The Character Of Atticus Finch

The character of Atticus Finch

Aly Lalji

The state of Alabama in the 1930's was a place filled with racial discrimination and poverty. Atticus Finch was a lawyer of that time. He has two children and a hired house worker. Atticus believes that racial discrimination is wrong and tries to treat every individual equally in reference to his parenting skills. He also tries to alter the distorted perception of the community. Although he is a positive role model for his children, ho too has his strengths and weaknesses.

In Maycomb, Atticus Finch is a strong figure who firmly believes in equal rights for all men and women. After the death of his wife, Atticus hired Calpurnia, a black woman, because he needed help with the household affairs. Her duties not only entailed cooking and cleaning, but also taking care of Jem and Scout, Atticus' children. Every now and then, scout and Calpurnia would get into an argument and Atticus would side with Calpurnia. Instead of siding with his child, he would demand that Scout do as Calpurnia said. For example, when Scout would start a fight and then argue, Calpurnia would tell her to act like a girl. Atticus would agree with Calpurnia and tell Scout to do whatever Calpurnia gave as a punishment. As for his professional career as a lawyer, Atticus Finch was working on a very particular case. It involves a black man named Tom Robinson, who was accused of rape. Even though the odds of him winning the case are very slim, he chooses to defend Tom anyways. He states that one of many reasons for him doing so is that "if I didn't I couldn't hold my head up in town, I couldn't represent this county in legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to so something again."(P.75). By this he meant to say that it is his duty to protect Tom Robinson the same way it is his duty to protect his children. If he failed to do so, he could not expect his children to obey to his requests.

Atticus tries to educate his kids to respect all individuals despite the fact that people are not always friendly. He does so with Mrs. Dubose. Even though she accuses him of being a nigger-lover and also criticizes his children, he still he still talks to her in a calm respectful manner. He does so in a way to set an example for his children. For instance, one day as they walked by Mrs. Dubose's house he said "Good evening, Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening."(P.100). He purposely does this in front of his children in order for them to learn that even though people may be rude, they must not answer back at them. He tries to teach Jem and Scout not to judge individuals, but rather look at them with their qualities and faults. Therefore, Atticus was setting an example for his kids. Since he wants them to learn how to respect all people the way they are. Later on in the story, when Mrs. Dubose passed away, Atticus told them that the reason behind Jem reading to her every evening was so that she could lay off the morphine and eventually overcome her addiction. If Jem had not destroyed Mrs. Dubose's yard, Atticus would have sent him to read teach his children to be better citizens by helping and respecting the elderly and the ill. By nature, Atticus does not use brute force or any aggressive