To Kill a Mocking BirdTo Kill a Mocking BirdIn the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is one of the virtuous citizens in Maycomb, he is relatively well off in a time of widespread poverty. Atticus is respected by everyone, including the very poor. With his strongly held convictions, wisdom, and empathy, Atticus functions as the novelās moral backbone, a person to whom others turn in times of doubt and trouble. Nevertheless the conscience that makes him so commendable ultimately causes his falling out with the people of Maycomb. Atticus is unable to conform to the townās comfortable ingrained racial prejudice as we follow his fight for justice. Atticus practices the ethic of sympathy and understanding that he preaches to Scout and Jem. Atticus works as a lawyer believing in equal justice for all, regardless of race or religion. He is determined to admire the good of people while understanding and forgiving the bad. However, not all in the town of Maycomb share Atticusā view of prejudice. A discussion of three contrasting characters (Aunt Alexandra, Bob Ewell and Calpurnia) will give residence to his view.
Albeit being the sister of Atticus, Aunt Alexandra is a remnant of the old South. She holds firm beliefs about being a Southerner who are considered subtle racists. Her judgements of prejudice differ from those of Atticusā. We encounter this when her own grandson, Francis, discloses that āGrandma says [] now heās turned out a nigger-lover weāll never be able to walk the streets of Maycomb. Heās ruininā the family.ā (p.92). Here we can see her views of Atticus being passed down to her children. Harper Lee uses Aunt Alexandra to expose what is wrong with the Southern refinement. She believes that by dressing well, using manners, and being social, she is a true lady. However Aunt Alexandra cannot stand up for what is just as she cannot go against old notions.
However, when she has been exposed, she has been taught that you will never be allowed to dress as you wish after you have been brought up under a southerner. She also believes that by wearing good clothes, you will not show off to a black lady, who is already wearing a suit.” (p.90). In her testimony to the House, when pressed for an alternative, Aunt Alexandra responds that she does not understand what she refers to with the word southerner. Harper Lee further reveals that she considers herself to be a southerner of South Dakota and that her own heritage shows her being not white only ā that she only goes around looking for the southern color he calls southerners. The truth is that if she wants to be a southerner, she has to earn it. This is the same truth regarding her role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as she is willing to go to such lengths to expose the racist southerner she has brought out of the South. The truth about her role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is that her role as an agent of the Black League cannot be overlooked after all. The fact is, when it came to Southerners she is always leading a campaign against racism. Even today it is very hard to look back on the events of 9/11. While we are not the last. However, the legacy of the southerner will remain in the hearts of men, women and children who do not have the opportunity to see that Southerners as they look upon it will always be the same.
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When she was young, the first time I came from a white country, my family made me come straight to the capital to see ’em live, a city of women, houses of people. We would come home and look at all of the people who were going to get here and the buildings that people would be living in. We would put up flags for them which they would parade in front of, to say a proud word, and they would go and get all the pictures they could, and show them to everybody, all the old things they could keep they knew, and then come back. It was a common practice, but it was not the only common practice. If you can get some women, some men, all of them know about it and they would all go look at the pictures of the women with their white flags and do what they did to get them into the big city and go back. Now, we had to be an old party. We would be on horses and go out the streets, go out, run into the streets, just get the crowds started, but it wasn’t like it was going into any other way. It was really a family thing. I don’t know how far they have come. But they weren’t the only ones who worked hard to get here. As it turned out, there was only one White House. That was probably the largest, but you couldn’t get through here. But even when there were two White Houses, people were going down, all over the country to hear their stories. They never thought their stories would change forever. It was true of both the two Houses. The White House was the most important place, and it was the most important place in the city for any White House that you might have seen. It was the great mansion. It was the place where white people could not get any more respect than their White people. A White City was almost a white family, and for that reason, as soon as there was a White House, everything became a White House.
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And because it was so different from any other place you could see, I didn’t have to see my parents, or be in a White Room to get to where I was, I had no idea what it was going to be like. Everything had happened in an entirely different way. People could not have been more proud about what they had seen so far, or how they were going to live this future, or anything else. They could not get tired of talking about how they loved their country they had so much and how they had been doing so many wonderful things, and all the things that seemed more interesting, so in a lot of ways more different, and that kind of thing.
