![]() Atticus to Jem (Chapter 11, page 112)Ītticus drew this lesson for Jem from the case of Mrs Dubose who died in pain because of her insistence to quit taking morphine, an addictive drug prescribed by her doctor to help her deal with the pain of her arthritis.Ītticus was painting a different picture of courage for Jem after Jem had witnessed Atticus’s brilliant marksmanship with a gun. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. This quote is preaching that even when the odds are against you, you should still give your best in fighting for what you believe in. Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win Atticus to Scout (Chapter 9, page 78 ) In his gentle manner, Atticus was trying to teach Scout that the intellect is a more effective tool in fighting for a just cause than physical strength. Try fighting with your head for a change Atticus to Scout (Chapter 9, page 78)Ītticus said this while admonishing Scout for always getting into fistfights when provoked. The character Maudie Atkinson made this statement in reference to overzealous Christians who believe that every form of pleasure and enjoyment in life is a sin. There are just some kind of men who are so busy worrying about the next world they never learned to live in this one Maudie Atkinson to Scout (Chapter 5, page 47) The use of the word ”skin” in this statement carries both literal and figurative connotations with respect to the racial theme of the novel. This is Atticus teaching Scout that putting oneself in another’s position helps us understand them better. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. The jury is made up of southern commoners with racist sentiments who do not know how to keep those sentiments aside and judge a case objectively. It shows that despite the idealistic tenets of the law, the court is still as good as (or as bad as) the people among whom the court exists. ![]() This quote depicts the inefficacy of the legal system in giving justice. The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentment right into a jury box Atticus Finch (Chapter 23, page 215) To put this into context, the black people of the era were disadvantaged in relation to the white in so many ways–in terms of education, opportunities, economic well being, the law etc– and so for Atticus, it holds much more cruelty for a white person with all his privileges to cheat such a disadvantaged person. Here, Atticus was telling Jem about the moral depravity of white people cheating black people. He was telling his brother Jack about the hateful reactions people were exhibiting towards the accused Tom’s family and towards him the defense attorney and even towards his innocent children.Īs you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it–whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash Atticus to Jem (Chapter 23, page 215) This is Atticus wondering aloud at the utter loss of reason and objectivity that the average white people of the South display when dealing with matters concerning black people. Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up is something I don’t pretend to understand Atticus Finch (Chapter 9, page 90) Atticus pointed out that sad truth to Jem, who was sad about the unfair outcome of Tom Robinson’s court case who was unjustly pronounced guilty by the jury. This statement summarizes the crux of the events in the novel, Tom Robinson was falsely accused of raping a white girl, and it was the white girl and her father’s testimony against black Tom Robinson’s. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. Let’s explore some remarkable quotes from the novel that address its themes. His words are filled with wisdom, empathy, common sense, and also observes the racial injustice in society. ![]() Atticus Finch is the voice of reason in To Kill A Mockingbird.
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