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Atticus is the descendant of Simon Finch, an apothecary from England who settled near Maycomb. Rather than stay in the family homestead (named "Finch's Landing"), Atticus went to Montgomery to study law. He was later elected to the Alabama State Legislature, was then reelected without opposition many times, and was known as a respected and hard-working lawmaker (although it's never stated whether he was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives or the Alabama Senate). While a legislator, he met and married the future mother of Jem and Scout Finch (who is never named, although it is mentioned that she was fifteen years his junior). His wife died of a heart attack two years after Scout, their youngest child, was born. Throughout the novel, Atticus lives in Maycomb with his two children and his maid, Calpurnia.
Atticus is the book's most upright character, representing the moral ideal of both a lawyer and a human being: he is brutally honest, highly moral, a tireless crusader for good causes (even hopeless ones), a virtual pacifist and, for the most part, devoid of any of the racial or class prejudices afflicting the other citizens of Maycomb. He goes to great pains to instruct his children on the importance of being open-minded, judicious, generous neighbors and citizens. He is eventually revealed to be an expert marksman (the best shot in Maycomb County), but he had chosen to keep this fact hidden from his children so that they would not in any way think of him as a man of violence. Physically, he is described throughout the novel as a tall, middle-aged man with glasses to correct his failing eyesight, and hair slightly graying at the temples. He is also mentioned never to take off his vest and tie, except right before changing for bed (he did loosen up his collar once during his closing argument at Tom Robinson's trial).

The novel centers on (from the perspective of his daughter, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch) Atticus' struggle to defend...