How does Lee portray Atticus in TKAMB

Harper Lee’s character Atticus, is pivotal in conveying her message of equality. In order to do
this, Lee presents the character as a teacher, fair and wise.

Atticus primarily stands out as a teacher for his children, Jem and Scout. He says to Scout “Don’t
say nigger Scout, that’s common”. Clearly, this shows Atticus teaching Scout not to use words
like “nigger”, as they are disrespectful and as Atticus says “common”. This shows us that as a
parent, Atticus has to teach his children about things they do not always learn in school; to have
respect and how to behave in society. This also suggest that there is more to life that what one
can learn in school, maybe that there are more important things too. It also shows an element
of Atticus where he is portrayed as forward-thinking as a lot of people in the novel and in
Southern America at the time used the word “nigger” to refer to someone with black skin, but
Atticus says that this is wrong, going against the majority at the time; demonstrating lee’s
message of equality and fairness. Lee could use this to try to show us that the majority of
people are not always right, just in Tom Robinson’s court case, because the majority of the
town thought it and all of the jury said he was guilty. This does not mean that they are right, in
fact we know them to be wrong. This portrays a message from lee that you should always stand
up for what you believe to be right, or true. However, it also shows some prejudice on the part
of Atticus when he says “that’s common”. He implies that common things are negative, and he
would also be referring to a particular type of person by using the word “common” which
shows he is prejudiced against that type of individual as he implies that they are somewhat
inferior. Another quote showing Atticus as a teacher is “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” This
shows Atticus again teaching his children not to kill mockingbirds, which are a metaphor used
throughout the novel to show people who have done nothing wrong, people like Boo Radley.
The use of the word “sin” has religious connotations, suggesting that by doing this, you are
going against God and should therefore be sent to hell. This is a powerful idea in a novel where
society strongly believes in Christianity; suggest that the people who act against the
Mockingbird, Tom Robinson, are “sin(ful)”. However this also shows prejudice in Atticus as
before this he says “shoot all the Bluejays you want” which raises the question: why is it alright
to kill Bluejays and not mockingbirds?

To be continued

Atticus is a character curated by Lee for the readers to perceive as a positive role model, not
only on the fictional society he lives within but the readers themselves. The most important
aspect of Atticus’ character is his sense of fairness due to the fact that throughout the
difficulties he comes across in trying to maintain this, the character’s firm belief in fairness,
leads the reader to consider that for man to struggle so greatly for it, must make it important.