Character Profile - Atticus

Atticus Finch from 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee is a kind-hearted man. A lawyer who cares for his two children, Jem and Scout. Atticus has lived in Maycomb County for a very long time, and those who live near and far from him in Maycomb respect and care for him. Atticus is a major character in the story since he defends Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell a younger white woman by her and her father Bob Ewell, an alcoholic, abusive farmer. Atticus knows that defending Tom will either make him or brake him into Maycomb, since Maycomb being in Alabama, A state in the South of America thus segregation between Black and Whites being very common.

Throughout the whole of the story Atticus tries to balance his work-personal life balanced. He works hard however he also tries to spend as much time he can with his two children, his eldest, his son Jem, aged 10 and Jem's younger sister Scout, aged six. Atticus consecutively tells Jem and Scout the importance of life and always tells them to treat others how they would like to be treated. There is a quote in the story which I think points out what Atticus is trying to say to Jem and Scout. One day after School Scout returns home angry and frustrated because of the actions of a classmate of hers, Atticus tells her to take a look through someone else's eyes by telling her "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." The purpose of Atticus telling Scout that was because he was trying to tell her that if she took it from her classmates point of view she would see the situation differently than from what she saw.

Atticus is not your everyday Southern American, he is an Idealist someone who thinks about change and how things could change for the better. Atticus is not a racist, very few in Maycomb County are not-racist however the remainder of those in Maycomb County treat the Black Population as second-classed citizens not given them a chance to speak. In the book, Tom Robinson, a poor Black man has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell a younger white woman by her father, Robert Ewell. As the story progresses it is obvious that Tom is innocent of his crimes, and during the trial Atticus tells the jury that they should see past Tom's skin and look at the point of justice in this case. There is one point of the Court scene where Atticus expresses his views of racism and his want of change in Maycomb, Atticus tells the jury "On the assumption... the evil assumption... that all Negroes lie, all Negroes are basically immoralbeings, all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women. An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber, and which is, in itself, gentlemen, a lie, which I do not need to point out to you. And so, a quiet, humble, respectable Negro, who has had the unmitigated temerity... to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white people's. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is."This shows what Atticus thinks of the struggle that the Black people have to live and how the white population automatically judge the blacks by the colour of their skin.