Her father, Atticus, is a lawyer for Maycomb County, Alabama. He is appointed as the attorney for Tom Robinson, a colored man from their town. He is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. When people started to find out that Atticus was defending a Negro man, they started treating his family differently. Despite the cruel treatment from the people of Maycomb County, Atticus stood strong in his belief that every man is created equal, and therefore deserves a fair trial.
The events they witness shape their moral character and beliefs for the rest of their lives. The themes of racism and injustice are prevalent throughout the story. Scout and Jem’s father is a well-known lawyer in Maycomb, named Atticus Finch. He is delegated by the court to represent a black man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a white woman. Scout’s innocence and immaturity is exposed when she is teased in her schoolyard by a boy named Cecil Jacobs.
For example, when the citizens of Maycomb learn that Atticus is the defense attorney for an AfricanAmerican man, they use unpleasant names to describe Atticus. When a boy at school calls Atticus a niggerlover, Scout doesn’t know what it means, but distinguishes that it is offensive by his tone of voice. She ends up fighting him in order to solve her conflict. " 'You can just take that back, boy!' This order, given by me to Cecil Jacobs, was the beginning of a rather thin time for Jem and me.
After the court case when Atticus was leaving, the community of black people rose in respect of his heroic actions in which he presented in defending Tom. As the crowd rose Reverend Sykes said to scout “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin,” (pg 211). Many people would argue, saying that he is not a hero and he was just doing his job, but I would disagree. Atticus was not only doing his job, he was trying to prove a very important point.
He is almost completely shunned from the town because he is trying to help a black man accused of rape. Mayella had told Tom, “I said come here, nigger, and bust up this chiffarobe for me, I gotta nickel for you.” (p.241) She had tricked him to coming over to her. Then that’s about the time when she accuses him of rape. He had felt sorry for her, which is why he was falsely accused in the first place. Courthouse segregation was one of the biggest bits of racism I found in this book.
So far, one of the major plots seems to be about his choice to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, in court. During this era, the residents of Maycomb county and the world in general were still extremely racist towards African Americans. They were considered slaves and not on the same level as normal people. The people who were poorer than the black people (for example: the Erwells) were even respected more. Because of this racism and prejudice, the decision of Atticus’ to defend this man (who would certainly be killed without a lawyer because he is black and the accuser is white) is widely discussed in the town.
In Harper Lee’s compellingly poignant novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ we witness various forms of racism and injustice. As the protagonist, Scout exposes the bigotry present in Maycomb County and what the characters endured because of it, particularly the African Americans. We also observe the discrimination that certain characters, such as Atticus Finch and Mr. Dolphus endure because of the racial stereotypes who couldn’t comprehend their belief for justice for all. Racism in Maycomb was the norm. Most of the people of Maycomb were unjust and ignorant when it came to the most basic rights of the African Americans.
The main conflict occurs when Atticus Finch, a defence attorney is involved in a case with a black man being accused of raping a white women. Although in a racist time period where the black are very low in power and most whites are more in power. Scout and her brother Jem are raised by Atticus Finch along with a black maid that acts as if she was their mother. Atticus is a exceptional father, using his techniques of parenting to help improve the mentality of his children. He sets a great example to them by doing the right thing and teaches them to not discriminate like he did not discriminate Tom Robinson, Atticus treats people with respect and is rarely rude to people, and if his children make a wrong decision and does something bad he does not beat them, which was common back in the day, or raise his voice at them allowing them to learn the right things on their own.
Moral Issues in Film: A Time to Kill Joseph Fusaro Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Moral Issues in Film: A Time to Kill The film A Time to Kill takes us on an arduous journey of moral and ethical proportions. The movie, based on the book of the same title by author John Grisham, tells the captivating story about race, equality, vengeance and justice. The story begins with a young Southern attorney that acts as defense lawyer for a black father who kills two white men for raping and nearly killing his 10 year old daughter. Carl Lee Hailey is a Mississippi mill worker whose life gets flipped upside down when two racist hillbillies abduct and brutally rape his 10 year old Tonya. Shortly after grieving for the loss of his daughter’s innocence, Carl Lee seeks counsel with the lawyer Jake Brigance.
To kill a mockingbird: Who is the hero in,”To kill a mockingbird”? Discuss. The novel ‘To kill a mockingbird’ by Harper Lee is a text with some strong morals to the story. Set in the South of the US, Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930’s the text tells a story of a decent Negro man, Tom Robinson being wrongly accused of the rape of a red-necked white girl for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time and of a widowed hard working father named Atticus Finch who as a lawyer rises above the prejudice of local Maycomb society to defend this black man in court against a more or less racist town of people stuck with the idea that Negroes are simply inferior and a different breed of people to all white folk. A hero is usually the core character of a text; a hero is a character who throughout a novel constantly emphasises the text’s central themes or morals.