Atticus A Hero In To Kill A Mockingbird

A hero is one who exhibits certain traits that the average human would not be able to, deeds which require an extreme amount of selflessness. In the novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee there is a small, sad town located in Alabama which goes by the name of Maycomb. Like all towns during that time it contains a certain hierarchy in which wealthy white people are on the top and the poor unfortunate blacks are at the bottom. However, one character in the book sees people for who they truly are rather then who they are from a societal perspective. That character is Atticus, a man who goes against society to fight for justice. Analyzing the traits portrayed in Atticus and his unorthodox views on the world it can be seen that this man is…show more content…
During this case he states “but there is one country where all men are created equal” and of course by that meaning the American jurisdiction. However his arguments, logic and even emotional appeal do not allow the towns people to open their eyes against prejudice. He proves to us that he is a true hero, since he is speaking in a roomful of man, who have been taught from their birth that whites and blacks can not co-exist. It shows that he is truly whiling to take the extra step to help an innocent man. This is truly a situation in which a simple self centred human would not be able to be so selfless. This difference proves that Atticus has something more in him then just good will. His actions prove that he is in fact willing to go against societal perspective and more so, he is willing to change societal…show more content…
The first conflict in this duo of conflicts occurs when Miss. Dubose is constantly verbally him and his children. In contrast to all this grief that she gives him when he sees her he responds in saying “Good evening, Miss. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening”. He said this out of is kindness and empathetic nature. He acted heroically because a coward or simply a self centred person would consider her rude nature as an attack towards his ego and that person would respond in a likewise nature to as she treated him. Due to the fact that Atticus sees all people in such a good and positive light, he thinks that she is saying these negative comments out of her sorrow and decides that the ideal way to respond would be to compliment her. This is important to the novel because we later learn that Miss. Dubose is in fact ill and there is a reason for her ill mannered behaviour. This shows the theme since Atticus acted in a hero like fashion rather than the way most of society would have acted. A similar case happens when Bob Ewel spits on Atticus and to that Atticus responds with “”. This also shows how Atticus simply can not see the dark in people. When assuming that this is just a phase Bob Ewel is going through and in some time it will be over he is deathly wrong, since Bob Ewel is evil by his nature and will do all