The Redemption of Atticus Finch

Atticus Finch do not exist in a vacuum, and this particular character, the literary archetype of the hero, is no mystery. He stands for Equality. He stands for Justice. We know this because Lee allows the reader to judge Atticus by his response to the extraordinary circumstance of having to defend a wrongfully accused black man, Tom Robinson, on the fabricated charge that Robinson raped a white woman in Jim Crow’s South. The heroics of Atticus, a white Southerner, steadfastly defending his client in the face of extreme racial prejudice justly has caused many Americans to proclaim Atticus Finch a symbol of equal justice. This interpretation has endured, and rightfully so, ever since the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird.