Atticus Finch Civil Rights

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“It's been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die” (Sam Cooke 1964). In the beginning of the civil rights movement, Harper Lee illustrates a story that takes place in the great depression called To Kill a Mockingbird. This story gives an inside look at Atticus Finch, and his journey of defending a black man. The story also follows his children’s lives, mainly his six year old daughter Scout, but it also follows his ten year old son, Jem. A “Mockingbird,” in the story, is a bird that the children shouldn’t kill. Simply because the bird is innocent, and it doesn’t do anything but give the people music. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee masterfully uses Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and Mayella Ewell as human mockingbirds, and therefore, …show more content…
Robinson is a bird, Robinson is also his last name. Tom is a black man, aged 25. He is a husband to his wife, Helen Robinson, and a father to three children. Tom is a church goer, a kind-hearted soul who has no issue lending a hand to those in need. In the case Tom Robinson vs. Mayella Ewell, Mayella, a white woman, accused Tom of raping her viscously. Although in the trial, Mr. Atticus Finch, his lawyer, tried his hardest to prove his innocence; he was still sought out to be guilty. Reverend Sykes proves part of his innocence by explaining to the children, He got it caught in a cotton gin, caught it in Mr. Dolphus Raymond's cotton gin when he was a boy.like bled to death.tore all the muscles loose from his bones.”(Lee 186). Mayella was said to have been beaten. It was shown that someone with a left arm did most of the harm. Tom couldn’t use his left arm, due to it being caught in a cotton gin. As the plot thickened, Tom was sentenced to death. All because of Mayella and her father’s misleading story. While in the prison, Mr. Tom Robinson was violently killed by one of the officers. It was said that Tom tried to …show more content…
It was during the exercise period. They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over. Right in front of them.” (Lee 235). Tom Robinson didn’t deserve to die. Robinson, a free spirited bird who’s only worry is being killed with no real purpose, other than it’s differences. This makes him a mockingbird. He was an innocent man who was only killed because he was black. Another mockingbird Harper Lee uses is the Atticus Finch. Atticus Finch is a middle-aged lawyer, who is defending Tom in his case. His wife passed, and left him with their two children, Jem and Scout. Atticus was a unique man, who doesn’t believe in the normal society rules. Although most of the whites used racial slurs, Atticus disapproves of using dreadful words that dehumanize African Americans. After Scout asks Atticus if he defends black folk, but uses the other word, Atticus tells her “Of course I do. Don’t say nigger, Scout. That’s common.” (Lee 186). This displays Atticus’s feelings about human nature. Atticus fights for the freedom Tom deserves, but this puts him in a bad
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