Who Is A Finch In To Kill A Mockingbird

Maycomb… a small town, but with a huge amount of different perspectives. Depending on their perspective, their view on the world around them can either be favourable or atrocious. Harper Lee shows perspective through the characters in her novel: To Kill A Mockingbird, she shows different perspectives through the lives of the citizens of Maycomb County, one of whom being Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch is the down-to-earth, well-mannered father of Jeremy ”Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. He shows us a level-headed perspective on his surroundings, therefore making him the symbol for morality and reason in this story.

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.

By treating her family lineage as unimportant, Scout was thought of by many as bringing shame to the Finch name, thus creating chaos within Maycomb. At the time of their Aunt Alexandra’s visit, Atticus said, “She wants to talk to you about the family and what it’s meant to Maycomb County through the years, so you’ll have some idea of who you are, so you might be moved to behave accordingly” (Lee 178). After Atticus finished this dialogue, Scout began to cry due to the opposition toward Aunt Alexandra’s ideals about lineage being important in one’s everyday life. The reason for her emotional response was that Aunt Alexandra had turned to heredity to explain behavior and justify actions since her arrival. However, Scout had never been exposed to an environment where her history could be so valued. Aunt Alexandra’s order was disrupted with chaos when she saw how little Scout cared about lineage and believed that Scout’s unruly behavior was a result of her neglect to bring respect to the Finch name. When

Jean Louise Finch responds to her own acts of courage by finding her righteous moral ground. The young Finch girl stepped between a potentially violent conflict, between Atticus and a group of male residents of Maycomb. Scout approached the conflict frightened, and

Spoiled Aunt Alexandra also believes that the Finch family is the superior family mainly because of their wealth, along with other factors such as their bloodlines accomplishments, and their “streak”. These childish views of what's wrong and what’s right that were set by mindless adults further deepens the opened wound that is hatred. Another example of bigotry among the small southern community is racism, which is a key factor in this novel. Race relations skyrocketed as the book continued, started from slurs, into wrongfully accusing and executing a black male. One peculiar white citizen named Mr. Dolphus Raymond was an odd one according to the public eye. The odd thing about him? He had children with a black woman, which is similar to beheading another being in Maycomb. Due to the many scandals about Dolphus, he reminds “intoxicated” for the rest of his days, or pretends to be nonetheless. Families in Maycomb are so frightened by equity that they have forced

A character trait is the aspect of a person's behavior and attitudes that make up their personality. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is known to have strong characterization. One of the most important characters is Atticus Finch, a highly respected lawyer in Macomb County and a father to Jem and Scout Finch. Two major character traits Atticus truly represents is compassion and understanding.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is represented as the stereotypical, all well-knowing fatherly figure to Jem and Scout, and more than oftenly teaches them moral lessons and how to behave as they are transitioning into young adulthood.  Three values that Atticus Finch heavily instills within his children is to live humbly, swear by equality, and have respect for everyone no matter what color your skin is or what you believe in.  These values shape and mold each Jem and Scout into independently minded children who learn wrong from right as the book’s plotline continues.

The Maycomb ladies provide an excellent example of racial prejudice, and a failure to see what it is like in someone else’s skin. They believe they are doing well by making money for missions, failing to see the hardship on their own doorsteps. Aunt Alexandra is very important to the novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ as she is a representative of these viewpoints, disapproving of Calpurnia and disassociating herself from the black community entirely. Miss Maudie however is the counterpoint to Aunt Alexandra. Maudie offers Scout a female role model, whereas Aunt Alexandra tries to make Scout more ladylike, to fit in with her position in life. Aunt Alexandra plays the greatest role in reinforcing class distinctions

In the classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the novel depicts a Southern town with a crisis of conscience and race. The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the early 1930s, while poverty and unemployment were at their peak due to the Great Depression. Maycomb like any other town has its agriculture, buildings, and people. With people come injustices, judgmental views, consciences, crimes, etc. Due to this there are law enforcers, courts, lawyers, judges and those accusing or being accused. One of the town lawyers is Atticus Finch. Atticus is a level-headed man who has faced many dilemmas with his profession as a lawyer, family and town. Atticus has a daughter, Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch, and

We see this in the separation of the classes, the expectations of the lower classes and the expectations of the higher classes. Firstly, Scout is not allowed to play with Walter after the trial because aunt Alexandra believes he is below the finch family standing. When Scout asks to play with him she said “I’ll tell you why she said. Because-he-is-trash, that’s why you can’t play with him. I’ll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what”(Lee,301). Who is family is and where they stand on the social chain causes Alexandra doesn’t see the as equals. They are viewed as a step below the townspeople. They are thought to be dirty and uncivilized. The prejudice tied to wealth has always been a large issue in society and even today will sometimes put barriers between two people. We seem to associate wealth with power and this creates negative prejudice to those who don’t have a lot. The lower class citizens of Maycomb such as the Ewells and Cunninghams don’t have the same expectations as the rest of the town's residents. For example the Ewells never showing up after the first day of school. Scout explains this to Miss Caroline when she

In the undisputed classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee elucidates the racial injustice and social inequality in the sleepy town of Maycomb, Alabama. The Ewells are premeditated to be the despicable family, “white trash,” divided by living “behind the dump” not suitable to be a member of the white or the black community. Mayella Ewell breaches a “rigid and time-honored code” of society, by kissing a black male to fulfill her need of feeling cherished. To avoid greater disgrace in society, the Ewells plea Tom Robinson to be a rapist, and he is later convicted and sent to life in prison. Red geraniums growing on the sidelines of the filthy yard reveal Mayella’s desire for beauty. Mayella contends to class hierarchies and gender roles being an Ewell. Lee portrays Mayella struggling to meet the guidelines of

While lecturing Scout, Aunt Alexandra portrays, “‘The thing is, you can scrub Walter Cunningham till he shines, you can put him in shoes and a new suit, but he’ll never be like Jem. Besides, there’s a drinking streak in that family a mile wide. Finch women aren’t interested in that sort of people’” (Lee 300). Aunt Alexandra has the temerity to discriminate against the lower classes of Maycomb by telling Scout that she isn’t allowed to play with Walter Cunningham, a poor farmer boy. Scout enjoys Walter’s company and wants to be nice to him because of all of the things his family has done for the Finch’s, but the boy isn’t as well mannered, smart, or as associated as Scout. Aunt Alexandra doesn’t allow Scout to tarnish the Finch namesake or her position within the society. Family name, authority, and respect within the community are all important aspects in Alexandra’s daily life. She realizes that by fraternizing with someone of lower status in the community, their family may be thought less of. Without even realizing that her commentary is hurtful, Alexandra disgraces the Cunninghams and discriminates against the farmers and poorer folk of Maycomb by not allowing Scout to be friends with

Jean Louise Finch continually asks questions and makes conclusions that shape her view on the world. Her curiosity drives her to constantly ponder on Atticus and his decisions, the people of Maycomb and what makes them each different from the other, and her mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. She enjoys it when Atticus explains things to her and often takes an interest in his court cases. For example, “Do all lawyers defend n-Negros, Atticus? … If you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it? ... Atticus, are we going to win?” (100-101), she interrogates. Jean receives many opinions on the talk of the town from

In the midst of the Great Depression in Southern Alabama lay the dusty, sleepy town of Maycomb. The iconic, fictional setting of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, embodies a typical deep south city in the 1930s with a rigid social system, fueled by a deep-running fault of bubbling racism and discrimination. Aside from the disturbing relativeness of prejudice, the town is considered home sweet home for many of its typical families, like the Ewells, Cunninghams, and even Finches, who are quite notorious for their not-so-typical lifestyle in Maycomb's homogeneous melting pot. Harper Lee's Atticus Finch, widowed father of the Finish household, in To Kill a Mockingbird, often over excels at being an effective parent since he's a

One particular warm summer day, just a few hours after noon in the “tired old town” of Maycomb, the Finch household was unusually quiet(6. Lee). So quiet you can hear a pin drop1. Atticus had gone out, the children were nowhere to be seen, and even Calpurnia was away visiting family claiming they could live a day without her. That left ”Aunt” Alexandra Hancock in the house all alone.