Atticus Dead Shot Analysis

As Atticus decides to defend Tom Robinson, who is a black man. Many citizens of Maycomb don't understand his choices for doing so. Atticus is questioned by Scout, she asks him “If you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doing it?” Scout says that to Atticus because people from Scouts school have been telling her that defending a black man is a negative thing to do. By asking Atticus this, it shows that others see black people as lower class compared to others. As the majority of Maycomb see them that way, they don't understand why Atticus should and would defend them. Atticus sees the whole situation as him just “Simply defending a Negro,” because he sees everyone nas an equal which everyone else should too. As the citizens of Maycomb don't understand why Atticus is defending Tom, some finally start to see the trial just like Atticus. In chapter 15, a mob is called upon Atticus for defending Tom. It is led by Mr. Cunningham, who has a son named Walter, which Scout goes to school with. While the mob is after Atticus because of him defending Tom, Scout is able to stop the mob. She stops the mob by telling Mr. Cunningham about his son and how Atticus has helped their family, which then calms him down to see the mob isn't right. As Scout’s kindness towards Mr. Cunningham helps him decide to call off the mobs, it also helps him to see Atticus is a good person for defending and helping Tom Robinson because Atticus did the same towards him. Atticus’ choice to defend and help black people is hard to understand for many, butin the end it is important to realise why he choses to defend

The whole town of Maycomb is racist, which makes Atticus’s job harder trying to defend Tom Robinson against the word of a white man.Tom Robinson’s case is unjust since he is black and the majority of Maycomb revert to the stereotype that all blacks are immoral and criminals. “Quote” shows that it is a situation where little is possible to do when defending a black man because the town of Maycomb is deeply affected by racism they tend to only make decisions based on the race and so immediately think Tom Robinson is guilty, that he did indeed raped Mayella when there was so much evidence to prove otherwise. This is challenging for Atticus, since he has to persuade everyone to pretend there is no stereotype about blacks and that they are human

Atticus says that even though Tom is innocent, the all-white jury will find him guilty anyway because he is a black man. The people of Maycomb are livid that their best lawyer would defend a black man who “raped” a white woman. Up until now, Maycomb has been displayed as a happy little town, it’s been seen as nothing but positive. The racist and unflattering side of Maycomb has been exposed as they attack the Finches. Even some of the Finches’ family members disapproves of Atticus’s choice. The town believes that Atticus defending a black man puts the Finch name to shame. They believed that he shouldn’t have done what he

Atticus is a mockingbird for the Maycomb society. He has the correct attitude towards different races. In Tom Robinson’s case, he provides strong arguments Tom’s accusation and proves that Tom Robinson did not rape and harm Mayella Ewell. Even though Atticus failed to restore Tom back to Tom’s family due to racial discrimination existed commonly in Maycomb in 1930s, Atticus leads the society to take the first small step in the right direction in the battle against racial discrimination, according to the quote stated by Miss Maudie, “Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t

Atticus's strong sense of morality and justice motivates him to defend Tom Robinson with determination, giving it all he has. He shows this when he says, "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and win." (pg.82). He says this to Scout after she comes home from school angry at Cecil Jacobs for making fun of Atticus in the schoolyard. Atticus tells her to fight with her head instead of her fists. He wants the people of Maycomb to hear the truth about Tom, "That boy may go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told." (pg.159). Atticus is putting everything a man holds dear, dignity, respect, honor and status, on the line to protect Tom. He later shows more bravery when he goes to the jailhouse to

Within Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Lee creates a sense of unconformity through the characterization of Atticus being lawful and supportive on the idea of mutual concessions which separates him from the social norms of being a man in Maycomb.

In the novel, Harper Lee uses Atticus and Tom Robinson to represent failure and disappointment. At the time Tom was pronounced guilty, both him and Atticus had not fulfilled their wishes of Tom being innocent. Chapter 21 states that watching Atticus lose was like watching him walk into the street, raise a rifle to his shoulder, and pull the trigger all the while knowing it was empty. This means that Atticus had felt so sorrowful about his incompletion of success towards Tom that he would have shot himself, but knew deep down that there

Before Atticus shot the rabid dog, Jem and Scout, as well as the reader had a difficult time understanding Atticus and his personal values. After the dog is shot, Jem and Scout realize that Atticus hides some of his talents for personal reasons. His background sheds light on the overall development of his character as well as goes hand in hand with the development of Maycomb itself.The town of Maycomb can get trapped in a recurring cycle of habits and ignorance that are usually either carried out by the people, or by individuals that demonstrate habitual behavior. For example, while talking to Jem, Atticus exclaims, “I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep” (Lee 213). In the above example, Atticus is referring to how the jury convicted Tom Robinson despite clear evidence suggesting inevitably otherwise. The fact that the people on the jury convicted Tom, merely because of his race, shows that they are demonstrating negative habitual behavior as well as ignorance. The people’s instinctive racial discrimination parallels the way in which, despite there being movements against it, Maycomb is still segregated into multiple parts. In fact, the town's area for African Americans is entirely separate from the city itself. The way in which the

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird tells of a town in Alabama, called Maycomb. In this deeply-rooted racist town, there is a trial against an African American man, accused of raping a white woman. One man, however, Atticus Finch, has the opportunity to help the the man on trial. Although he knows he will lose the trial, he takes the case anyway. Atticus is respected in Maycomb, and known for his wisdom and experience. He is a good-hearted, egalitarian man who is always there and willing to provide guidance to his children and to the town of Maycomb, with his years of practice and experience.

