The Unguided Light of Atticus Finch
Twentieth-century Southern America was a land of judgment and inequality due to racial discrimination and sexism at the time. These ideals enveloped the South in a veil of shadows, creating a regime of injustice and juxtaposition between southern society and those opposing their beliefs.. Among the shadows however, were citizens that acted as light in the dark but eventually burned out because of their inability to focus their ideals onto others. This wayward light was no more prevalent than in Atticus Finch, Harper Lee’s protagonist in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Taking place in Maycomb, Alabama, the story followed Atticus Finch and his efforts to defend an innocent black man accused of rape while providing …show more content…
Over the years, readers have been drawn to respect Atticus because of his strong morals and values and his will to preserve a peaceful life for his children in Maycomb. One of those readers and followers of Atticus, Carolyn Jones, writes about the courage and heroism of Atticus in her piece, “Atticus Finch and the Mad Dog: Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.” Using his actions with Tim Johnson, Jones creates the idea that Atticus is indeed a hero stating: “Mad dogs are easy; the courage to deal with a mad dog involves taking a concrete action: picking up a gun and shooting…Like the dog infected with rabies, the citizens of Maycomb are infected with Maycomb’s “usual disease,” racism, which makes them just as irrational and just as dangerous as Tim Johnson. Atticus’s neighbors and friends, therefore, are those “mad dogs” that he must confront (Jones …show more content…
That he is not the face of heroism young people and future lawyers should look up to, but a man of strong ideals who makes questionable decisions based on how society is today. In another piece, published by the Alabama Law Review and titled “Atticus Finch—Right and Wrong,” Monroe Freedman uses quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird to show that he never wished for the civil rights movement that would soon be upon him and children: Throughout his relatively comfortable and pleasant life in Maycomb, Atticus Finch knows about the grinding, ever-present humiliation and degradation of the black people of Maycomb…"It 's all adding up," he recognizes, "and one of these days we 're going to pay the bill for it." But he hopes that the struggle for justice won 't come during his children 's lifetimes." For Finch, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is inevitable, but decades too soon (Freedman 479).
For Atticus, the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement for black people means the
Twentieth-century Southern America was a land of judgment and inequality due to racial discrimination and sexism at the time. These ideals enveloped the South in a veil of shadows, creating a regime of injustice and juxtaposition between southern society and those opposing their beliefs.. Among the shadows however, were citizens that acted as light in the dark but eventually burned out because of their inability to focus their ideals onto others. This wayward light was no more prevalent than in Atticus Finch, Harper Lee’s protagonist in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Taking place in Maycomb, Alabama, the story followed Atticus Finch and his efforts to defend an innocent black man accused of rape while providing …show more content…
Over the years, readers have been drawn to respect Atticus because of his strong morals and values and his will to preserve a peaceful life for his children in Maycomb. One of those readers and followers of Atticus, Carolyn Jones, writes about the courage and heroism of Atticus in her piece, “Atticus Finch and the Mad Dog: Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.” Using his actions with Tim Johnson, Jones creates the idea that Atticus is indeed a hero stating: “Mad dogs are easy; the courage to deal with a mad dog involves taking a concrete action: picking up a gun and shooting…Like the dog infected with rabies, the citizens of Maycomb are infected with Maycomb’s “usual disease,” racism, which makes them just as irrational and just as dangerous as Tim Johnson. Atticus’s neighbors and friends, therefore, are those “mad dogs” that he must confront (Jones …show more content…
That he is not the face of heroism young people and future lawyers should look up to, but a man of strong ideals who makes questionable decisions based on how society is today. In another piece, published by the Alabama Law Review and titled “Atticus Finch—Right and Wrong,” Monroe Freedman uses quotes from To Kill a Mockingbird to show that he never wished for the civil rights movement that would soon be upon him and children: Throughout his relatively comfortable and pleasant life in Maycomb, Atticus Finch knows about the grinding, ever-present humiliation and degradation of the black people of Maycomb…"It 's all adding up," he recognizes, "and one of these days we 're going to pay the bill for it." But he hopes that the struggle for justice won 't come during his children 's lifetimes." For Finch, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is inevitable, but decades too soon (Freedman 479).
For Atticus, the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement for black people means the