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Relationship Between Tom Robinson And Atticus

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Ana Huajardo-Sartorius The Essay of Atticus and Tom Robinson In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in a town called Maycomb, live two completely different people, totally unaware of each other, until they aren’t. Atticus Finch is a lawyer with two kids, Scout and Jem Finch. The Finches are the family that originally founded Maycomb, so Atticus is very well known. Tom Robinson is a African-American man who gets accused of raping Bob Ewell’s daughter, Mayella Ewell. Atticus is Tom’s Robinson’s lawyer for the case, sparking lots of controversy between the two races, African Americans and Whites. It’s hard for Atticus to accept the case because Tom Robinson is an African-American man, so if Atticus were to accept the case, …show more content…

In Chapter 18, Mayella Ewell accuses Atticus of mocking her when he was just trying to be polite. Judge Taylor responds by saying, “‘That’s just Mr. Finch’s way,’ he told Mayella: ‘We’ve done business in this court for years and years and Mr. Finch is always courteous to everybody. He’s not trying to mock you, he’s trying to be polite.’” (243) This shows that Atticus is polite and nice to everyone he meets, including Mayella who lies, even in court. People often mistake his politeness for mocking, like Mayella did since not a lot of people are polite to Ewell’s. In Chapter 1, Atticus defends two criminals, urging them to plead guilty so they could lead an easier life. It says, “Atticus had urged them to accept the state’s generosity in allowing them to plead Guilty to second-degree murder and escape with their lives, but they were Haverfords, in Maycomb County a name synonymous with jackass.” (5) This shows that Atticus looks out for people, even people who are wanted criminals and uneducated. Atticus tries to give them the opportunity for a better life than the one they were raised up believing. Atticus was trying to make the Haverfords lives better because he felt that no one, even criminals deserve that kind of pain. In Chapter 5, Atticus catches Dill, Scout, and Jem sending a letter to Boo Radley, urging him to come out. It says, “Atticus took it and tried to read it. ‘Why do you want Mr. Radley to come out?’ Dill said, ‘We thought he might enjoy us…’ and dried up when Atticus looked at him. ‘Son,’ he said to Jem, ‘I’m going to tell you something and tell you one time: stop tormenting that man. That goes for the other two of you.’”(65) This shows that Atticus understands things from the victim’s perspective, instead of things from his own perspective. He

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