Pedro Morais

Mr. Owain Phillips

English 9A
17 December 2013
Good Traits, Good People
Do you ever feel like you are doing the wrong thing? There are some people that
have a sense of righteousness, and they do not like to feel they are doing the wrong
thing. There are also people that believe that when they start something, they should
carry it all the way to the end. Two strong examples of this behavior are Atticus Finch,
from To Kill a Mockingbird, and Agent Alan Ward, from Mississippi Burning. Alan Ward
and Atticus Finch are alike because of their will to go until the end and because of their
sense of righteousness.
Atticus Finch has the will to go until the end, and many people agree with what
Eileen Reynolds wrote: Atticusthe perfect lawyer, the perfect father, and even the
perfect shotis the key to the story. If he starts something, he will make sure to follow
through with it, never giving up, because if he did, there would be no story to tell. This is
very palpable in the book, especially when Atticus tells Jem that courage is not a man
with a gun in his hand, but instead, its when you know you're licked before you begin
but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what (Harper Lee 149). This is
also seen with the case of Tom Robinson. Atticus knows he will probably lose, but he
still defends him and goes until the end, even though he ends up losing.
Alan Ward also has the volition to follow through with things, just like Atticus. An
example of this in the movie is when he needs to find the bodies and Mr. Anderson says
the swamp is too big to search, but he gets about 200 men to search the swamp
anyways because he wants the truth (Alan Parker, Mississippi Burning). This shows that
even though the odds are against him he will do all he can to finish what he started.
Another trait that Atticus has is his sense of righteousness. He only does what he
feels is the right thing. One example of this in the book is when kids are saying bad
things about Atticus to Scout, but Atticus tells her: hold your head high and keep those
fists down (Harper Lee 101). This shows that even though people are insulting him and
his family, he does not fight back because it is the right thing to do, and, therefore, his
sense of righteousness does not let him do that.
Alan Ward shares this sense of righteousness with Atticus. A prominent example
of this in the film is when Mr. Anderson wants to investigate the case by getting to know
people and by lying, but Alan Ward does not want that because when they tried it, Mrs.
Pell got hurt. Because of this, Agent Ward starts a fight with Anderson and threatens to
kill him if he did not do things the right way (Alan Parker, Mississippi Burning). Even
though Alan Ward was not necessarily right, he still did what he thought was right
because of his sense of righteousness.
Obviously, because of their will to go until the end and their sense of
righteousness, Atticus Finch and Alan Ward are very similar people. They have
honorable traits that make them the ethical men they are. Unfortunately, most people in
the world do not have these qualities. If they did, though, would the world be a better
place?

Works Cited
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Grand Central, 1982. Print.
Mississippi Burning. Dir. Alan Parker. Perf. Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman. Orion
Pictures, 1988. DVD.
Reynolds, Eileen. "To Kill a Mockingbird at Fifty." The New Yorker. N.p., 15 June
2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.