This shows a very strong example of how Harper Lee uses moral courage. “You know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.” “Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it” (218). This quote supports my claim of Atticus having the moral courage because Atticus knows no one in Maycomb county likes the fact that he is defending an African American man to the best of his ability to save Tom Robinson’s life. Also another example is when Atticus talked to Scout and Jem about why he took on the case and didn’t back down. “Every lawyer gets one case in a lifetime that affects him personally, this one's mine I guess” (101). This quote is similar to my claim and shows how Harper Lee demonstrated courage in his characters because Atticus knew that this case would affect him personally because this was his first time defending an African American man. Atticus knew he would lose respect from the Maycomb community and there would be problems before and after the case was finished but he continued to defend Tom. Another example of how characterization was used by the use of mood is when Atticus killed the mad dog. “I haven’t shot a gun in 30 years-” (99). “ Besides that, he wore glasses. He was nearly blind in his left eye” (99). These quotes show courageous because Atticus wasn’t the only one that seen the mad dog. The sheriff of Maycomb, Calpurnia, Jem, Scout and others were at the scene too. Although sheriff Heck Tate was there, he wasn’t the one that killed the dog. Even though he was nervous because he hasn’t shot a gun in thirty years, Atticus shot him. Additionally he could barely see out of his left eye, the only eye he could really see out of was his right. He took this shot not knowing if he would hit him or miss, endangering himself and others. However, he was a hero that day and saved their

A significant representation of courage is seen within Atticus.  Within To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus speaks of the Tom Robinson trial as a trial all lawyers fear.  He must face a court case that will have a profound personal effect upon himself and his family.  Atticus summons the courage to recognize that there is a need for justice and that it is his duty to achieve this.  Maycomb is a town tainted with stereotypes and racism.  Atticus has the courage to overcome the fear of other peoples' dislike.  He must face the fear of straining the lives of his two young children and family name.  The courage Atticus embodies stems from his "satisfactory" character.  Atticus is righteous and unable to turn his back on those who truly rely upon his ability to show empathy.  He overcomes the heartless comments of those around them, to see the necessity of his involvement.

He knows that even if the whole town is against him, he needs to be different, and stand up for what he knows is right. In this situation Atticus was being a nonconformist, and trying to do what was right. I think that most people, today, know that black people used to be treated very poorly, and someone in the ousts sticking up for them was hard to come by. If no one ever made the choice like Atticus, then our world would never change. It is like if everyone only liked pizza, and did not want to change their opinion about it, they would never eat anything else. At some point someone has to take actions and try to eat more foods, it would make everything so much better. This relates back to Atticus and Maycomb because if he had nev decided to take the case, and try, Maycomb would never even start to change and except black people like Tom. Would you want a world with no change? I don't think so. It is important to have a world with change, and this all starts with one voice, the voice of a non-conformist, an upstander. The importance doing this is huge in the book. When Atticus decided to defend Tom, it created a spark of change. He changed the minds of some people, including his kids, Jem and Scout. In the end it is easy to see that the “ways of Maycomb” are slowly starting to change, just little by little. The only way this could have started is by one person standing out, and that was Atticus.

Atticus aims to strike this change into the hearts of others when he is appointed to defend Tom Robinson; however, courthouse critics have said “Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what [they] don’t like about it” (137). This shows that Atticus is willing to give his all to show people Tom Robinson is an innocent man and convicting him just because he is black would be wrong, so it needs to change. Atticus has been leading the charge for change mostly in the beginning chapters of this book, but during the trial is when Atticus can truly influence people to write their wrongs and free an innocent man despite his skin color. Although some people don’t like what he’s doing, eventually they begin to realize that what Atticus is doing is the right thing. After finding out about the news of Tom’s death, Aunt Alexandra proceeds to complain about how all the strain of changing things gets to him. To ease Alexandra’s worries, Miss Maudie says Maycomb “[trusts] him to do right” (201), showing that Atticus has a crucial role in leading the change, and people flock to him when they want change to occur as Judge Taylor did when he didn’t want the jury to convict Tom Robinson, so he appointed Atticus as his lawyer in hopes that he would win the

“Maycomb was interested by the news of Tom’s death for perhaps two days; Two days was enough for the information to spread through the county” (322). A gun represents false strength. According to Atticus, guns do not prove manhood or bravery. Tom Robinson

Atticus displays acts of personal courage in his willingness to keep others safe and his response to racism based threats. Many of the citizens of Maycomb County and its surrounding area were upset about Atticus, a lawyer, taking the defense case of Tom Robinson, a black man who was accused of raping a white woman. Mr. Link Deas and Mr. Heck Tate, along with some other men in Maycomb, come to tell Atticus about the Old Sarum lynch mob coming to kill Tom. The next night, Atticus goes down to the county jail and tells the mob to go home and leave Tom alone (Lee 194 and 202). The lynch mob comes to kill Tom, so they could potentially hurt Atticus, too. The amount of courage Atticus has to display to defend Tom outside of the courthouse and stand up to a dangerous mob of men is extremely high, considering the risks he takes. Atticus comes home from work one day, after the trial is over, and is approached by Mr. Bob Ewell, the victim's father: "According to Miss Stephanie Crawford, however, Atticus was leaving the post office when Mr. Ewell approached him, cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him... Atticus's peaceful reaction probably prompted him to inquire,'Too proud to fight, you [Negro-lover]?' Miss Stephanie said Atticus said, 'No, too old', put his hands in his pockets, and strolled on"(291). Mr. Ewell is upset that Atticus had tried to prove that Tom was innocent and that Mr. Ewell had hurt his own daughter. He also believes that