In the ninth chapter of To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Atticus talks to Scout about his new case that he will be taking on. He tells her that he will be defending a man named Tom Robinson, who is a colored man living in the colored part of town in Maycomb County. Scout asks if they will win the case only to hear Atticus' response of: no. Atticus then explains to Scout that, 'Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.' And so the question is: what does Atticus mean by this?
This quote is explaining to Scout and the readers that even though Tom Robinson had already lost the case just because of the color of his skin, it was still worth trying to win. In the eyes of a child such as Scout this does not make sense and seems illogical, with support from Scout, 'If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doing it?' (86). Scout takes the racist slurs like "nigger" referring to people of color from the streets and school yard and puts it into her private life, as do everyone else in Maycomb County. To Atticus though, as a lawyer finds it as his civic duty to defend someone who needs help and in this case Mr. Robinson. His explanation to Scout it describing to her that even though the colored race was put back in humanity and already treated as criminals, trying to do the right thing is worth the effort. And so brings up another quetion to think about: Why does Harper Lee put we in Atticus' explanation instead of they? What is she trying to show?
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I agree with Victor in his analysis of the quote. Atticus was saying that one hundred years ago, the blacks already had "lost" in the sense that they were always going to be viewed as having less value and in-turn, were always going to be behind. Harper Lee decides to have Atticus say "we" and not "they" to emphasize his morality. Firstly, it is showing his loyalty to his client, "we" referring to the team of him and Tom Robinson. Also, the fact that Atticus says "we" shows that he considers it a disadvantage to the whole of the human race, not just the colored race, that the loss can already be ensured. Atticus goes after the case because he knows that it is his duty as a lawyer to defend who ever needs to be defended, and because of his predictable loss, Mr. Robinson needs to be defended that much more. In the end of chapter nine, Atticus talks about the case even though he knows Scout is listening. My only question that remains is, between telling Scout that he knows he will lose, and willingly let her hear the information about the case, is he trying to prepare her for some life-changing defeat? And if so, why would he let her know about it, instead of her figuring it out for herself when the time comes?
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with Victory and Caroline, Atticus has strong belief in his morals, knowing that it is his duty as a lawyer to defend the oppressed. Atticus has separate beliefs from Maycomb County, even given their location and history, and was willing to express his righteous opinions regardless of what others said about him or African-Americans. Responding to Caroline's question, Atticus may have been talking to Scout about this early on so as to give both sides to the story instead of simply listening to the school children and neighbors. A recurring theme that has shown so far in the book is Atticus' belief in seeing both sides of the argument before making a final decision, even teaching Uncle Jack about this at the end of Chapter 9. It is Atticus' duty to teach Scout as a young girl, what her morals should be and the decisions she makes. Over the course of the chapters we have read, the Atticus acts as the logical father attempting in every way possible to teach Scout what is right from wrong, including the time when they were fascinated with Arthur Radley. Arthur Radley was put in the story to compare with Atticus' client. Atticus proved to Jem and Scout just how human and kind he was despite the nasty rumors spread about the town.
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