Gentleman as Hero: Atticus Finch and the Lonely Path
Year: 1993
Type: article
Abstract: Any reviewer of Tom Shaffer’s biography and the list of his more than 250 articles, essays, and books, is reminded of the way in which Tom distinguishes a hero from an everyday lawyer. His distinction perhaps fits Tom, but it more surely describes a major character of lawyer fiction with whose name Tom Shaffer’s will be forever linked – the person of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Why does the Gentleman from Maycomb stand as perhaps the most enduring image of Tom Shaffer’s work? As others have suggested, the image seems most anachronistic: Finch is a man, a white man, a Southerner, a gentleman, a rural lawyer, a lone practitioner engaged in general practice who disdains the commercial hustle for a genteel way of life. This article compares Atticus Finch to Tom Shaffer.
Source: Journal of Law and Religion
DOI: 10.2307/1051135
Author: Marie A. Failinger
Institution: Hamline University
Language: English
Topic: Law in Society and Culture
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2017977787