to do something again. (Lee, 78)

Atticus knows that the right thing to do is to defend Tom Robinson despite the enormous backlash and consequences attached to defending a black man in a prejudiced society. However, Atticus is a noble individual with integrity and refuses to dismiss his moral responsibility to protect an innocent, vulnerable man.

2. Even though Atticus realizes that he has no chance of winning the case, he is willing to valiantly defend Tom in front of a racist jury. Atticus demonstrates his character and positive outlook by telling Scout,

Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win. (Lee, 78)

3. In chapter eleven, Atticus attempts to explain to Scout why he feels compelled to take the Tom Robinson case. After Scout tells her father that he must be wrong, Atticus responds by saying,

The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. (Lee, 107)

Atticus is essentially telling his daughter that he must dismiss everyone's opinions and follow his conscience. Atticus is a morally upright man, who is determined to follow his heart and do the right thing by defending Tom regardless of his neighbors' opinions.

4. As a morally upright man, Atticus also believes that everyone should be treated fairly regardless of their skin color. In Atticus's mind, Tom Robinson has the right to be judged fairly without prejudice. Following the tragic verdict, Atticus reveals his belief that everyone should be treated equally by telling his children,

There’s nothing more sickening to me than a lowgrade white man who’ll take advantage of a Negro’s ignorance. (Lee, 224)

Atticus recognizes that he does not have a chance of winning the case because it is a Black man's word against a white woman's. In the Jim Crow South, racism is deeply embedded into the culture and black people are considered second-class citizens with little to no rights. Black people are discriminated against and live separately in Maycomb's segregated society. Atticus understands that a prejudiced, all-white jury would never acquit a Black man charged with raping a white woman. The very nature of his client's accused crime is provocative enough to sway the jurors against Tom Robinson.

Although Atticus realizes he has no chance of winning the case, he plans to reveal the truth and hopes to "jar the jury." Even though the Ewells are the most despicable family in the entire county and Tom Robinson has a stellar reputation, Atticus does not expect the jurors to vote in Tom's favor. Despite the hopeless situation, Atticus risks his reputation and sacrifices his family's well-being by courageously defending Tom Robinson to the best of his ability.

Atticus had hoped to never have a case of this magnitude but obediently follows Judge Taylor's decision to have him represent Tom Robinson. Following the trial and Tom's tragic death, Scout recognizes the full extent of her father's predicament by saying,

Atticus had used every tool available to free men to save Tom Robinson, but in the secret courts of men’s hearts Atticus had no case. Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.

Atticus mentions to Jim and Scout that the case is sensitive and the whole world is basically against them from the beginning because it's one black man's word against several white people. No matter how upstanding the black man or how unappealing the white people, the whites will always be listened to before the black man's word is considered. Atticus tells Jim and Scout that he isn't just defending Tom Robinson: he's fighting 100 years of history and he is not going to win against all that precedence, no matter how great an attorney he may be.

No, Atticus knows from the start that he will not win the case against Tom Robinson, because the rules of white southern society in the 1930s won't allow a black to win against a white.

When Scout then asks Atticus why he is fighting a battle he knows he will lose, Atticus explains that

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.

By this he means he would lose his sense of integrity and instead feel a strong sense of shame if he didn't take the case. As he tells Scout, every lawyer gets one case in his lifetime that is "personal" to him, and this is his. Atticus would sacrifice his sense of self and his self respect if he didn't give the case the best he could offer it.

In fact, Atticus doesn't win, but he does maintain his integrity and earn the respect of the black community. The lesson that Scout learns is that sometimes a person has to act in a certain way not because of the expected outcome, but because it is the right thing to do.

At the beginning of Chapter 9, Scout gets offended when Cecil Jacobs says Atticus defends "niggers" on the playground. Later that night, Scout asks her father if it is true that he defends Negroes. Atticus explains to Scout that he will be defending a black man named Tom Robinson. Atticus proceeds to tell Scout that if he chose not to defend Tom Robinson, then he wouldn't be able to hold his head in town or represent Maycomb in the legislature. Scout then asks Atticus if he is going to win the case. Atticus simply tells Scout, "No, honey" (48). When Scout asks him why he is even going to try to defend Tom, Atticus tells her, "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win" (48). Atticus realizes he has no chance of winning the case because of the prejudiced jury, but he is still going to defend Tom to the best of his ability.

Atticus was a really smart man and had lived in the South and Maycomb long enough to know that Tom Robinson would never be acquitted of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman.  Sadly, that just didn’t happen during this racist time.  Throughout our history, there are many real court cases that show the unfair treatment of blacks in America’s court system.  As a matter of fact, the famous Scottsboro Boys trial in Alabama during the same time period in which To Kill a Mockingbird took place, the 1930’s, found nine young black men guilty of raping two white women on a train.  They were all innocent of the charges.

The important thing about Atticus was that even though he knew he would lose, he tried his very best to defend Tom.  In Chapter 9, Atticus tells Scout that he will not win the trial.  Scout asks why, and Atticus tells Scout that, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.”  His defense showing how it would be impossible for Tom to hit Mayella Ewell with his injured left hand should have been enough to get Tom set free.  However, the social climate of the time was that you would never believe or side with a black over the testimony of a white.  Tom was doomed from the very beginning. 

Atticus was able to have a small victory, however, when it took the jury several hours to come to a decision.  This showed that Atticus was able to place doubt into the jury’s mind, but it was still not enough to acquit a black man.  Unfortunately, before an appeal could be fought, Tom Robinson was killed trying to escape prison.