To Kill a Mockingbird essay

           "...In this country our courts are the great levelers, and in this country all men are created equal." To Kill a Mockingbird is based in a town known in the book as Maycomb. To Kill a Mockingbird is about the faults of our communities and how we balance them out. In the town lives a lawyer known as Atticus Finch, father of the main characters, who has to face a challenging opponent known as racism in court. Protecting a black man accused of a crime he didn't commit in the 1930s. This journey that Atticus undertakes in To Kill a Mockingbird makes him a hero because he had the guts to defend a black man in a time where most lawyers wouldn't really try to defend a black person and endures the feeling of almost loosing the people he loves.

           Maycomb is a old town in southern Alabama. Here Atticus has to be a lawyer and a father of two children. "If you concede the necessity of going to school, we'll go on reading every night just as we always have. Is it a bargain"(pg. 31). Then Atticus is called upon to defend a black man known as Tom Robinson in the book. In a town where racism is strong. “I’m simply defending a Negro...".(pg. 77) However Atticus knows without a doubt that he has as good of a chance of winning the trail as President Hoover does of winning an election against Mr. Roosevelt.“Atticus, are we going to win it?" "No, honey".(pg. 78)

           Atticus has a few mentors a long the way. Those mentors would be his children. His kids are one of the main reasons he took up the trial in the first place."... I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” His mentors would help him at times when he was taking on something he couldn't handle. One example would be the lynch mob that came for Tom. At which they met Atticus guarding Tom but in the end had to be helped with by his daughter, Scout.“Well, Atticus, I was just sayin‘ to Mr. Cunningham that entailments are bad an’ all..."(pg. 156) In her doing so the Cunninghams back off and Atticus gets a large amount of respect from them and later help him in the trial. But Atticus doesn't only make allies, in fact he gets a rather racist and drunken slob known in the book as Bob Ewell. “Too proud to fight, you nigger-lovin‘ bastard?”(pg. 221)

           Going back to the lynch mob, the lynch mob is also one of the trials Atticus has to go through to make sure everything goes as planned. “Nobody around here’s up to anything, it’s that Old Sarum bunch I’m worried about…"(pg. 147) After this action, the trial follows soon after the next day. Here Atticus is having to come up and face racism in the court. Here Atticus pulls out every trick in the book and even goes to great lengths so that the jury might consider Tom not guilty. He even gives a description of how the Ewells live and their ways. "“Yes, don’t you know anyone near your age, or older, or younger? Boys and girls? Just ordinary friends?” Mayella’s hostility, which had subsided to grudging neutrality, flared again. “You makin‘ fun o’me agin, Mr. Finch?”" (pg. 186) But at the end of it all Tom is found guilty. Even after all the effort Atticus put into the trial.Although he lost the battle, he did not loose the war. He planned to ask for a appeal, he thought Tom would have a better chance at a appeal than he would in the Maycomb courthouse. However the appeal never happened simple because Tom tried to escape prison forcing the guards to shoot him multiple times. "..He wasn’t Tom to them, he was an escaping prisoner.”(pg. 239)

            Although the trial is over, there is still an enemy who is willing to go farther than Atticus had thought. In his error of not realizing that the threat that this enemy made, Bob Ewell, was legit and he was going to carry out his plans. " ...Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life"(pg. 221) He does get Atticus but in a cowardly way. Bob Ewell attacks Atticus' kids."“Bob Ewell’s lyin‘ on the ground under that tree down yonder with a kitchen knife stuck up under his ribs. He’s dead, Mr. Finch.”"(pg. 270) In this happening, he realizes that everything isn't peachy and that he could of lost his kids that night if it wasn't for Boo Radley who is rather mysterious character that has been watching Atticus' kids for a long time. After the attack, scout tries to assure Atticus and Atticus thanks Boo for saving his kids.

            Atticus Finch is the real hero in To Kill a Mockingbird becuase he has the guts to endure and take on what others do not even want a part of. He defends a black man with all of his ability in a time when most lawyers wouldn't even try. He is also faced with certain pains that no man should have to go through and wills through it like a warrior. His actions in Maycomb had forced the problems that racism brings on and why it's wrong to show up in the middle of the town so everyone in Maycomb would be able to see it in a "little" building known as a courthouse.

Works Cited

            Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Warner Books: New York, 1960