Thursday, May 23, 2013

Mockingbird Essay

Atticus is a person that wants to make a difference in the world.  Atticus is Scout and Jem’s father, a lawyer in Maycomb descended from an old local family. A widower with a dry sense of humor, he is one of the few residents of Maycomb committed to racial equality. When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community. With his strongly held wisdom, and empathy, Atticus functions as the novel’s moral backbone.  That is why I picked him to do this essay on.


Every person makes choices and lives with the consequences.  In this case Atticus has a good outcome and a bad one.  While he was making the choice to stand up for Tom Robinson during the trial he has to keep his kids safe and keep himself safe from the displeasing word people say about them and to them.  There are many points in the story when Atticus has to find ways for his towns people to understand that Tom Robinson has done nothing to wrong.


The outcome of this decision he has made is good and bad.  I believe that he changed the way people think in Maycomb.  When he is defending Tom, he gets his kids into it as well.  They almost get killed once, they get bullied at school, and more.  When they go to after the trail though they are treated great.  All because there father made a difference in the community.  Although the community just changed like that, he did something more than just change them.  I believe that he motivated them to be different that they were.  


" ’If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?’ " Scout said to her father.  In response Atticus said,  " ’For a number of reasons,". "The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again. […] Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess.’ "                    (http://www.shmoop.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird/atticus-finch.html).


Atticus is not only a man for equality for everyone but a great father trying to teach his kids about life.  When Atticus gives the kids air rifles he says that they can shot at any bird they want besides Mockingbirds because they don't eat anyone's plants or harm anything all they do is make music.  Mockingbird has a metaphorical meaning too, anyone who is weak or defenceless,  to kill a Mockingbird in that sense is like taking advantage of someone weaker than you.  This was one of the four lessons that Scout learned throughout the book.  

Scout learns many lessons from Atticus that is one of the good outcomes of his choice to defend Tom Robinson in court.  He does not only teach Scout the lessons but teaches the community about how the world is not fair,and that even when people are different that they are the same.  We are all equal people, no one person has a better purpose to be here than the other.  In a way Atticus did win over the courtroom, they just didn't want to change the way they thought throughout the whole book.                 

8 comments:

  1. 1. The thesis of this essay is : When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community.
    2. ’If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?’ . I thought this quote was the best because it is when Atticus explains to Scout why he is defending Tom Robinson.
    3. I think that your explanations and examples were really good. I think they helped show why Atticus was the "moral backbone of the story".
    4. I don't have any suggestions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1) the thesis of the essat is " When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community."
    2) "The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again." i picked think that this quote is the best because it shows the Atticus cares about the case, and how if he didn't do it it would effect his life forever.
    3) i thought that the best quality of your essay was the quotes you choose.for example "Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess."
    4) i think that you could add why you picked those quote, or what they mean to you.other than that it was eally good!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. The thesis of this essay was "When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community."
    2. Of the three examples I liked the first one because Atticus was trying to stand up for Tom Robinson. I just find it nice when people help other people out.
    3. The one thing that this essay did well was the introduction because it really caught my attention and made me want to read more.
    4. I think that you could add some things why you chose those quotes and what they mean to you. Other than that I think you did a good job explaining.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. The thesis of this essay was when he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community.
    2.’If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?’ This quote just shows how much hatred people had of defending someone that is a different color in a white community.
    3. My favorite things in this essay were the quotes. They all fit so well with what you were talking about.
    4. maybe explain why you choice the quotes because they were so good, but otherwise awesome job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1.) I don't think that your thesis was very strong, I think that it just goes right into your essay. The thesis is supposed to open the essay not just start it right there.
    2.) ’If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?’ this quote shows that atticus is doing the right thing in the book because he is doing something that no one else would. This is a good quote because it ties into your whole essay.
    3.) My favorite part of the essay is the way it is organized. It was not to hard to follow in my opinion.
    4.) In your final draft try to add more detail into it so it is more rich in detail. Otherwise good job writing it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1.the thesis of this essay was when atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinon, who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, and how attticus' family has to deal with the angry white crowd
    2. "Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one's mine, I guess.’ " i picked this one because its atticus explaining to Scout, how there work sometimes affects them on a personal level
    3. I really liked the quotes, they made sense

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1) the essay begins with a statment about atticus wanting to make a difference in the world. She gives good detail about who the charscters are and where they stand in the book.
    2) "if you shouldnt be defending him then why are you doing it?" I picked this quote because without atticus answering the person you can already tell that he has heart and is a good man for doing what he does. The quote/question speak s for itself
    3) one thing this essay does well is has a lot of detail about the book. She uses good choice of words that give you a clear understanding of the book.
    4) I dont think the essay needs revision. I think she did a really good job Nd made the reader want to keep reading.

    ReplyDelete