I love the book and the movie, but I am
curious if Atticus did have any flaws, because
to me it always looked like he was all around perfect.
Anyone else?
That’s a very interesting question. I'm inclined to think he did have flaws (how many of us are truly perfect?) although given the storyline and so forth those flaws were irrelevant. We're given only superficial examples in both book and film.
shareInteresting question. The character of Atticus Finch is written in such a way as to have us see him as a perfect man. In reality, we know there is no such thing.
He is what we aspire to be. Or should. Someone who is correct in all of their judgements, unbiased in his view of other men (mankind). He sees people for what they really are, and even those who should draw his anger, don't. He keeps his cool, because he believes and lives out the creed that "courage is not a man with a gun in his hand."
If there are any naked flaws to Atticus in the book or movie, it is his blindness to the danger that is surrounding his family. He isn't afraid of the danger when it confronts Tom Robinson on the jailhouse steps, so we know he isn't afraid. He just doesn't see it. Even when his sister mentions it. (in the book) Of course, his perception of that threat would change the entire story...
"I can't sit down. These aren't my pants."
Ah, good one. I missed that.
shareBut even at that, his rationale that his children must see and come to terms with the inequities of the society in which they lived makes perfect sense. As for the danger posed by Bob Ewell (human counterpart of the dog Tim Johnson, you might say) could anyone really have foreseen that?
shareBut even at that, his rationale that his children must see and come to terms with the inequities of the society in which they lived makes perfect sense. As for the danger posed by Bob Ewel (human counterpart of the dog Tim Johnson, you might say) could anyone really have foreseen that?
Well, the Tim Johnson/Bob Ewell comparison certainly doesn’t apply all the way across the board, but only in the limited sense that both represented a danger to the community. I couldn’t agree more with your assertion that Ewell was an absolute coward. But yet at the same time, for all the ignorance and cowardice, he was cunning – knew enough to see that the only way to truly get to Atticus was to go after the children.
Ewell reminds me a fair bit of Lucas Cross in the novel Peyton Place.
I'm so glad this thread got this intresting! The dog/Ewell comparison
is very good and he was a stinking coward who went after Atticus children
instead of him!
He got what was comming for him in my opinion!
Could blind faith be considered a flaw?
shareI think that is is actually. Having so much faith in
somebody that you don't see the flaws in them is dangerous.
Think Nazis in germany, they obeyed Hitler's every word.
It makes people easy to control.
Good exemples is Bellatrix
Lestrange and Dolores Umbridges from the Harry Potter novels.
Good thinking!
Well, perhaps I ought have completed or expanded that so as to say blind faith in folks’ abilities to recognize that flawed as they might be, they still have within the power to make sound decisions and do what is right.
The situation surrounding Hitler’s rise is a completely different eggroll, really.
I thought Atticus' biggest flaw was as an attorney. It's good that he kept his cool during the early stages of the trial, especially the cross-examination of Bob Ewell and Ewell's daughter. But when it got to the final summation, I would've liked to see a lot more passion.
"I don't deduce, I observe."
You didn't catch the passionate fury in the final summation?
shareThere was some, yes. Not quite enough to suit my tastes.
"I don't deduce, I observe."
I think that we saw a little bit of "kindness as a weakness" when it came to raising his children. They were at times ill-mannered and disobedient, but he couldn't bring himself to discipline them. With could have been costly when Nathan Radley shot at the "prowler" who turned out to be Jem. I certainly wouldn't have been as immediately forgiving of my son if he disobeyed me, trespassed into another person's yard, and got shot. Other than that, no. It's handled well enough though that it doesn't detract from the story.
shareJust because he didn't spank them or slap them around doesn't mean he didn't discipline them. I might be remembering incorrectly but it seems like there is somewhere in the book where the children remark on there being 'frost' or 'winter' in his voice when he was upset with them, and that intimidated them into behaving. There is also a point where I remember Atticus saying to his brother that 'threatening' them with punishment kept them behaved to a point.
"She minds me as well as she can" were his very words, and that's saying something. How many children really try to 'mind' their parents?
