...Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. She was the fourth child of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. During high school, Lee developed an interest in English Literature. She graduated in 1944 and studied at the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery for a year, then transferred to the University of Alabama and studied law. Later she went on exchange to Oxford University in England. Returning back to continue her law studies, she dropped out after the first semester. In 1949, Lee arrived in New York City. She worked as an airline ticket officer but later received financial aid from Michael Martin Brown and his wife in order to quit her job for a year and work on her writing full time. In 1957, she submitted her...
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...you knew you would not win the battle, would you still fight? In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character Atticus Finch did exactly that. It is noble and worthy for Atticus to accept the challenge of Tom's case because he is righteous, honest, and he wants to instill integrity into Jem and Scout's minds. Atticus is a righteous man. In chapter 20 of To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus said "There is not a person in this court room 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." Atticus Finch explained to the court that all men are created equal. He believed you can not judge a whole group of people, from a single persons example. Yes, there are black people who do immoral things, but so do white people. You can not say every black man is subject to being immoral, based off a few certain people. Tom is black and was...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee , is one of the many timeless classic literatures that we have come to preserve throughout the years. When considering what truly makes this story and dialogue a classic, one has to only recall the characters in which played the main roles of this narrative. Atticus Finch, one of the many characters in this story, stood throughout the entire novel with multiple divine attributes. Many times he exhibited the following aspects of a caring, wise, and protective father figure and man. An exhibition of this father’s caring characteristic was clearly manifested when Atticus’s only daughter, Scout, came home ,somewhat dismayed, yet seeking no comfort or help. However, Atticus being the caring father he was, noticed instantly that Scout had an experience that left her somewhere “in the dump”. Instead of carrying on with the many duties that he held as a...
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...What describes Atticus Finch in three words? Atticus is the father of Scout and Jem Finch. He is a white male defending a black male named Tom Robinson in 1933. He is courageous, wise, and respectful. Atticus is a very courageous man in multiple ways throughout the book. In this time era he lives in has a bunch of racism occurring. “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us to not try to win.”-Chapter 10 Atticus is defending Tom Robinson in court for Tom’s freedom. This makes Atticus very courageous because it was not normal for a white man defend a black man. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”-Chapter 3 Atticus teaches the kids to not prejudge others until they know who...
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...she created Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus always treats everyone the same no matter who they are or what they do. Atticus always has a good attitude and very rarely raises his voice or shows extremities in his emotions. Atticus also is very straightforward, honest and doesn’t beat around the bush. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows Atticus as fair, consistent, and honest to illustrate equality. Throughout the novel Atticus is portrayed as a very fair man. “I asked Atticus if Mr. Cunningham would ever pay us. ‘Not in money,’ Atticus said, ‘but before the year’s out I’ll have been paid. You watch” (Lee 23). This quote from the book shows...
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...In the 1930’s racism was in full swing. Although Civil Rights Acts had been passed to finally end salary, many people were still dealing with prejudice and prosecution. Harper Lee released her novel To Kill a Mockingbird which subtly starred Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch is a white lawyer living in the South during the 1930’s. Atticus appears in this novel as a defendant of a black man accused of the rape of a white woman. Throughout the novel his attitude is a shining light in story full of darkness, he is the one sliver of hope for Tom Robinson and ultimately the whole town. Atticus Finch was pivotal character in this novel as he was able to change the current beliefs regarding race, fought for a blind American Dream and was able to open the...
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...Atticus Finch People are ill-minded and sometimes just plain unlikable. Atticus, from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, is not one of those people. He is one of the characters who plays a huge role in the coming of age of his daughter, Scout Finch. A lot of people in Maycomb, which is the city he lives in, are very prejudice against black people. Atticus, unlike them, is very respectful, an admirable role model, and tolerant towards the opinions of others. Atticus throughout the book, shows great respect for others views. In the case of when Atticus is walking home and Miss. Dubose is on the porch. Even though she doesn't respect him, he still says "Good evening , Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening."(Lee 133). This shows even though he know she doesn't like him much for defending Tom, he still says hello like a gentlemen. Another instance is whenever his kids mess up. He always shows them great respect and instead of...
