My Hero, My Future, My Ultimate Goal

Who is your hero? Is it Michael Jordan? Is it Rosa Park? Is it one of your family members? Atticus Finch, one of the main characters of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is one of the best-known American hero’s who seeks and strives to prove the innocence of a black man. In the process of seeking the truth, or the innocence of a black man, he asked a big question of people. Is it right to have injustice, segregation and discrimination? This big question always raises controversy even nowadays and people must always face this question, think deeply and realize that any discrimination is wrong. Atticus’s gentlemanliness and unusual way of treating people is valiant and very correct although people have different ideas about him. This is a statement that may have changed society then and today’s society.

Atticus Finch’s household is unusual in many ways. His children, Scout and Jem, call him ‘Atticus’ rather than calling him ‘Dad’ or ‘Father.’ This may sound rude but there’s a reason behind this. Do you call your friend ‘Sir’ or ‘Mam?’ You don’t, because both you and your friends treat one other as equals and see and respect each other equally. This concept applies to the Finch family. Atticus treats his children as ‘little-adults’ thus his children call him ‘Atticus’ which reveals that they mutually respect one another. His unusual character may seem irresponsible because his children are able to do whatever they want and it certainly caused a number of problems for him in the story. However, Atticus doesn’t scold them like a normal parent would. In fact, when Jem destroyed the camellia bushes belonging to Miss Dubose, Atticus didn’t scold him at all but rather gave him a painful punishment—the punishment was to force Jem to visit Miss Dubose and read to her for a month! No offense, but Miss Dubose was not a pleasant person to visit constantly, as she screamed at whoever she saw from her porch and sent them off with a flea in their ear. Atticus knew about her...