The only fault I can think of considering Atticus would be that he was very dry and somewhat undemonstrative when it came to affection towards his children. But I take that as he was still grieving or maybe it had to do with his upbringing. All in all he was still an exceptional father.
"There is no half-singing in the shower, you're either a rock star or an opera diva." -Josh Groban
I never said that he didn't spank them. I said that he didn't discipline them. They weren't punished in any manner in spite of their repeated disobedience. Scout continued fighting and Jem even endanged himself by trespassing in the Radleys' yard. A cold told on voice doesn't chance that.
You make a good point though about him being a widowerer and trying to raise his children after the death of his wife. I could see how an individual like him would be unable to bring himself to punish them for their misdeeds. And yes, it is a rather forgivable fault, but it could have been costly in Jem's case. In any event, he's a very well written and well acted character. I think they did a great job of conveying his behaviors and the reasoning behind them. And yes, he remains an exemplary individual.
No serious flaws, but he's human. His silence on the issue of Arthur Radley and Mr. Ewell "falling on his knife" isn't without some ethical and legal questions, technically. Not everyone would agree with Atticus on that one, but the whole situation is meant to show in part that even someone as so clearly upstanding as Atticus faces tough moral choices from time to time. It's a complex world.
Yet his biggest flaw, imo, is a very small one: his arguably overdeveloped modesty and his unwillingness to let people around him know that there's so much more to him than just Atticus Finch the attorney. There are points in the story that show that there's much more to him than meets the eye, more than even his children know about him (being a good shot with a gun in the face of danger, for example). That he's not just a nice, principled guy but actually a very strong man and, when necessary, a man of action. Yet I also think this is fairly realistic; although it comes across to us as him being "perfect" in every way, he's representative of certain people of that time and place. There were some honorable people (not necessarily man, but some) in that day and age and culture, and in that place, who typically were genuinely modest and, however capable, didn't go around talking about it to improve their own estimation of themselves. That's Atticus.
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Watching the film with my wife, she thought that he should have protected the children a bit more from things he could have. Such as not taking Jem when he went to tell of Toms death. But he does say himself that he wishes he could pretect them from the evil of the world but there is no way he could.
shareWhen he said to Scout that "A compromise is an agreement made by consensual consent." EH! Wrong! A compromise is an agreement made by consensual adjustment.
That always bugged me about the book and movie.
~~VO~~Lap Up All Of My Sugary Badness.
"A compromise is an agreement made by consensual consent."
If memory serves (it may not as I haven't seen the picture recently), I think he uses the word "mutual" not "consensual". And, in the context of the moment, what is the difference between "consent" and "adjustment" considering mutual consent implies an adjustment has been made? Guess I'm not gettin' your point about this being a "flaw"? . . .
That sounds right to me, cwente.
"Consensual consent" wouldn't, I hope, pass a quick edit, and yes, I found Atticus' explanation to be just fine for a young girl, however precocious.
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Someone else mentioned this, but I want to repeat it: This is being recounted the way a child witnessed it. Children don't see flaws in their parents the way we do in other adults. Yes, we can infer things as adults while reading the book or watching the film, but children see things much differently.
sharePretty much this. (Also, who else mentioned it?) The story is told from the point of view of a young girl; she can't see the flaws and neither do we.
Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.
Yes, it seems to have been written from the pov of an elegy, after Atticus's death, when the narrator can't think ill of the lost person. I think there are a few potential flaws you could pick out from behind her narration, but they really aren't that major.
shareIf Atticus has a flaw its that his idealism and sense of justice is so absolute he cannot forsee the cynicism and injustice of others.
It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices
He's meant to be a paragon (or archetype) of moral courage. He could well be lacking physical courage as he never really gets tested in that regard. It seems like he does but as another poster pointed out, Atticus isn't really aware of the dangers to him and his family--he's blind to them. (perhaps because his moral courage is so dominant within him)
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Well, he wouldn't play football for the Methodists, and he wouldn't play tackle football wtih Jem, and he wouldn't let Jem have a gun.
Of course, being human, he surely had flaws; but I doubt anyone ever saw them. They had to be very, very tiny.
And remember, Atticus is shown to us through the eyes of his children, mainly Scout. And she was convinced he was perfect.