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Atticus Finch Speeches

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1)How does Atticus Finch represent the ideas expressed by President Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address? Why?

Atticus represents the ideas of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address because in the court case, he works hard stress the importance of the jury needing to be fair and treat all people equally. “‘Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal,’" (Lee 274). Atticus states this because he knows that the jury is biased, but he’s dedicated to trying to level the playing field, have the jury treat all men equally, and in doing so he’s representing the ideas in the Gettysburg Address, because he’s fighting to make sure the Union’s soldier …show more content…
Langston Hughes refers to the justice system as a blind goddess, and in doing so he’s saying that just like a goddess the justice system has a lot of power over the fates of people, and just like a blind person the justice system is impaired. In Langston Hughes’s poem the goddess is impaired by bandages that block what used to be her eyes, but in the book, the jury’s minds are impaired by the bandages of racism, and the jury’s bias covers up all signs of them being good people. Atticus even points out that the justice system is biased himself. “‘The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box,’”(Lee 295). But, sadly as stated by Atticus, the jury is mostly biased against black people, and because of this Lincoln’s ideas are not represented by the verdict Tom receives. President Lincoln states in his address that “all men are created equal,” (Lincoln). He says that he wants to make sure the Union’s soldier “shall not have died in vain,” (Lincoln). But, by giving Tom an unfair verdict, and treating him unequally because of his race, they dishonor what the Union’s soldiers fought for. The verdict given to Tom is bias against black people, and so is the Justice system, which is why black people are aware and are wise

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