A Hero’s Teaching
Ever since childhood, we have envisioned heroes in capes, as ones who save people and the world as quick as a snap of the fingers; but this image is far from reality. There are people who we classify as heroes, yet have never legitimately rescued anyone, but it is the character of an individual that builds the blocks of a definition of a hero. To Kill A Mockingbird, a classic novel written by Harper Lee, proves to readers how the kind of person Atticus is makes him a hero despite his failure in defending Tom Robinson. The ugly truths of an old, slow town finally floats to the surface of Maycomb County, exposed to the eyes of pure children, and cause those who used to live peacefully to look at their lives differently; unfortunately,
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When Scout complains about Miss Caroline restricting her from reading on the first day of school, and questions if she should return to school again, Atticus reminds her that “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” (Lee 39). Atticus can pick up from Scout’s accusation that Miss Caroline is still learning; he knows all humans make mistakes. There are also some aspects in life we cannot control, and Atticus, as a hero, feels sympathy for her because he knows the new teaching environment and the law influence Miss Caroline’s teaching without her control. As Mayella Ewell stays at the witness stand for her testimony, Atticus watches her as she sobs, and later attempts to comfort her by saying, “I won’t try to scare you for a while, not yet. Let’s just get acquainted” (Lee 242). Because Mayella is a 19-year-old girl who is usually isolated from society, Atticus knows immediately that being the center of attention in a hot room while a majority of the town judges you harshly at your every move must be very pressuring and stressful. He tries to loosen the tension between him and her, speaking politely and with manners, as always. Even if she shoots nasty replies most of the time, Atticus recognizes that the reason to her actions is also not in her control, and regards her origin from a family so uncivilized and detached from the rest of the county, so he treats her with the utmost respect. On the morning after the trial, Calpurnia shows Atticus the staggering amount of mouthwatering foods that were given to him, and his eyes fill with tears as he says after a moment of being speechless, “Tell them I’m very
According to Umberto Eco, “The real hero is always a hero by mistake….” In other words, one doesn’t act heroic as a lifestyle, but by surprise when the time comes to do so. To be heroic means to put others before you in a desperate time of someone else’s despair. Two works of literature that agree with the critical lens are the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee and the memoir, Night, by Elie Wiesel. Atticus Finch and Elie Wiesel both demonstrate heroic actions unintentionally.
Although not every hero shouts “Avengers Assemble” before a worthy deed, heroism is shown in all aspects of the everyday world. Webster Dictionary has exactly 5 definitions under the word hero and still no two people explain heroism the same. Superman and Captain America are a glimpse of the fictional characters society titles a hero. Firefighters and Military portray heroism each day in the lives of every civilian. As Sullivan and Venter stated “individuals are referred to as ‘heroes’ for seemingly different reasons” and even through endless studies the adjectives referring heroes is ever changing. Among the various ideas of what it means to be a hero, boldness and valiance capture the essence of heroism.
Bob Riley once said “Hard times don't create heroes, it is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” Author Lee shows the thoughts and feelings of each character carefully. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Atticus Finch represents Lee’s idea of social justice by demonstrating patience, wisdom and sympathy.
When people think about heros it is a person in a cape flying into burning buildings to save people or fighting a villain to save the world. According to Oxford Dictionary a hero is a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. This shows how just normal people can be qualified as heros. A book that exemplifies this is To Kill A Mockingbird because it is filled with people that went out of their way to help others or the society as a whole. A person who did this in particular was Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch was a hero because he fell under the definition and was admired for his courage, achievements, and noble qualities.
Mayella uses this case to cover up the shame in her life because she is extremely lonely, has no self-esteem, and overwhelmed with the amount of unhappiness in her life. Mayella gets extremely defensive in this quote because she knows that everything Atticus has brought up is good evidence and she can’t hold her own. In the jury, it was full of all white men. Mayella acted timid and helpless and suggested in her comment that the man of the jury be brave and heroic. She becomes someone who is vulnerable, valuable, and needs to be protected.
Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a revolutionary classic that takes the reader through the life of a young girl named Scout Finch, her brother Jem, and her father Atticus. During the novel Atticus, a lawyer, is given the case of a black man against a white woman and her father. Because of this, Atticus has to make multiple bold decisions that not only affect himself, but those around him. The decisions he makes and how they play out all lead us to the same question: Is Atticus really the perfect hero?
Imagine yourself doing something that was completely unspeakable of in your society. Now, what if I told you it was something that came down to a concept as simple as black and white? Racial injustice is the biggest problem that is faced throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Atticus Finch was put on the spot many times and during these many occurrences we see his moral and ethically inclined personality show. For this reason, Atticus is indeed a hero to a modern audience because he demonstrates an approach to situations that would better society. Not only does he expresses this through sticking to his conscience and morals; but Atticus also shows courage and puts himself and his reputation at risk in order to accomplish the results he wants to achieve.
Was Atticus Finch the true hero in the novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’? Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ narrates the journey of Scout Finch. Scout is a young girl and at the start of the novel she is closed minded and very aggressive. Scout is the daughter of Maycomb’s positive but stern lawyer, Atticus Finch, who defends Tom Robinson, an honest and strong African American father and husband who has been wrongly accused of rape. Tom was accused by the young Mayella Ewell who was actually coming onto Mr Robinson. Through the eyes and experiences of Scout, Lee explores the themes of racism, segregation and rape just to name a few. But most notably she invites the reader to consider what it means to be a hero. Being a hero is helping and
Typically a hero is seen wearing tights, or working in secret, but in reality heroes are ordinary people doing extraordinary acts. A hero is someone who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Atticus Finch is a true hero. Atticus is definitely a hero as proven by his morality, his courage and finally his abilities as well as intelligence.
In Harper Lee’s novel Atticus Finch is represented as a very courageous person whose courageousness the author of the novel brings to our attention all throughout the book but since our time is limited the student needs only to highlight three situations where they feel Atticus Finch is courageous for example he accepts a criminal case that involves a Black...
Atticus Finch is a heroic character in To Kill A Mockingbird. A hero is a person who is known for certain achievements and qualities. Atticus is known for many qualities he displayed during the novel, as well as various achievements. This makes him a heroic character. Atticus Finch is a hero because he defended a black man in court, proved his abilities and intelligences, and cared for everybody equally.
Many students believe that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird displays social issues in early America. In this time standing against common customs was unacceptable, a violation of society. People believe that today courage has overcome adversity that was displayed in early America. Courage is the common subject of To Kill a Mockingbird, which allows Lee’s novel to defy the changing times of humanity. These morals are bound to the “impartiality” and “fairness” taught to people as children, but become unavoidably invisible though selfish actions. The characters in To Kill a Mockingbird express audacity along with resilience in the face of cowardice.
Scout reveals her misjudgement on Ms. Caroline in the beginning of the story. Ms. Caroline notices Walter Cunningham with no lunch and offers to buy him lunch but he refuses the offer because Cunninghams don't take anything they can't pay back. Scout informs Ms. Caroline about the situation and she gets upset with Scout and spanks her leaving Scout with a bad impression. Scout informs her dad about the situation and Atticus tells her,¨ “First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-”...
During the trial Tom said, “She says what her papa do to her don’t count… I didn’t want to harm her, Mr.Finch an’ I say lemme pass”(Doc B). As you can tell, this emphasized how Mayella allowed her own father to sexually assault her even though this should have never happened, and she should have stopped him. Scout then described Mayella during the trial and said, “Mayella looked at her father, who was sitting with his chair tipped against the railing. He sat up straight and waited for her to answer”(Doc B). This demonstrated how Mayella was scared of her father and let him control her when she should’ve just told the truth. To sum up, this showed how Mayella was powerless since she allowed her father to control her during the case by making her say what he wanted her to say by scaring
Although they are critiqued, some people do whatever they can do to improve our society. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch proves himself to be a hero. This small-town lawyer exhibits bravery, strength, and modesty when faced with objection during Maycomb’s quarrel for justice. Without a doubt, Atticus proves that anybody can stand for what he or she believes is right.