Atticus Social Justice

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“Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained,”- Helen Keller. What is social justice? Is it something unattainable, and only dreamt of by the few sensible enough to know of it? Will our society reach it? When will we finally achieve it? In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the character of Atticus to reveal the ideas of social justice. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the peaceful character of Atticus to portray social justice. When Bob Ewell approaches Atticus after the trial, “…Atticus was leaving the post office when Mr. Ewell approached him, cursed him, spat on him, and threatened to kill him…Atticus didn’t bat an eye, …show more content…
People ask Atticus many times why he is defending Tom Robinson, and he replies with, “ ‘…Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man,’ ” (Lee 108). Atticus believes it is the morally right thing to defend this man, and that everyone deserves a fair chance no matter the color of their skin. On another occasion, Scout asks him why he is defending him and he responds with, “ ‘The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town. I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again,’” (Lee 78). Atticus’s conscience is telling him it is his duty to defend Tom Robinson to the best of his ability. While Atticus is giving his closing argument, he addresses the subject of equality, “‘But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal—there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. It can be the Supreme Court of the United States of the humblest J.P. Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal,’” (Lee 209). Atticus believes that in all courts, every man has an equal right, no …show more content…
Jem tells Atticus what Mrs. Dubose said about him defending a black man, and Scout becomes worried. “Atticus pushed my head under his chin. ‘It’s not time to worry yet,’ he said. ‘I never thought Jem’d be the one to lose his head over this—thought I’d have more trouble with you,” (Lee 108). Atticus is telling the children to be patient and not to worry about what the townspeople say about them. Scout tells Atticus about how she does not want to return to school because what her teacher said, he tells her to look from the teacher’s point of view. “ ‘First of all,’ he said, ‘if you learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—,” (Lee 30). When Atticus tells Scout the simple trick, it shows the reader that Atticus has the patience and capability to view things from an alternate perspective than his own. After Bob Ewell confronts Atticus, Jem and Scout hear about it and ask him why he did not do anything while he was spitting on him and cursing at him. “‘Jem, see if you can stand in Bob Ewell’s shoes a minute. I destroyed his last shred of credibility at that trial if he had any to begin with. The man had to have some kind of comeback, his kind always does,” (Lee 222). The patience executed by Atticus in this situation shows the reader
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