Atticus Finch

Atticus Finch is a fictional attorney in the American rural deep south who takes on the defense of a black man, wrongly accused of rape by a white woman, against all chances of succeeding in order to set an example by standing up to the racial status quo of the justice system. He represents the moral ideal of both a lawyer and a human being, embodying honesty, morality, a pursuer of noble causes, and lacking in racial or class prejudices.

Much of the book, narrated through the eyes of his daughter, Scout, focuses on the example he struggles to set for his children in the hope that they will not emulate his biased society and become prejudiced against others on account of race as well.

As a paragon of virtue, Atticus Finch transcends the work and has been embraced by the legal profession as an influence and an ideal.  He has been cited as a the reason for entering the field of law, the novel has been used as a law school textbook, as well as having been cited in legal journals, and the Alabama State Bar erected a monument dedicated to Atticus in Monroeville.

Submitted by:
Rich Griffith

Sources:

Wikipedia

To Kill A Mockingbird on Google Books

IMdB