How Is Atticus Finch Important In To Kill A Mockingbird

“To Kill a Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee is based in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. Set in the 1930s the novel showcases a time of racial inequality as told in the perspective of a young girl named Scout. Scout lives with her older brother “Jem” and widowed father “Atticus Finch”. Atticus Finch is one of the most sincere and upstanding characters in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Almost 50 years old, a widower, Atticus triumphs at the challenge of raising two small children. He treats them as equals, with integrity and self-respect. Atticus begins as a respected citizen who is admired both by his children and the people of his community with all class levels included. Atticus is not like most, he represents everything a person in the …show more content…
Robinson was accused of raping and beating a white woman named Mayella Ewell. According to Mayella and her father Tom raped, beat, and then ran when he was supposedly caught by the father through the window. It’s during the trial that we see Finch showcase his understanding of equality and his colorblindness allows him to see this case was motivated by racial injustice. Finch gracefully points out to the jury that even though there are probably a few black men who are capable of crimes, “this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men” (Lee 217). It’s here Finch points out both as a lawyer and a person that this is a wrong that needs to be considered and points this out to the neighborhood. Finch took on this case knowing the backlash wouldn’t just fall on him, but on Scout and Jem as well. It was with this case he was able to instill a lesson on making the right decision regardless of how it may look to others. "Scout," said Atticus, "when summer comes you 'll have to keep your head about far worse things... it 's not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down—well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you 'll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn 't let you down" (108). With this line …show more content…
Once the innocence of adolescence fades away and the truth of adulthood comes into play Scout realizes her father was never the man she perceived as a child. Even though he instilled in her all the morals and values a young child should be raised with we see she never truly knew her father. By moving the story 20 years forward and using flashbacks in “Watchman” we finally see the disillusionment Scout feels with the now 72 year old Atticus. “I’ll never believe a word you say to me again. I despise you and everything you stand for” (253) Scout’s disillusionment in “Watchman” oddly parallels that of Jem in “Mockingbird,” after Atticus fails to get Tom Robinson acquitted, and Jem realizes that justice does not always prevail. The interesting part about Scout’s recognition is that “Watchman” is shows once again she never truly knew her father. This understanding comes about and you realize children can only see the good in people. When she reels because “The one human being she had ever fully and wholeheartedly trusted had failed her; the only man she had ever known to whom she could point and say with expert knowledge, “he is a gentleman, in his heart is a gentleman,(131)” had betrayed her, publicly, grossly, and shamelessly. Our image of Atticus is now more real than ever. Lee has shown what we missed all along. Atticus was just as racists and prideful as the same people he was portrayed as being