Classical Rhetoric in Atticus Finch's Speeches
Author(s): Brooke Richelle Holland
Source: The English Journal , July 2016, Vol. 105, No. 6 (July 2016), pp. 78-82
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26359259
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Brooke Richelle Holland
Classical Rhetoric in
Atticus Finch's Speeches
By exploring the uses
of plain, middle, and
grand styles, the author
examines how theories
of classical rhetoricians
can be applied to Atticus
Finch's speeches in
To Kill a Mockingbird.
ithin the walls of a typical high
school English classroom sit 30 ac
tive, intelligent students with voices
to express and words to be heard.
They have plights and preoccupations—they have
goals and plans. Some aspire to be pilots, others edu
cators, some medical professionals, and some parents.
The teacher, standing at his or her doorway looking
in, observes the 30 students and sees the day's chal
lenge: how to equip and inspire these scholars to
become effective communicators so they can master
their future occupation and position in society. The
teacher needs an example—a master orator who will
intrigue and teach all students. The ideal scenario is
to have the students learn from someone who is elo
quent in many spheres: at home, as well as in public
and at the workplace. To Kill a Mockingbirds Atticus
Finch is this ideal classroom guest.
Rhetoric and Today's Classrooms
In the high school English classrooms that I've en
countered, rhetoric has not been a focus or even a pass
ing discussion. It forms the basis for how we teach
our students to communicate, but most, if not all,
students are unfamiliar with the term let alone its
functions. Students want to be heard and want to be
persuasive; therefore, they need to know Aristotle's
famous definition of rhetoric: "Rhetoric may be de
fined as the faculty of observing in any given case the
available means of persuasion" (181) and be able to
answer Cicero's question, "What [is] so pleasing to
the understanding and the ear as a speech adorned
and polished with wise reflections and dignified
language?" (De Oratore 293). Studying Atticus Finch's
speeches provides answers to Cicero's question and
validity to Aristotle's statement. If students compre
hend the scope of rhetoric, they will be able to reach
audiences they never thought they could.
Cicero's Plain Style and Atticus's
Speeches to His Children
In Orator, Cicero explains that "to prove is the first
necessity" of an effective speaker (339). Proving
or informing is the aim of the plain style, so when
Scout, in despair, comes home from her first day of
school to tell Atticus about how her teacher, Miss
Caroline, does not understand any of the students
nor Maycomb's ways, Atticus employs the plain
style in his speech to her. He knows that before he
can please or persuade her he must lay down the
bottom line and give her the truths of the matter
carefully and without embellishment.
When Scout says to Atticus that she doesn't
feel well and she'd rather not "go to school anymore if
it was all right with him" (Lee 29), he calmly settles
in for a porch-swing talk and applies body language
appropriate to a speech given in the plain style. He
"crossed his legs," fingered his watchpocket as "that
was the only way he could think," and "waited in
amiable silence" for Scout to speak (29). Scout ex
plains that she doesn't want to go to school—she
doesn't really need to—and instead of rebuking or
arguing with her, Atticus responds logically and
calmly. His firm, friendly responses invite Scout to
share all of the social taboos that Miss Caroline vio
lated. Atticus then stands and takes a contemplative
78 English Journal 105.6 (2016): 78-82
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Brooke Richelle Holland
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (dir.
Robert Mulligan; Universal, 1962)
stroll to one end of the porch and back before he
says to her, "First of all . . . if you can learn a sim
ple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all
kinds of folks. You never really understand a person
until you consider things from his point of view . . .
until you climb into his skin and walk around in it"
(30). This quells Scout's rage for a moment, but when
she affirms that she still doesn't want to go to school
and that it's not fair that Burris Ewell doesn't have to
go but she does, he replies, "You can't do that, Scout
.... Sometimes it's better to bend the law a little in
special cases. In your case, the law remains rigid. So
to school you must go" (30).
While Atticus may not be the dad who tackles
or does anything too interesting in Scout's and Jem's
eyes (89), he does know how to gain their respect and
admiration, and with Scout he does it by using the
plain style. He speaks to instruct. His words meet
Cicero's definition of the plain style by being "loose
but not rambling" and they "move freely but not
to wander without restraint" (Orator 340). Cicero
writes that propriety is the "chief aim" of the plain
style (340), and Atticus demonstrates propriety in
this speech. He expresses his point in a way that his
daughter will understand, but he avoids childish
words. Furthermore, Cicero explains how the orator
of the plain style "will employ only slight movements
of the body" (341). As described above, Atticus only
makes a few movements, and all are intentional.
Atticus's acceptance of Tom Robinson's court
case is another example of speaking in the plain style.
