Atticus Thoughts On Mockingbirds

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.

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus is the “mockingbird” of the story in that he is “killed” when other people are against his harmless “singing”. This is so because he innocently read with Scout at night against Miss Caroline’s will, he clearly had the upper side of evidence in the Tom Robinson trial yet still lost, and he persisted Aunt Alexandra’s blatant request of firing Calpurnia in order for her to be the housekeeper. All three of these reasons help to prove that he indeed took on such a role in the plot.

Undoubtedly, one of the most controversial subjects in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, would be whether or not Atticus Finch should have defended Tom Robinson. However, in order to understand this controversy, a person must first be able to understand Atticus Finch himself. Atticus as a character is a very intellectual person who possesses the fortitude to stand up for whatever he believes is right and will not let other people’s choices affect his own. Furthermore, it is also important to understand that Atticus is not a racist, nor does he approve of the idea that one group of people are better than another based on their appearances in general, and because of this, a person can generalize that Atticus’s characteristic traits are why he did not complain when given the task of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, who had been wrongfully accused of raping a white woman. A man that he, as well as a small group of other people from town, viewed as the picture of innocence. In their eyes, Tom was no more than a mockingbird, “[and mockingbirds] don’t do one thing but make music for [people] to enjoy” (Lee 119). Knowing this, anyone with a reasonably strong sense of what is right and what is wrong can conclude that it does make sense for Atticus Finch to have taken the case due to his belief that it is a sin to kill the innocent as well as his courage that allows him to stay true to his ideas, even though when taking the case, he was inevitably going to be putting his

To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on “Maycomb’s usual disease,” as a pivotal part of the book, but also shows that compassion and wisdom can exist in these most bleak areas. The prejudice and bigotry comes from the lack of knowledge of Maycomb, and their fear to change what they have grown up with. Pre-conceived ideas are the main reason that Maycomb is ignorant of black people as they are afraid what a change of those pre-conceived ideas will bring. Even so, compassion still exists, as Atticus is able to save Scout and Jem from the influence of ‘Maycomb’s usual disease.’ Wisdom is also embodied by Atticus, where his wisdom, which is not necessarily knowledge but life experience, is able to force him to do things which are right, shown in his

The title of the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee holds a great deal of symbolism with several of the characters in the story acting as mockingbirds, characters who don’t do anything to bother the people around them. Harper Lee explains to the reader what a mockingbird is by making Atticus, and then Mrs. Maudie explains it to Scout. “Atticus said to Jem one day, ‘I’d rather you shoot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’ That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. ‘Your fathers right,’ she said. ‘Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music

In novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”, many white people go against Atticus because they don’t like Atticus tries so hard to defend for Tom Robinson. Atticus’s family also gets hurt and Atticus even risks himself in danger. However, Atticus persists to defend for Tom Robinson because he thinks Tom Robinson is innocent. Some people think it doesn’t make sense for Atticus to take a stand to defend Tom Robinson. Oppositely, Atticus should take a stand to defend Tom Robinson for reasons.

In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch shows he is a true moral man by always setting the right example by doing what is right, not what everyone else is doing.When Jem and Scout got air rifles for Christmas, Atticus told them he would like the kids to shoot cans, but he knows they will go after birds, so he reminds them,” ‘Shoot all the bluejays you want if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’”(90) Atticus tells his children to not kill or harm something that doesn’t do anything wrong, which is a reference to racism and how black people do not do anything wrong, so they should not be the victims of hate. Atticus shows how he wants his children to not become advocates of racism,

“Killing a mockingbird is a sin” (119). This basically means that harming something or someone that doesn’t do anything wrong, is a sin. In the book, cruelty and vehement behavior were more visible when someone not deserving of being attacked, is attacked. The mockingbird had its own beauty that shouldn’t be messed with. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy” (119). The aggression

This illustrates how Atticus is a moral character because he tries to teach his kids what is wrong, along with what is right. He says that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because they do no harm. They are innocent animals, while blue jays are a pest. One should not hurt something that does not hurt

“I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want if you can hit em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(Pg When Atticus says this, he means that it is a sin to kill something so innocent that doesn’t do anything bad to us. Atticus gives the example of a mockingbird because all they do for us is sing, and thats it. That’s why Atticus doesn’t want his kids using a gun. But we can take this quote even deeper. When Atticus says “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”, he is also referring to the case of Tom Robinson. In Maycomb no one accept Atticus likes african-american people. So when they heard Mayella was raped and beat up, and the town found out Tom Robinson was supposedly there at the crime scene, the entire town automatically accuses of Tom Robinson raping Mayella, just because he is black and different from other people. Atticus defenders Tom because just like a mockingbird, Atticus knows Tom Robinson didn’t do anything wrong to Mayella because he is a good man. By this, Atticus is teaching his kids that everyone deserves

“...every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine...Try fighting with your head for a change.”(76, Harper lee)

When Atticus reluctantly gave the children air-rifles, he told them, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (93). It is a sin to kill a mockingbird because no one should hurt anything so virtuous. Miss Maudie agreed with Atticus’s warning and added, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us” (93).

He was going to defend Tom and knew he was innocent but he couldn’t win over racism. Eventhough the Ewell family was not liked and were considered trash he was treated unfairly and received so much hate for working for Tom as his Lawyer. Everyone tells him and his children he is a Niger lover. Atticus said that “nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything-like snot-nose. It’s hard to explain-ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It’s slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody.” (Chapter 11) after the case he is given even more crap about defending Tom. Eventually near the end of the story the children are almost killed by Bob because Atticus defended Tom Robinson. Atticus stood up for what he believed in and that made him a good person who did the right thing. Atticus even said to his children that “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(ch10) Miss Maddie agreed by saying “Your father’s right, Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(ch10) He wants his children to know that mockingbirds should be protected just like the people who are good should be

He scolds them for things such as not using the word “Nigger” or the game they play reenacting Boo’s life. These are things that most parents in Maycomb wouldn’t scold their children for because during this time there wasn’t a problem with it. Atticus when giving Scout and Jem bb-guns tells them "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (90) Here Atticus is using the example of birds for his kids to put it into real life. He wants to remind them that mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for people to enjoy. This is where as a reader you take that in and start to develop empathy of your

I liked Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird because he is teaching Jem and Scout to be nice to others and to be polite even when someone is not polite back. Ms.Dubose is a good example for Atticus teaching Scout and Jem to polite. Atticus would make sure that Scout and Jem were kind to Ms.Dubose even though she was rude to them. I was surprised that Tom Robinson tried to escape, got shot and died. I was surprised because the police when chasing him couldn’t have shot him once in the leg or arm.