Why I Like Atticus

 

Hi everyone👋! The person you see in the above image is Atticus Finch from the novel, 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. I've read only 12 chapters from the novel, yet, this character has already become my favourite. Atticus is a lawyer situated in Maycomb County. He is the protagonist and he represents the African-American Tom Robinson who is on trial under falsely accused charges.

Now as I've said earlier, I've read only a few chapters of the novel. In fact, the story hasn't even started yet. But my admiration for Atticus came from the 10th and 11th chapters, where the readers are completely filled in with Atticus' character before the actual story begins. 

Atticus is fifty years of age, and he has a lot of shortcomings, such as his eye defects and his lack of interest in sports such as fishing and hunting. His children feel a bit insecure about Atticus, since the fathers of their peers are skilled sportspeople. One day, what happens is, a mad dog is found in the neighbourhood of Maycomb County and while the whole neighbourhood is frightened, its Atticus who shoots down the dog with a single shot, wielding the sheriff's rifle. His children, Scout and Jem, come to know that Atticus had the deadest shot in all of Maycomb County during his youth. For me it is one of the coolest sequences ever I've read in a novel.

Scout wants to tell everyone about her father, but Jem refuses, claiming that their father being a gentleman itself is their dad's unique attribute. It is mentioned in the novel that Atticus had given up hunting because he felt God had given him an unfair advantage over other living creatures. This establishes Atticus' character for the oncoming chapters. While his fellow white men try to use their advantage over Blacks, Atticus sympathizes with them and serves as the only hope for equality in the novel. 

Atticus doesn't want to capitalise on his strength over the weak, but wants to uplift them. Standing up for what is right and for a noble cause is the unique attribute that Atticus has. That is what Jem calls gentlemanly. That is simply satisfactory for Jem. Jem also serves as the ideal son for his dad. A son, who tries hard to maintain his dad's word and who understands his dad completely. He deems his father superior to the dads of his peers, because he knows that his father is up for a noble cause and that his father is not a self-centered person. Had Atticus been a self-centered person, he could have easily boasted about his hunting in front of everyone. But he keeps it unknown, because he doesn't see it as an attribute, but as an injustice. 

Atticus embodies not only racial equality, but also shades of socialism in the novel. The mere realization that his father is far more mature than others even in the entire Southern region satisfies Jem to a great extent that he lets go of the desire to boast about his father.