Atticus Flashcards
“I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody… I’m hard put, sometimes—baby, it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you.”
Shows how Atticus represents morality and reason in To Kill a Mockingbird.
He tries to apply his principals of tolerance to everyone
“You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.”
In the courtroom, Atticus demonstrates how he believes in equality and acceptance for all, no matter what the colour of their skin is.
Themes of morality and prejudice
“The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.”
Atticus shows how even in the courts racism prevails. The racist society is everywhere and is a learned belief- no where is free of prejudice.
Themes of justice and prejudice.
“Don’t fool yourselves—it’s all adding up and one of these days we’re going to pay the bill for it. I hope it’s not in you children’s time.”
This is a clever way for Lee to comment on the issues of the time the novel was written- the 1960s. Despite the fact that the book is set in the 30s, Atticus says that ‘one of these days we’re going to have to pay the bill for it.’ Which, is what’s happening in the civil rights movement.
Themes of prejudice.
‘She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: she is white. She knew full well the enormity of her offense.’
Atticus, here is being somewhat hypocritical- he says to ‘walk around in someone’s skin’ and yet does not realise that Mayella has no choice in what she is doing. She cannot go against her father and condemn him because he is abusing her and therefore she will do this in order not to make him angry and not to make their fairly look even worse then it is already perceived.
Themes of prejudice and social injustice.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Atticus is again preaching the idea of tolerance and acceptance through empathy. You have to understand something from someone else’s point of view in order to fully know why they are doing it, in order to understand them and their reasoning behind their actions.
Theme of tolerance
“When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness’ sake. But don’t make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, and evasion simply muddles ‘em.”
Atticus treats his children with respect and maturity, answering any question they have honestly. Ironically, it is the child rearing department in which he is most insecure, although there is not really any need for this.
Theme of child and parent relationships.
“I do. I guess it’s to protect our frail ladies from sordid cases like Tom’s. Besides,” Atticus grinned, “I doubt if we’d ever get a complete case tried—the ladies’d be interrupting to ask questions.”
Again, Atticus goes against his own messages of tolerance and equality by saying something sexist.
Do the reader see Atticus as perfect because he is that way, or because, since Scout is the narrator, we see his character through rose-tinted glasses? Hypocritical.
“Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I’ve tried to live so I can look squarely back at him… if I connived at something like this, frankly I couldn’t meet his eye, and the day I can’t do that I’ll know I’ve lost him.”
At first, this can be seen to be treating Jem equally, and displaying Atticus’ strong sense of moral justice. However, if we then look at how he deals with Boo, when he knows that he’s committed the crime, he does not react nearly as strongly.
Is this truly advocating equality and justice if Boo Radley is allowed to walk free without trial?
Does the fact that he’s the mockingbird mean that a completely different set of rules applies to him than the rest of society. After all, ‘you can shoot all the blue-jays you want….’
‘Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the streets’
His attitude is the same everywhere, whether he is at home or in the courtroom and this again shows how there is nothing ‘untoward’ about Atticus.
Tolerance and acceptance.
‘Atticus said the Ewells had been the disgrace of Maycomb for three generations. None of them had done an honest days work in his recollection.’
Again, this shows how he’s not a perfect character and at times is a hypocrite. Despite the fact the teaches his children acceptance and tolerance, he dose not seem to take into account the Ewells social situation or have any desire to help them. As well as this, he’s quick to label the whole family as trash, even the young children and then he wonders why they have no respect for him or Maycomb. (self help mentality)
Theme of Social Injustice
