To Kill A Mockingbird Closing Speech - 1580 Words

Atticus’ Closing Speech As Abraham Lincoln once said, â€Å"The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every calling, is diligence.† Being thorough is a prodigious factor in being a lawyer. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, the main character, Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, portrays her life events and displays how much segregation occurred in her early childhood. Her father, Atticus Finch was a lawyer who was assigned to a case that dealt with a young adult, Mayella Ewell, who was accused of being raped by an African-American, Tom Robinson. This book has been written during the 1950’s and originally published in 1960. The book is based on Lee’s observations of her family, neighbors, and an event that†¦show more content†¦He said, I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt (Lee, 231). He then stated that she did this because she felt â€Å"guilty† about breaking the law, by having sexual emotions towards Tom Robinson. Atticus felt pity for Mayella and got the jurors to feel the pity as well. He got his audience to feel what it was like to be lonely like Mayella. She did not go to school and had any friends at all. Her father was an alcoholic, and she had to take care of her many siblings, who were still too young to take care of themselves. Atticus knew that Mayella is not an evil person, she was just involved in nonsense that got out of control. After building pity for Mayella, Finch connected it to Tom Robinson. He said, â€Å"And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people,† (Lee, 232). Feeling sorry for a white person while being black was an insult, but in this case, it was an inevitable fact that Mayella was tr uly below Tom Robinson. By using words like unmitigated temerity, he stated how Tom was actually confident when he said he felt sorry for Mayella. By saying this statement, Atticus revealed how Tom Robinson is in a much worse case than Mayella for going upShow MoreRelatedTo Kill A Mockingbird Symbolism Essay787 Words   |  4 PagesTo Symbolize a Mockingbird Throughout the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, we are introduced to two characters who represent her main theme. Understanding the roles the two play in this well-known classic, helps the reader understand the true meaning, and uncover various uses of clever symbolism in the book. 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Atticus as a character is a very intellectual person who possesses the fortitude to stand up for whatever he believes is right and will not let ot her people’s choices affect his own. Furthermore, it is also important to