Integrity In To Kill A Mockingbird

The Risks and Rewards of Integrity According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of integrity is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles”. Obviously having integrity is a good thing, but is it easy to keep with so many bad things and people? The evil within the world would challenge anyone’s morals, making it hard to stay true to them. There are so many things in life that will challenge one’s integrity, and most will abandon the trait in favor of making life easier. But there a few who are able to keep a hold of their integrity, even throughout the harshness of life. To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel written in the 1930’s, and one of the bigger issues is the prejudice of Maycomb depending on a person’s

When Scout questions the town’s viewpoint of Boo Radley, he explains that “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (Lee 30). The path of least resistance is obviously hating Boo, but Atticus knows it’s wrong to judge someone without knowing them. As a result, he encourages her to try understanding Boo instead of following the crowd and hating him based on rumors with no evidence, even when the entire town judged him without actually knowing him. Similarly, Atticus didn’t think badly of Tom Robinson because of what others were whispering, he developed his own opinion of him. Whereas the people were quick to assume Tom was guilty, Atticus looked into it more and decided he believed that Tom was innocent. That didn’t mean he had no choice but to defend him, but if he refused to help Tom, Atticus believes he “couldn’t hold [his] head up in town” (Lee 75). His integrity wouldn’t allow him to if he didn’t try and defend an innocent man, regardless of the close mindedness of everyone else. Atticus pushes through the difficulty that helping Tom would bring and does it anyway because it’s the right thing to do. He doesn’t care what the others will say and think about him, only what he’ll think of himself if he makes the wrong decision. He’ll be able to have his self-dignity, in contrast, Bob Ewell throws his own dignity to the wind when he confronts Atticus after the trial. While Ewell was cussing him out and threatening him, Atticus “didn’t bat an eye, just...stood there and let Mr. Ewell call him names” (Lee 217). He let Bob Ewell disgrace himself in front of the entire community before casually strolling off, not responding to the goading. He knew it wouldn’t be acceptable to fight Ewell and by not doing so, he was honorable and followed his morals. Atticus was able to let go of any