How does Harper Lee present Atticus and Scout's attitude toward him in the passage in which Scout says, "Atticus was feeble," in Chapter 10 of To...

Author Harper Lee creates irony when, in Chapter 10 of To Kill a Mockingbird, she has Scout describe Atticus as feeble. In Scout's mind, Atticus is feeble because he is older than other fathers of children her and Jem's age and does not do anything interesting. Scout's opinion that Atticus is feeble is ironic because he is actually the exact opposite. In reality, Atticus has extraordinary strength of character and a very unusual ability...

Author Harper Lee creates irony when, in Chapter 10 of To Kill a Mockingbird, she has Scout describe Atticus as feeble. In Scout's mind, Atticus is feeble because he is older than other fathers of children her and Jem's age and does not do anything interesting. Scout's opinion that Atticus is feeble is ironic because he is actually the exact opposite. In reality, Atticus has extraordinary strength of character and a very unusual ability to act bravely, as Scout soon discovers.

Scout sees Atticus as feeble because, due to what she thinks of as his old age, which is only 50, he is unable to do many things such as play tackle football with Jem. She also sees his physique as portraying his feebleness, such as the fact that he wears glasses and is "nearly blind in his left eye." Finally, his job contributes to her view that he is feeble. In Scout's mind, Atticus does not have an interesting job like other fathers; for example, he does not drive a garbage truck, farm, work as a sheriff, nor work in a garage as a mechanic. Instead, all he does is work in an office, which could not "possibly arouse the admiration of anyone" (Ch. 10).

Little does Scout realize that we learned a great deal about Atticus's bravery earlier in Chapter 9. Atticus is brave enough to face the wrath of society by deciding to put his all into defending Tom Robinson, despite the rest of society's racist views that Robinson must be guilty simply because he is African American. In Chapter 10, we further witness Atticus's bravery when he acknowledges the reality that only his sharpshooting skills can save the neighborhood from a rabid dog and submits to taking on the task, even though he hates the idea of killing any living thing. Hence, Scout's opinion at the start of Chapter 10 is ironic and extremely incorrect, as she soon realizes.