more content…
The Finch’s have a neighbor, Mrs. Dubose, who can be very rude, ill-tempered, and racist. Almost everyday, she sits on her porch and yells at the kids and Atticus when they walk by. One day, Jem and Scout went into town, and there was Mrs. Dubose, sitting on her porch like always. She started yelling at them, saying that they should be sent to reform school, and will end up waiting tables at the O.K. Café. Then she started yelling about Atticus and the trial, and she says “‘Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!’” (Lee 135). This really gets to Jem, and on their way back from town, Mrs. Dubose is not on her porch, so Jem takes advantage of that and destroys her flower garden. Atticus later finds out that it was him, and makes him go apologize. Mrs. Dubose punishes him by making him read to her for a month, which is awful for the kids. When the month is up, Jem and Scout are delighted, but they soon get news from Atticus, saying she died. She was a morphine addict, and was trying to get off the drugs before she died. When Jem and Scout went over, she had withdrawals, and her maid rushed them out, so they didn't really know what happened to her. After she died, the kids had a conversation with Atticus about her death, and during that conversation, Atticus called her “a lady”. The kids were shocked when he said that, because after the awful way she treated him, he still respected her.