Atticus Finch Courageous Essay

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.

Atticus Finch revealed his definition of heroism as “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”

Whether in the form of a living person or a fictional character from a book or movie, heroes are prevalent in everyone's life. The typical view of a hero is someone who fights crime or saves people from mortal peril, but the true definition of a hero is a person of distinguished courage admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch is the true definition of hero. Although he wasn't seen as a hero during the time the book took place, Atticus Finch is considered to be one of the most heroic figures in American Literature because of his courage, intelligence, and sense of what is right and what is wrong.

Courage can be shown in many different ways. Some people have a hard time of showing it while others do not. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird courage is shown through the characters of Jem and Atticus. These two characters show their courage in many different ways.

"Courage isn't an absence of fear. It's doing what you are afraid to do. It's having the power to let go of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory." ~John Maxwell. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout (Jean Louise Finch), Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch), and Atticus Finch display acts of valor that contribute, and in some cases encourage their rectitude. Harper Lee demonstrates that acting courageously can lead to an improved, sustained, or newly developed personal integrity.

Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in the year of 1960, and is one of the few American classic novels awarded the Pulitzer Prize. The racism that is prevalent in many southern American towns in the 1930s is brought to life with profound imagery in To Kill a Mockingbird. There are several characters in the book, yet the true main character is the narrator's father, Atticus Finch. He is a man of great integrity and intelligence. A very heroic figure in more ways than one, Atticus possesses traits like being principled, determined, and, more importantly, he teaches others. When looking at To Kill a Mockingbird, one can see that Lee uses lots of description, dialogue, and actions to portray Atticus as a heroic individual.

People should not be judged based on their ethnicity, appearance or statistics, though some are. In the classic novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Lee indirectly describe Atticus Finch as courageous and brave, bold and wise. Lee describes Atticus Finch as courageous and brave through his actions in the courtroom. It is said indirectly by Lee that he has real courage.

Courage is something that all people have inside, they just need to use it. When someone is courageous, they are forced to show that they are strong and can do things that others do not want to do. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the father of the two main characters is Atticus Finch. He is asked to be the lawyer for a black man, Tom Robinson, who was accused of raping a white woman. He has to go to court tell the truth despite all of the racism in Maycomb while continuing to raise his children.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Atticus Finch, a character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, must keep this quote in his mind day by day. Atticus is a lawyer who was born and raised in Maycomb County. He still lives there with his children, Jeremy (also known as Jem) and Jean Louise (also known as Scout). His sister Alexandra lives with him, and a Negro cook named Calpurnia comes to his house everyday. Atticus is a very wise, courageous, and helpful person; he shows these traits not just in special cases, but in his everyday life.

Atticus Finch is a character from chapters 1-7 that demonstrates moral courage. Atticus shows moral courage. Atticus shows moral courage because he is an honest man. He often says to his kids to think of something from the others point of view, before someone judges them. “As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jems skin and walk around in it.” (Page 64 paragraph 1) He always looked for and opportunity to make his children better people. Atticus told Scout to think about what Jem did and imagine herself in that situation. This shows that

What would kids do if they had no role models to look up to and to teach them important life lessons? Atticus is an ideal father because he displays a balance of comfort and support as well as discipline. He maintains a strong bond with both Jem and Scout since he always finds time for them even though he is always very busy with work. Atticus, being an open-minded and honest man, is able to teach his children many important life lessons. He teaches his children to tolerate others, to act courageously, and to judge people on what’s beyond the exterior.

Everyone believes they need to stay away from Boo Radley because of the stories that have been told about his father and at the end of the book Scout and Jem are walking home from a play and Jem is hearing footsteps behind him, then they had got attacked by Bob Ewell and knocked Jem unconscious, then Boo had picked up Jem and carried him home and Scout was trying to figure out who was carrying Jem back home, she looked behind the door and she said “Hi Boo”. Boo had helped Atticus by taking good care of his children and that is when Scout got to meet Boo.

The community has ostracized Boo Radley from the community even though most people don’t know him. “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.” (Lee 5). This is how the community saw Boo Radley in the beginning of the book (Lee). This outlook of Boo has made everyone scared to even walk past his family’s house (Lee). At the end of the book Boo helps Scout and Jem out from an attack from Bob Ewell when they were on their way back home (Lee). After that event they look at Boo differently till the end of the story. This type of discrimination happens in today’s society still and in movies everyone has seen such as the “Sandlot”.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents Atticus Finch as a principled lawyer, committed but single father to Scout and Jem, and a law-abiding citizen. Atticus is a respectable gentleman in society and a role model for his children. Throughout the book we see evidence of his honorable intentions, though he doesn’t seem to reap the rewards. He is morally upstanding, even-keeled, and daring. Because of these things, Atticus is a man who deserves great respect and admiration.

I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time... it’s because he wants to stay inside.'' This is the first step Jem and Scout take to understand Boo, as Jem realizes that, with all the hate going around in Maycomb, maybe Boo just wants to stay inside, away from society. From now on, the kids become less preoccupied with Boo as their, and the reader’s, perception of him changes. While Boo is still an other, he is no longer a monster and is now more of a mockingbird, an innocent neighbor trying to stay inside, away from the hate Jem and Scout are currently experiencing in