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...Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most renowned books of all time, centering around young Scout and her family (her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus,) as both Scout and her older brother mature through the events that occur in Maycomb county along the three years the novel spans. The aforementioned events include: the wrongful conviction of a black man (who Atticus defended brilliantly in court) for no other reason than the racism the Maycomb citizens harbored in their hearts, the death of this man by seventeen gunshot wounds when he attempted to escape prison, the attempted murder of Scout and Jem, the appearance of a neighborhood recluse for the first time in years, the slow death of a morphine addict who...
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...In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch displays many characteristics that impact his children and community. Of the many characteristics, his integrity, respect, and reliability are just a few of his strongest qualities. He displayed each of these daily, and his actions had a strong effect on others. He showed his integrity by defending Tom Robinson. In a southern community during the 1930s, it was unheard of for a white lawyer to defend a black man, but Atticus ignored the prejudice and did what was morally right. He did not see his actions as a big deal, for he was only doing what was right and said, “I’m simply defending a negro—his name’s Tom Robinson… if I didn't [defend him] I couldn't hold up my head in town. I couldn't represent this...
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...Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird "I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes-baby, it's never an insult to be called what someone thinks is a bad name. It shows how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you" (Lee). It is hard to get along with everybody, especially in the southern 1930's where racial tensions ran high. Atticus Finch is a fifty year old lawyer and father of two kids who was born and raised in Maycomb County, Alabama. He believes in his heart that it is his duty to love everybody no matter what. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Atticus Finch to show that even when society is pressuring otherwise, it is important to always do what feels right. Maycomb, Alabama is a small town. There was...
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...Atticus Finch is a lawyer in Maycomb County and the father of Jeremy (aka. Jem) and Jean Louise (aka Scout). Atticus grew up in Finch's landing in Mobile, Alabama, with his younger sister and brother, Alexandra and Jack. After leaving his home, to go to law school he settled in Maycomb county. He is a widower and very kind man. Atticus is one of the very few people unaffected by racism, which is one of the numerous reasons why he agreed to defend Tom Robinson. Atticus is average height, with black greying hair. He wears glasses because without them he can hardly see out of his left eye. Scout claims that Atticus is much older than the other fathers in Maycomb, and has a strong jawline. Although scout describes him in the beginning and as...
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...Even in today’s society, we see prejudice everywhere. We see it to women, poor people, and black citizens as well. Heroes even receive prejudice for do what is right, but you would not hear anyone get referred to as a mockingbird. Many people were given the symbol of a mockingbird in the past because of the prejudice they face from others. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how misunderstood people are portrayed as mockingbirds because of the help and kindness they provide to others while still receiving prejudice from the community. Atticus Finch was portrayed as a mockingbird because he didn’t show prejudice towards Tom and simply helped him out. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in Maycomb that has been asked to defend...
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...Bravery in the face of adversity, whether great or relatively small, always deserves recognition. Two people who exhibit such courage are Atticus Finch, a character from Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird , and Helmuth Hübener, a teennager who distributed insurgent pamphlets about the Nazis and Germany’s political state. In addition to their similarity regarding their brave acts, these two individuals are very similar in terms of their characters. Both Atticus and Helmuth stay true to their beliefs despite the odds and threats that they face, and both remain calm...
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...In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, a loving father, representation of morality, a prominent citizen, compassionate, courageous and much more is the County lawyer who clearly shows his vehement arguments in court. He is the father of Jean Louis Finch (Scout) and Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem) and they live in Maycomb County located in southern Alabama, where there is such thing as “Maycomb’s usual disease” or in other words, racism. This disease can truly be seen after Atticus is assigned to defend Tom Robinson, an African American who is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Many do not think that he should defend him because of Tom Robinson’s skin color and race, but there are many reasons why he should....
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...In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the character Atticus Finch taught his children, Scout and Jem, many life lessons. He taught them to never judge a book by its cover, to have self respect, and to always have courage. One of the key lessons Atticus teaches Jem is to never judge someone without full knowledge of their situation. This becomes prevalent in the story when Jem is forced to read to their grouchy neighbor, the old Mrs. Dubose. Mrs. Dubose is often cruel, and insults Jem and Scout whenever she gets the chance. Despite her tormenting of the neighborhood, Atticus is always kind and respectful to her. Jem and Scout are dumbfounded by his attitude, and Atticus teaches them a lesson that sticks with Jem after Mrs. Dubose dies and Jem is relieved from his literacy duties. “‘She died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew’” (112). Atticus showed to Jem that Mrs. Dubose had struggled with a morphine addiction, but still prevailed, and her cruel personality was just a symptom of her...
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