"Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down...I could take being a coward for him." p. 77 To some of us, the word hero invokes a picture of someone with superpowers and tights. Someone who always does the right thing and saves the day. Someone who always defeats the evil villain. There is a more realistic version of a hero. A hero can be someone who does the right thing, someone who is looked up to, someone who never holds grudges. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are a few very definite heroic and non heroic characters that can be easily recognized.
Atticus is definitely the easiest heroic character to recognize. His two children never want to let him down, and they look up to him. Always doing the right thing, Atticus suffered from a lot of ridicule from children and adults. No matter what anyone said, Atticus stuck to his guns and defended Tom Robinson; it was the right thing to do. "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand." p. 112 Being the great person that he is, Atticus wanted Jem to see the real bravery in Mrs. Dubose, she never gave up fighting her sickness even though death was inevitable. If a disgusting man, inside and out, spat in my face, I would of probably lost it and hit him square in the face. When Bob Ewell spat in Atticus' face, he kept his cool and didn't do anything irrational. "I wish Bob Ewell didn't chew tobacco." p. 217 Atticus didn't lose his temper, didn't throw any punches, didn't even name call. He is a true heroic character.
Although not as recognizable, I believe Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are also heroic figures in the novel. Tom always helped Mayella Ewell, even though getting paid was out of the question. "It occurred to me that in their own way, Tom Robinson's manners were as good as Atticus's." p. 198 Black people were looked down upon a lot in this time period, so saying an African American's manners are as good as a very polite white man is definitely saying a lot. Tom was a very polite, very good man and he didn't deserve to die. Boo Radley was also a hero in his own way. When Miss Maudie's house burned down and Scout was sitting on the curb practically freezing to death, Boo covered her up with a warm blanket. Bob Ewell attacked Jem and Scout and Boo saved them. He is definitely a very heroic character. "Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mocking bird, wouldn't it?" p. 276 Shooting a mocking bird is a sin, sending Boo to court would be a sin too.
On one hand, there's the heroic figures. On the other, there's antiheroic and Bob Ewell is as bad as they get. Ewell forces himself upon his own daughter and he won't admit to it at the trial, even though the evidence clearly shows that it was him. He was completely ready to let someone else take the blame and be killed to cover up the truth. "The witness said he never called a doctor to any of his'n in his life, and if he had it would of cost him five dollars." p. 175 The safety of his own daughter wasn't even worth five dollars to Bob Ewell. He also carries terrible grudges against everyone connected to the case. Sure, he's really mad about the case with Robinson going wrong, but that is a terrible excuse to attack children. Ewell is just a nasty, disgusting villainous man, like many that live in our world today.
If only there could be more people like Atticus, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. The world needs more heroic people and less anti heroes. Everything could be so much safer, so much better. Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird shows the heroic type of people that we need more of, and the non-heroic type that we need way less of.
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