What are 5 quotes that prove that Atticus was a great role model to his children and Maycomb in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Atticus is a good role model for his children because he values all people, stands up for what he believes in, is courageous, and protects others. 

Atticus is a unique parent.  As a single dad raising two kids, he surely has some challenges.  He handles these with grace and dignity.  Atticus Finch makes standing up for what you believe in and doing the right thing look easy.

Atticus teaches his children that just because something is hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.  Defending Tom Robinson is very unpopular in Maycomb. It is probably one of the hardest things Atticus has ever done, yet he takes the case not just because he has been ordered to, but because he considers it important.  He explains to his children why he needs to do it.

“Atticus, are we going to win it?”

“No, honey.”

“Then why—”

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,” Atticus said. (Ch. 9)

Showing his children different perspectives on courage is something that Atticus does often.  He defends his children and the town when they are faced with a rabid dog.  Atticus has not shot a gun in thirty years, but he is still the best shot in the town.  He knows that the town needs “one-shot Finch” and he takes the shot, despite what must have been a great deal of fear and self-doubt.  Miss Maudie explains this to his children. 

“ … Marksmanship’s a gift of God, a talent … I think maybe he put his gun down when he realized that God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things. I guess he decided he wouldn’t shoot till he had to, and he had to today.” (Ch. 10) 

Atticus is a role model not just because he shows his children courage himself, but because he is able to help them see it in others.  Atticus makes sure that his children understand the case of Mrs. Dubose, a horrible woman who nonetheless accomplishes the courageous feat of weaning herself off of morphine, a painkiller she is addicted to.  He tells them that although he may not agree with her ideas, he values her strength.

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. (Ch. 11) 

Courage does indeed come in many forms.  Atticus’s defense of the town against the mad dog is similar to the role he is playing with the trial.  Once again, he is doing a job that no one else can do.  Atticus is capable of giving Tom Robinson a fair trial, or at least the fairest he can get in Maycomb.  No one else wants to or is able to do it.  He takes this seriously though.  He even goes so far as to sit outside Tom Robinson’s cell and face down a lynch mob. 

Even though the men tell him that Heck Tate has been called off on a “snipe hunt,” so he knows the sheriff can’t help him, Atticus does not back down to the mob.  

“Thought about it, but didn’t believe it. Well then,” my father’s voice was still the same, “that changes things, doesn’t it?”

“It do,” another deep voice said. Its owner was a shadow.

“Do you really think so?” (Ch. 15) 

Scout doesn’t show fear either, following her father’s example.  She confronts the mob, engaging her schoolmate Walter Cunningham’s father in friendly conversation.  The men realize what they are doing and leave.  Like father, like daughter. 

Finally, there is the trial itself.  Atticus puts forward a convincing case that his client is innocent and that the crime did not take place.  The victim was attacked by her father for kissing a black man.  During his closing arguments, Atticus tries to convince the jury that a courtroom should be colorblind. 

It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honorable court which you serve. 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. (Ch. 20) 

Atticus tells the court that he is not an idealist, but that racism should not have any place in a courtroom.  While he is not successful in getting his client acquitted, he does get the jury to deliberate.  That is quite a feat in Maycomb, where prejudice runs deep.  Atticus made a little bit of a dent in the wall.