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 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.” In other words, he would not have been able to talk to his kids about justice and standing up for what one believes when he himself had not stood for what he believed in. He wants to know that there is no reason for him to hang his head in shame and shy away when he is walking down the streets. Proud people tend to be arrogant and snobbish, but instead he is neither. He never boasts about his talent and certainly would disapprove Scout or Jem boasting on his behalf. Atticus has many talents and regardless of these achievements he never assumes anyone is inferior to himself. When Walter Cunningham comes to lunch, Scout is arrogant enough to declare, “he ain’t company…he’s just a Cunningham”, but Atticus speaks with Walter as though they are equal in status. Scouts reports, “they talked together like two men”. This image shows that Atticus does not discriminate anyone.
Atticus remains calm when provoked directly. For example, looking at how he handles Bob Ewell's challenge: “Too proud to fight?” “No,” says Atticus, “too old”. This suggests that it may seem to us at first thought that Atticus is no longer strong and fit enough to fight; but also it might mean that fighting is not something that adults should do, which implies that Bob has not grown up.
Atticus has an essential role in the novel. As a father, Atticus is truthful, fair and loyal his children, Scout and Jem. He acts as both a father and a teacher to them, educating them in the social and moral expectations of their society. He treats them with respect and wants them to understand why things happen in the community, what is wrong with society and how to try and change them and improve themselves at the same time. Atticus didn’t believe in spoiling his children or shouting at them but instead believed respect for each other. Honesty and self respect were very important to Atticus and in order to be able to tell his children what to do or to enable him to order them about, he firstly had to prove to himself that he was doing the right thing, and that he could hold his head up high in the community. Atticus needed to show the children what he called ‘ Real courage’ and in taking Tom Robinson’s case he knew it was the right thing to do, to stand up for something he believed in even though he knew he would lose the case before he started. However, the important thing to Atticus was to give it his best shot and to give his very best to try to help some one worse off than himself, especially as Tom was a black man, showing that he was a man of principles and someone who wasn’t hypocritical about his beliefs. He tried to make Scout and Jem understand things from other people’s points of view and try to see why this is important: “You never really know a person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This basically says, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. In other words don’t kill a mockingbird, something which has done no harm.
As a lawyer, Atticus is again an ideal character as fair and equal and is the best man at his job. The whole fact that he took Tom Robinson’s case and listened to his conscience, when he knew he would lose, showed what sort of character Harper Lee wanted Atticus to be. He knew that the justice system at that time was prejudiced and immoral and that it was certain that Tom Robinson would be found guilty. “We were licked before we started”.
This shows the reader that deep down Atticus was aware that the case was hopeless, but he acted on his principals and took it anyway. In the trial, he completely turned the case around, proving just by asking simple questions that Mayella was lying and that Bob Ewell was an awful father. It was obvious by the end of the trial to everyone that Robinson was innocent and it was then that Harper Lee used the injustice of his imprisonment to put across her ideas about racial prejudice.
The role Atticus plays as a father is an idealistic role as he is never too harsh nor to kind, in fact, he seems to be an ideal parent. However, as a character on the whole, I think he is not completely realistic. I think that he is not human enough to be a believable character. This is because he is always a bit too nice and everything he does, for example seeing good in people, confirms my thinking. No one is perfect and the fact that Atticus has very little faults makes him an unrealistic character. He is only believable as a character of hope and is a way for Harper Lee to convey her ideas. However, I do believe that Atticus is a very consistent character because throughout the play he is always truthful and fair. Miss Maudie says, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets”, which means that Atticus is the same at home with his family as he is outside his home with the community. This seems to be a good thing about his character but then again it is very unrealistic. As Harper Lee conveys her views through Atticus, the reader realises what was wrong with the society. For me he is a series of ideas, beliefs and dreams but in reality not a realistic character.