“Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit’ em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” —Atticus Finch
This month we celebrate the 65th anniversary of the original publication of Harper Lee’s magnificent book To Kill a Mockingbird. I first read the novel in 1980 during my sophomore year in high school. I have read the novel countless times since then. It has shaped and influenced me like no book other than the Bible. Like many attorneys of my generation (and ones before and hopefully after), Lee’s novel inspired me to become a lawyer. I wanted to be Atticus Finch, a fearless man of integrity.
Atticus Finch teaches several precepts that I have tried to emulate in my legal career and in my life. While there are many lessons to be learned from To Kill a Mockingbird, including the importance of the ongoing fight against prejudice, racism, and social injustice, what particularly stands out to me over and over again is Atticus’ pursuit of his God-given calling with character and courage.
Atticus’ mission called him to serve his community as a general practice lawyer. He could have moved to a bigger city, like his brother Jack did, following the lure of more notoriety and money. Instead, Atticus chose to stay in his hometown, where “he knew his people, they knew him.” In his calling as a lawyer in small-town Alabama, Atticus engaged in his own personal struggle against injustice while silently serving his neighbors and seeking to protect the weak, the vulnerable, the powerless, and the innocent of his community, those who, like a mockingbird, “don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out to us.”
The pursuit of this calling is exemplified in Atticus’ representation of Tom Robinson, an African American accused of raping a white girl in their hometown in the 1930s Jim Crow South. Living out his mission to pursue justice and defend the weak and vulnerable compels Atticus to take on this difficult, unpopular case and displays passion and competence in the setting in which God placed him. Like Atticus, each of us has a calling, a God-placed mission to serve the purpose of God in our own generation (Acts 13:36), walking in the good works God has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10).
Neighbor Miss Maudie Atkinson sums up the mission of Atticus Finch to his daughter, Scout, “I simply want to tell you that there are some men in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father’s one of them.” She later observes, “We’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we’ve got men like Atticus to go for us.”
Throughout the novel, Atticus’ Christian character is on full display to his children, his neighbors, and his community. In the courtroom, Atticus possesses the “infinite capacity for calming turbulent seas,” “never rais[ing] his voice … except to a deaf witness.” Miss Maudie tells us that “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.” The owner of the local newspaper, Mr. Raymond, observes that he is “not a run-of-the-mill man.”
Atticus embodies the golden rule. He treats others the way he would like to be treated. He shows everyone—family, neighbors, and even his opponents—decency and respect. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Judge Taylor tells the prosecution’s key witness and alleged victim, Mayella Euell, “That’s just Mr. Finch’s way … We’ve done business in this court for years and years, and Mr. Finch is always courteous to everybody. He’s not trying to mock you, he’s trying to be polite. That’s just his way.”
Atticus also turns the other cheek. After the trial, Mayella Euell’s father, whose credibility Atticus shredded during cross-examination, threatens Atticus and spits in his face. Atticus refuses to fight Mr. Euell. Instead, he “put his hands in his pockets and strolled on,” stating that he’s not too proud to fight, just “too old.”
In his way of dealing with others, Atticus shares with his daughter (and us) “a simple trick,” telling Scout that “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This idea is reinforced throughout the book as Scout tries to climb into her brother’s skin and walk around in it. In one of the book’s final scenes, Scout lives out her father’s teaching as she finally encounters their neighbor and savior, Boo Radley. After standing in Boo’s shoes and walking around in them, she gains a better understanding of him and his desire to be respected and left alone.
Atticus’ character stands out not only to his family but to all who encounter him. There is something different about him that causes others to take notice. This results in a show of respect from those he has impacted. In one of my favorite scenes in the book, the African American community, relegated to the balcony to observe Tom Robinson’s trial, stands as Atticus exits the courtroom. Reverend Sykes tells Atticus’ daughter, “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” They respect him even after their community member is wrongfully convicted of rape because he was ably defended by Atticus. Atticus exemplifies Proverbs 22:1: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”
In defending the wrongfully accused Tom Robinson, Atticus shows us the importance of character and courage. He is a lawyer willing to pursue justice in the face of public opposition. Atticus tells his daughter, “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine.”
In his representation of Tom, Atticus chooses to ignore the sentiments of most of his neighbors, friends, and community. He advises Scout, “There’s some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn’t do much about defending this man.” Scout asks, “If you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it?” Atticus replies, “If I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” Scout tells her father that “most folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong. ” To which Atticus graciously responds, “They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions … but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”
Atticus explains to Jem (and to us) what courage looks like in the example of their cantankerous, dying neighbor, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, “I wanted you to see something about her—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. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” While Atticus speaks of Mrs. Dubose’s courageous example in overcoming addiction, Harper Lee is also reminding us of Atticus himself—a man who has the moral courage to take on Tom Robinson’s defense even though he knew his efforts would likely be in vain.
Acting with courage, doing the right thing without fear of what your friends and neighbors think, is difficult and, at times, not fair, but Atticus reminds us that “sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down” demonstrates who we truly are. “This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience—Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.”
In an often-repeated teaching in the New Testament, we are told again and again that trials and tribulations will necessarily come in the life of a follower of Christ. (See, for instance, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 John 3:13, John 15:19, Mark 13:13) Put bluntly, as we pursue the calling God has given us, Christ followers are going to walk through times of testing, where we will have the opportunity to display godly character and live with moral courage.
Not too long ago, I received the greatest compliment I believe I have ever received when the most important person in my life told me, “You are Atticus Finch.” I hope that’s sometimes true, and that it grows true more often than not. May we all aspire to become like Atticus Finch, a person pursuing his God-given calling with character and courage.
Jeff Mateer (J.D., Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law) is the chief operating officer and chief legal officer of First Liberty Institute.
