To Kill A Mockingbird - Atticus Finch

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GCSE English Coursework Higher Tier

To Kill a Mockingbird

Assignment: “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets” Explain what Miss Maudie means by these words and, referring to both his professional and his private life, say what you think are Atticus’s most important qualities and how the author presents him to the reader.

To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee who was born in 1926 and grew up in Alabama. In this assignment I will see how Atticus behaves with different characters and how these bring out different aspects of his character. I will also discuss how different events and situations bring out different aspects of his character.

Atticus is a proud and modest man with a calm character and a strong sense of justice and he agrees to defend Tom Robinson because it he refuses to do so then “he couldn’t hold his head up in town”. This shows that if he did refuse then he would be ashamed of himself and that self-pride is far more important to him than popularity. “I’ve got to live with myself” is how he explains to Scout his determination to defend Tom Robinson. He does not want to take this case but sees it as a duty.

When Miss Maudie says, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets”, it becomes apparent that she means that Atticus is kind-hearted and always wanting to do the write thing both for his children and for Tom Robinson. In other words he is just plain and simple yet he acts like this wherever he is.

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Atticus shows a lot of courage and behaviour in many instances throughout the story, not by fighting or killing, but by standing up for what he believed in a civilized way. His strongest motivation, however, were his kids. He wants to be a good example for his kids and instil in them a strong sense of moral values. One time Scout asks him why he had taken a case he knew he was not going to win and he responded by saying, "For a number of reasons. The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my ...

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