How Does Atticus Change In To Kill A Mockingbird

“Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee 374). Scout, the main character of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, realizes that her father, Atticus, was right and that Boo Radley, a neighbor she had only heard rumors about, is different in real life than she thought he was. Many times, people see things differently than they actually are. For example, sometimes people misjudge others abilities because of their appearance.

Atticus is a bold man considering he knew the mob would eventually come and he had to be prepared to protect Tom Robinson from harm. In addition, he was willing to risk his life for a black man which was very peculiar during the time but dared to stand his ground and fight for justice. Also, Atticus did not mind what other people thought of him or cared less about his reputation being ruined or his family being put on the line for defending a black man indicating he had the perseverance to fight for righteousness. When Scout sees that her father is in danger, or given that he is surrounded by unfamiliar faces, she realizes one of the men is Mr.Cunningham. In an attempt to cool the tension, Scout tries to find common ground with Mr.Cunningham by saying, "Entailments are bad" (Lee 205).

Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a novel that takes place in a small town, called Maycomb, in Alabama, narrated by Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Scout learns how to deal with many things in everyday life, including racism and criticism. While learning about these things, she finds that courage is being shown by not only herself, but by other role models around her, including her father, Atticus Finch. The theme of courage is very significant in the novel.

When a large riot came to get Atticus, Scout was timid at first, but once, she saw a familiar face, Mr.Cunningham, she realized they were just regular people just like her she remembered that “there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.” (304) and used this opportunity to try to stop them. She walked up to him and started talking to him like it was a normal conversation, and that is all it took to save her father.

Mr. Cunningham did lose his way once though. When there was a mob at the jail to try and kill Tom Robinson Mr. Cunningham was there. Scout did talk him out of the mob state of mind and back his kind and loyal state of mind. “Then [Mr. Cunningham] did a peculiar thing. He squatted down and took [Scout] by both shoulders.

To Kill a Mockingbird In chapter 15 of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the author uses many ways to develop her message about mob mentality and human nature. Harper Lee uses multiple ways to develop her message including repetition and dark and light imagery. Harper Lee is showing us that mobs play a big role in protests in Maycomb County, Alabama. What this shows us about human nature is that humans tend to forget the consequences of what they do when acting in a group and feel almost invincible against punishments. A person that is part of a mob will act differently than they would act on their own.

At the beginning of the novel, Scout’s understanding of the people around her is lacking. She lives in a sheltered lifestyle, usually only interacting with Jem, Atticus, and Calpurnia. When Scout arrives at school for Grade 1, she meets Miss Caroline. She does not understand that Miss Caroline’s is a new teacher, and tries explaining Walter Cunningham’s actions just by saying “He’s a Cunningham.” (Page 20)

Within the movie To Kill a Mockingbird a man named Atticus Finch lived with his two children, Scout and Jem during the Great Depression. Within the movie we see that Calpurnia, the housemaid, being treated as an equal individual to the other member of the house. The only time we ever see Calpurnia being treated differently is when she is being brought home by Atticus with Calpurnia sitting in the back of the car. This raises questions as to why Atticus won’t allow her to sit up front. Also Atticus could have had Calpurnia sit in the back in fear of what would happen to his family.

Scout, Jem, and Dill all went over to the jailhouse and Scout begins to talk to Mr. Cunningham, who happens to be in the group. After listening to what she has to say, Mr. Cunningham tells all the other men to go home. The author says, “‘What's the matter?’ I asked. Atticus said nothing.

Harper Lee caused herd behavior in "To Kill a Mockingbird" when Atticus disrupted the ways of Maycomb by defending an African American. First, mob mentality, or herd behavior, refers to the tendancy of people to do over reactive things that they would not normally do with others. This tells us that people will act differently when they are part of a mob. When someone joins a mob, they can lose their individuality and adopt a mob mentality, such as killing a person. In chapter fifteen of "To Kill a Mockingbird", the mob outside the jailhouse were planning to kill Tom Robinson so their would be no trial.

He tries to teach the trait of not judging people by their social class to Scout and Jem, his young children.. This is shown when Scout is told not to criticize the cunningham boy for not eating the way she does. It can also be seen in atticus volunteering to defend people outside of his social class even if they may have trouble paying him. He accepts payment from the cunninghams in the form of hickory nuts. He defends Tom Robinson despite the fact that he knows that the odds of him winning the case are extremely slim because he is trying to defend a black man against a white woman.

In 2nd grade I was in a friend group called the Dolphin Club. We couldn’t do anything unless we were told to do it, and we couldn’t eat certain foods because the ‘leader’ didn’t like them. The leader was my best friend and I was her right hand. I did what I was told to do and eat what I was allowed to eat, I stayed in the club. But the club didn’t allow everyone and people felt excluded.

This quote shows that Scout just wanted to talk to Mr. Cunningham so he would recognize her and she took Atticus’ advice to talk about the other person instead of herself. It also shows that Scout was committed to make Mr. Cunningham to recognize her and help him notice her instead of Atticus. Another reason Mr. Cunningham made the mob leave was because he realized it was not worth the fight. After Scout talked about Mr. Cunningham’s entailments she realized that Mr. Cunningham recognized her, then Scout said, “Then he did a peculiar thing.

Even though the innocent was found guilty and Atticus had lost, he was still “...the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long in a case like that... we're making a step--it's just a baby-step, but it's a step." (Lee, 289). Even though it was a “baby step”, Maycomb community shared personal growth through the court case. Scout also take’s on personal growth throughout her series of fights, but grows past these experiences after falling witness to the injustice Uncle Jack brought and learns fighting is not the answer when Atticus tells her “try fighting with your head for a change… it’s a good one even if it does resist learning” (Lee,

Atticus could not live with himself if he failed to give his utmost effort in clearing the accused, Tom Robinson’s, name. The lawyer feels that he has to do it. The people of Maycomb are small minded and hypocritical, Atticus Finch is not. Nothing can be done to make the towns people hear the truth. Tom Robinson, would be a free man, living with his family, if it wasn’t for the people of Maycomb.