The Presentation of Atticus in theTrial in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

The Presentation of Atticus in theTrial in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

The novel has the trial spread out over five chapters but the

characters discuss it throughout the novel. The trail is the most

important part in the novel, and is the most dramatically effective.

The trial brings out what Atticus is really like; it brings out his

true personality. The trial displays Atticus as a hero. It presents

him as a brave and courageous. It shows him with true courage; he went

into this fight for justice knowing that he was going to lose the

case. And that's what true courage really is; it's not a man standing

there with a gun; that is coward ness. True courage is fighting for

what you believe in, even if it is a challenge and that it is more

likely that you are going to lose, but fighting anyway.

Ironically, though Atticus is a heroic figure in the novel and a

respected man in Maycomb; but neither Jem nor Scout idolizes him at

the beginning of the novel. Both are embarrassed that he is older than

other fathers and that he doesn't hunt or play football. But Atticus'

wise parenting, which he sums up in Chapter 30 by saying,

"Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I've tried to

live so I can look squarely back at him",

Wins Scout and Jem's respect.

So in the five chapters of the trial Atticus is presented with true

courage. The chapters leading up to the trial show how personally this

trial is affecting Atticus. It is not just another case to him; he is

generally worried about how it is going to turn out. We can see that

he is worried because even Jem notices,

"Its this Tom Robinson case that's worryin' him"

Scout doesn't notice because she is still young, but Jem notices how

much this is affecting his father.

Atticus believes in being totally honest and straightforward with his

questions. He comes across as a very clever person with very clever