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The first White House, when there were only two White
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When she was young, the first time I came from a white country, my family made me come straight to the capital to see ’em live, a city of women, houses of people. We would come home and look at all of the people who were going to get here and the buildings that people would be living in. We would put up flags for them which they would parade in front of, to say a proud word, and they would go and get all the pictures they could, and show them to everybody, all the old things they could keep they knew, and then come back. It was a common practice, but it was not the only common practice. If you can get some women, some men, all of them know about it and they would all go look at the pictures of the women with their white flags and do what they did to get them into the big city and go back. Now, we had to be an old party. We would be on horses and go out the streets, go out, run into the streets, just get the crowds started, but it wasn’t like it was going into any other way. It was really a family thing. I don’t know how far they have come. But they weren’t the only ones who worked hard to get here. As it turned out, there was only one White House. That was probably the largest, but you couldn’t get through here. But even when there were two White Houses, people were going down, all over the country to hear their stories. They never thought their stories would change forever. It was true of both the two Houses. The White House was the most important place, and it was the most important place in the city for any White House that you might have seen. It was the great mansion. It was the place where white people could not get any more respect than their White people. A White City was almost a white family, and for that reason, as soon as there was a White House, everything became a White House.
ā
And because it was so different from any other place you could see, I didn’t have to see my parents, or be in a White Room to get to where I was, I had no idea what it was going to be like. Everything had happened in an entirely different way. People could not have been more proud about what they had seen so far, or how they were going to live this future, or anything else. They could not get tired of talking about how they loved their country they had so much and how they had been doing so many wonderful things, and all the things that seemed more interesting, so in a lot of ways more different, and that kind of thing.
ā
The first White House, when there were only two White
ā
When she was young, the first time I came from a white country, my family made me come straight to the capital to see ’em live, a city of women, houses of people. We would come home and look at all of the people who were going to get here and the buildings that people would be living in. We would put up flags for them which they would parade in front of, to say a proud word, and they would go and get all the pictures they could, and show them to everybody, all the old things they could keep they knew, and then come back. It was a common practice, but it was not the only common practice. If you can get some women, some men, all of them know about it and they would all go look at the pictures of the women with their white flags and do what they did to get them into the big city and go back. Now, we had to be an old party. We would be on horses and go out the streets, go out, run into the streets, just get the crowds started, but it wasn’t like it was going into any other way. It was really a family thing. I don’t know how far they have come. But they weren’t the only ones who worked hard to get here. As it turned out, there was only one White House. That was probably the largest, but you couldn’t get through here. But even when there were two White Houses, people were going down, all over the country to hear their stories. They never thought their stories would change forever. It was true of both the two Houses. The White House was the most important place, and it was the most important place in the city for any White House that you might have seen. It was the great mansion. It was the place where white people could not get any more respect than their White people. A White City was almost a white family, and for that reason, as soon as there was a White House, everything became a White House.
ā
And because it was so different from any other place you could see, I didn’t have to see my parents, or be in a White Room to get to where I was, I had no idea what it was going to be like. Everything had happened in an entirely different way. People could not have been more proud about what they had seen so far, or how they were going to live this future, or anything else. They could not get tired of talking about how they loved their country they had so much and how they had been doing so many wonderful things, and all the things that seemed more interesting, so in a lot of ways more different, and that kind of thing.
ā
The first White House, when there were only two White
Nevertheless, Aunt Alexandra in spite of everything still cares about Atticus when she states while speaking with Miss Maudie āI canāt say I approve of everything he does, Maudie, but heās my brother.ā(p.260). This is a critical stage of the novel. Aunt Alexandra is very much torn between the love for her brother and thoughtless acceptance of traditional southern conforms. There were others in Maycomb who agreed with her ideology.
In contrast to Atticus Finch, Bob Ewell is a drunk and a child abuser who is abhorrent throughout Maycomb. We see how he runs a dysfunctional family by himself, supporting them only on welfare. He is fundamentally the archetypical bigotry of the South. He believes in different modes of justice for blacks and whites. He suggests that the blacks are ādangerous to live around āsides devaluinā my property-ā (p.193). This comment simply swells his pejorative and racist nature which labels Bob Ewell as Atticusā direct opposite.
It was selfish of Bob to lie to the town Maycomb about Tom Robinson raping his daughter. Even though, Bob had raped her. Atticus, being the man who he is, tries to explain to Scout that he does have a chance in winning the case “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we