Reconstructing Atticus Finch.

• Author: Lubet, Steven
• Position: Response to book review by Steven Lubet in this issue, p. 1339 - Classics Revisited - 1999 Survey of Books Related to the Law - Review

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. First Edition. By Harper Lee. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company. 1960. Pp. 296.

1. INTRODUCTION

   Atticus Finch.

   No real-life lawyer has done more for the self-image or public perception of the legal profession than the hero of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.(1) For nearly four decades, the name of Atticus Finch has been invoked to defend and inspire lawyers, to rebut lawyer jokes, and to justify (and fine-tune) the adversary system. Lawyers are greedy. What about Atticus Finch? Lawyers only serve the rich. Not Atticus Finch. Professionalism is a lost ideal. Remember Atticus Finch.(2)

   In the unreconstructed Maycomb, Alabama of the 1930s, Atticus was willing to risk his social standing, professional reputation, and even his physical safety in order to defend a poor, black laborer falsely accused of raping a white woman. Serving for no fee, Atticus heard the call of justice.(3) His defense was doomed to failure by the very nature of Southern life, but Atticus nonetheless succeeded in demonstrating both the innocence of his client and the peculiar sickness of Jim Crow society. Through his deft, courtly, and persistent cross examination, Atticus made it apparent to everyone that Tom Robinson was being scapegoated for a crime that had not even occurred. He even made Tom's innocence apparent to the all-white jury, which deliberated for an unprecedented several hours(4) even though the judgment of conviction was a foregone conclusion.

   So Atticus Finch saves us by providing a moral archetype, by reflecting nobility upon us, and by having the courage to meet the standards that we set for ourselves but can seldom attain. And even though he is fictional, perhaps because he is fictional, Atticus serves as the ultimate lawyer.(5) His potential justifies all of our failings and imperfections.(6) Be not too hard on lawyers, for when we are at our best we can give you an Atticus Finch.(7)

   But what if Atticus is not an icon? What if he was more a man of his time and place than we thought? What if he were not a beacon of enlightenment, but just another working lawyer playing out his narrow, determined role?

   This review considers the possibility that Atticus Finch was not quite the heroic defender of an innocent man wrongly accused. What if Mayella Ewell was telling the truth? What if she really was raped (or nearly raped) by Tom Robinson? What do we think then of Atticus Finch? Is he still the lawyers' paragon? Were his defense tactics nonetheless acceptable? Does his virtue depend at all on Tom's innocence, or is it just as noble to use one's skills in aid of the guilty? And if we can answer those questions, what conclusions may we draw about contemporary law practice?

   Part II sets out three differing narratives of the trial, each of which can be distilled from the pages of To Kill a Mockingbird: Scout's story, Tom's story, and Mayella's story. Confronted with conflicting facts, Part III discusses the ways that Atticus Finch might have resolved them, and how he might have shaped his advocacy to fit his understanding of the truth.

2. THREE NARRATIVES

   The text of To Kill a Mockingbird contains three distinct narratives of the Atticus Finch story. Two of these stories, as told by Scout, Atticus's daughter, and Tom Robinson, his client, provide the time-honored saga of the virtuous lawyer. The third, barely audible, narrative is that of Mayella Ewell, Tom's accuser. Mayella's story, conveyed to us through Scout's eyes, is told only to be discredited. Though she is pitied as much as censured, the ultimate lesson about Mayella is, above all else, that she is not to be trusted.

   1. Scout's Story

      Jean Louise Finch, known to everyone as Scout, is Atticus Finch's seven-year-old daughter. We learn of Atticus's exploits only through the child's narration; indeed, Scout is our only source of knowledge of Maycomb, Alabama. Although others witnessed the key events, including Scout's brother, Jem, and their friend, Dill, it is Scout alone who tells the story. She is our witness to Atticus as he explains his initial reservations about being appointed to represent Tom Robinson. She sees him, and ultimately helps him, face down a lynch mob outside of Tom's jail cell. Most significantly, Scout chronicles the trial of Tom Robinson, providing her own assessment of the credibility of the witnesses.

      Scout's narrative has been characterized, by none other than Harper Lee herself, as "a love story pure and simple."(8) And that is what it is. Atticus can do no wrong. All of his choices are brave and noble, which is why the community of Maycomb ultimately puts its faith in him. Whether saving the town from a rabid dog, representing the county in the state legislature, or exposing the people to their own juridic hypocrisy, Atticus, at least in Scout's eyes, can be counted on to do the right thing.

