What Is Atticus Finch

“Just as Atticus is a nontraditional parent for his time and locale, so too is he unconventional in his racial and social attitudes.” Critic Elizabeth Malia is spot on with her description of this character. Atticus Finch is a main character from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published in 1960 and won the Pulitzer Prize the following year. Set in Maycomb, Alabama, Lee’s book is about a respected lawyer named Atticus, a widower, who has two children named Jean Louise, better known as Scout, and Jeremy, who goes by Jem. In the story, Atticus is a public defendant and is assigned a very controversial case. Despite opposing opinions of those around him, Atticus decides to defend a man of color named Tom Robinson, who has been accused
A specific trait of Atticus’s personality that showcases why he is an honorable man is his consistency. More or less, Atticus is viewed as the moral backbone of their small town, and he does not change his beliefs to please people. For instance, when Scout and Jem hear people talking about talking about their dad and questioning him, they approach him, and he tells them that “before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience” (140). Clearly, Atticus had his convictions about defending Tom, and he did not waiver in his beliefs to fit in with the majority. By the same token, as the moral backbone, Atticus has convictions to defend Tom that he stands by. Joseph Crespino, political historian from Emory University, notes, “Atticus feels a moral responsibility to defend him, as the novel’s title attests, because a black man accused in the Jim Crow South was as helpless as a mockingbird” (15). Crespino really points out the moral responsibility that Atticus felt, which was consistent no matter who he was around and shows honorable he is. As well as being consistent, Atticus sees people for who they are, another noble trait. For example, he sees his daughter Scout for the tomboy that she wants to be, and he does not force her to conform to society’s view of women. Also, Atticus is a
Specifically through his personality, other character traits such as his consistency, morality, and bravery help express his overall dominant trait of honor; likewise, the way he behaves courageously and respectably conveys his honor through his personality. Additionally, Atticus is an honorable man because of his desire to see people turning away from violence, his desire to raise children of good character who care about other people, and his desire to provide Tom Robinson with the fair trial that he deserved. That being said, the reader can learn from Atticus to live a life full of integrity. Atticus is a man who is the same wherever he goes, and neither his demeanor nor his beliefs waiver to cater to those around him. The reader can look to Atticus as a man who stood up for what he knew to be the right thing, and he did it, whether he was going to win the case or not because it was right. How many people can say that, if put in Atticus’s situation, they would have done the