PART TWO: KILLER CHARACTERS BLOGFEST

This week I'm taking part in the

KILLER CHARACTERS BLOGFEST

It's the brainchild of delightful bloggers Deana Barnhart and E. R. King. You can pop on over to their blogs to get the list of other participants and read their posts.

Today, our assignment is to present our FAVORITE PROTAGONIST from literature.

This was a pretty easy one for me ... it's ...

Gregory Peck! Oh no, WAIT! I mean, ATTICUS FINCH!

It's easy to see why I'd get confused though, because when the Pulitzer Prize winning book, To Kill a Mockingbird, was made into a movie, Gregory Peck became Atticus Finch as much as any actor can inhabit a role. Even the book's author, Harper Lee,  was so moved by Peck's performance in the role of Atticus,that she gave him her father's pocketwatch.

Here are my reasons for choosing Atticus Finch as Greatest Protagonist in Literature:

Atticus Finch is the quiet-spoken attorney who is appointed to defend a black man against a charge of rape in Depression-era Alabama. Atticus is a widower, raising his son, Jem, and his daughter, Scout. Despite antagonism and aggression from the people in his town, Atticus firmly stands his ground and ultimately proves the defendant's innocence. But the racial situation of the times is such that the man is found guilty anyway. Throughout the trial and its aftermath, Atticus Finch's moral compass never wavers and his behavior sets the hightest standard for integrity.

Atticus Finch is a quiet hero, willing to stand up for what is right,

no matter the opposition,

no matter that it would be so much easier not to.

He sets the example for his children through his actions and his simple words,

such as,

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ...  until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."

and
"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." 

My Man, Atticus Finch

from

To Kill a Mockingbird

by

Harper Lee