      Thus, Scout's story of the trial is elegant and simple. Mayella and her father, Robert E. Lee Ewell, are simply lying about the rape. Mayella is lying out of shame, and to protect herself from scorn and humiliation, after having been caught aggressively embracing a black man. Bob, as the elder Ewell is known, is lying out of anger and racial hatred. In Bob's world view, no white woman could possibly consent to sexual contact with a black man. So when he saw his daughter kissing Tom, the only explanation had to be rape.

      To Atticus, as Scout explains, Mayella and Bob "were absolute trash" (p. 134). In fact, Scout lets us know, she "never heard Atticus talk about folks the way he talked about the Ewells." Their lying nature was compounded by their general distastefulness. They were dirty, no-account, brutal, prolific, shiftless, diseased, and untrustworthy. Not at all the sort of "decent folks" whom Scout was reared to respect and honor.

      And make no mistake, Scout had no respect at all for any of the Ewells, who lived behind the town garbage dump, competing with the "varmints" for refuse (p. 181). In Scout's words,

      [e]very town the size of Maycomb had families like the Ewells. No economic fluctuations changed their status -- people like the Ewells lived as guests of the county in prosperity as well as in the depths of a depression. No tr[ua]nt officers could keep their numerous offspring in school; no public health officer could free them from congenital defects, various worms, and the diseases indigenous to filthy surroundings. [p. 181] Bob Ewell's face was "as red as his neck" (p. 181), and only "if scrubbed with lye soap in very hot water" would his skin be white (p. 182).

      Scout's assessment of Mayella is slightly more sympathetic, but not much. "A thick-bodied girl accustomed to strenuous labor," she managed to look "as if she tried to keep clean" (p. 190). Intimidated and in tears from the moment she took the witness stand, to Scout it was all a ploy, in aid of her soon-to-be-told false testimony -- "She's got enough sense to get the judge sorry for her" (p. 191). She had some sense of confidence, but "there was something stealthy about hers, like a steady-eyed cat" (p. 192). Mayella was a complete stranger to refinement or even manners. Said Scout, "I wondered if anybody had ever called her `ma'am' or `Miss Mayella' in her life; probably not, as she took offense to routine courtesy. What on earth was her life like?" (p. 194).

      Scout soon found out the answer to that question, as Mayella's home life quickly became a theme in Atticus's cross examination. Mayella, the oldest of seven children (whom Scout derisively called "specimen" (p. 194)), had gone to school for only two or three years. Her family lacked money and almost all other necessities:

      [T]he weather was seldom cold enough to require shoes, but when it was, you could make dandy ones from strips of old tires; the family hauled its water in buckets from a spring that ran out at one end of the dump -- they kept the surrounding area clear of trash -- and it was everybody for himself as far as keeping clean went: if you wanted to wash you hauled your own water; the younger children had perpetual colds and suffered from chronic ground-itch; there was a lady who came around sometimes and asked Mayella why she didn't stay in school -- she wrote down the answer; with two members of the family reading and writing, there was no need for the rest of them to learn. [pp. 194-95] Perhaps worst of all, Mayella had no friends. To Scout, she seemed like "the loneliest person in the world."(9) She seemed "puzzled" at the very concept. "You makin' fun o'me agin?" she asked, when Atticus pressed her on the subject (p. 195). At the end of her testimony, Mayella "burst into real tears," and would not continue answering questions. Scout interpreted this as contempt on the part of the "poor and ignorant" witness (p. 200).

   2. Tom's Story

      Tom Robinson worked for Mr. Link Deas, which caused him to pass the Ewell shack every day on his way to and from the field. Mayella often called Tom to come "inside the fence" (p. 203) so that he could help her with chores. Tom refused payment, which caused Scout to think that he "was probably the only person who was ever decent to her" (p. 204). Tom echoed that thought: "[S]he didn't have nobody to help her.... I felt right sorry for her" (p. 209).

      Tom never once "set foot on the Ewell property without an express invitation" (p. 204). On the day in question, Tom was returning from work when Mayella called him into the yard, and then asked him to do some work in the house. After Mayella herself shut the door, it occurred to Tom that the house was awfully quiet. He asked Mayella where the other children were. "She says -- she was laughin', sort of -- she says they all gone to town to get ice creams. She says, `Took me a slap year to save seb'm nickels, but I done it. They all gone to town'" (p. 205).

      Tom started to leave, but Mayella asked him to take a box down from a high chifforobe. He reached for it, and the next thing he knew "she'd grabbed me...