At school, Scout and Jem hear students make de
grading remarks about Atticus's choice to defend a
Negro. When Scout comes home and asks Atticus if
what the other students say is true, he has to respond,
and he takes this opportunity to inform Scout—not
to please her or to entertain her. He responds with
the integrity that the situation warrants, and he tells
her why he is defending this man. He says, "The
main one [reason] is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my
head in town, I couldn't represent this country in the
legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do
something again" (Lee 75). Atticus could have told
Scout that the children at school had poor upbring
ings, or he could have told her to simply ignore the
other students, but instead he teaches her: "Scout,
simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets
at least one case in his lifetime that affects him per
sonally. This one's mine, I guess. You might hear
some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing
for me if you will: you just hold your head high and
keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says
to you, don't let 'em get your goat" (76).
Scout asks Atticus if they will win the trial, and
when he tells her that they won't, she asks why and
he responds: "Simply because we were licked a hun
dred years before we started is no reason for us not
to try to win" (76), and he concludes his speech by
explaining to Scout that unlike during the Civil War,
this time "we're fighting our friends" (76). Atticus's
speech is restrained—a quality that Cicero attributes
to the plain style. Again, Atticus tames his tongue
and speaks respectably. He gives Scout the facts with
out hyperbole. He calmly tells her what she needs to
know in a way that she can comprehend. His final
line, though restrained, exudes emotion; his speech
has "the sap of life" that Cicero describes (Orator 339).
Students who are prepared to contribute effec
tively to society need to master the plain style. A
high level of clarity and precision is demanded in
the public sphere. So much so, in fact, that on Octo
ber 13, 2010, President Obama instated the "Plain
Writing Act" with the purpose of increasing the
effectiveness of communication between the gov
ernment and the public (United States). The goal
is always to be clear, and if our students speak and
write with clarity and precision they have at least
two essential tools with which to face the world. To
speak well and clearly is an esteemed talent. James
Simpson, professor in Harvard University's Depart
ment of English, writes that "schools of law and
medicine- prize English graduates" (Department).
Similarly, the University of Tennessee at Chattanoo
ga's English Department website includes the state
ment that "students [with a bachelor's degree in
English] are prepared to enter careers in marketing,
technical communications, sales, public relations,
English Journal 79
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (dir.
Robert Mulligan; Universal, 1962)
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (dir.
Robert Mulligan; Universal, 1962)
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Classical Rhetoric in Atticus Finch's Speeches
publishing, advertising, teaching, and even busi
ness positions where such skills are increasingly
given premium value" {English). Employers seek
graduates with English degrees because with the
possession of such a degree comes the assumption
that the student is an effective communicator. Pre
cision and concision are the goal. Benjamin H. Aus
tin, in the abstract to his thesis "A Plain Apology:
Teaching Plain Style in First-Year Composition,"
writes that "teaching the plain style of writing . . .
would improve both writing and thinking." Wil
liam Zinsser, in On Writing Well: The Classic Guide
to Writing Nonfiction, tells how to write simply: "the
secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its
cleanest components" (6), and he concludes his chap
ter "Simplicity" by writing, "Writing is hard work.
A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences
come out right the first time, or even the third time.
Remember this in moments of despair. If you find
that writing is hard, it's because it is hard" (9; italics
original). Our students need and crave a challenge,
and mastering the plain style is that challenge. Stu
dents can use Atticus's speeches as an example of
quality plain style. He speaks in a straightforward
manner that his audience understands.
Cicero's Middle Style and Atticus's
Speeches to His Neighbors
When Atticus steps off of his front porch and onto
the street, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a
new speech style. While the plain style informs, the
middle style informs and delights. The middle style
"is fuller and somewhat more robust than the simple
style" (Cicero, Orator 341). The middle style exudes
"a minimum of vigor and a maximum of charm"
(341) as implemented by Atticus when he talks to
his indomitable neighbor Mrs. Henry Lafayette Du
bose. The old woman taunts Scout and Jem and hurls
ugly stares at them when they walk by her house.
Atticus responds to Scout's and Jem's disdain for this
woman by saying, "She's an old lady and she's ill. You
just hold your head high and be a gentleman. What
ever she says to you, it's your job not to let her make
you mad" (Lee 100). This comes across as an inform
ing session, but when Atticus confronts Mrs. Dubose
himself he plasters on charm. Scout recounts Atticus
greeting Mrs. Dubose: "Atticus would sweep off his
hat, wave gallantly at her and say, 'Good evening,
Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening"'
(100). In this interaction, Atticus uses a simile, and
his language, in keeping with the middle style, "pos
sess charm to a high degree" (Cicero, Orator 341). His
tone and delivery are robust, and his charm and wit
please Scout (Lee 100). Atticus intentionally chooses
the demeanor of the middle style because he knows
his calm, confident charm will quell Mrs. Dubose's
snobbery and excite, impress, and set an example for
Jem and Scout.
Later, after Jem serves his punishment of read
ing to Mrs. Dubose for two hours every day except
Sunday because he destroyed her camellia bushes,
Atticus explains why he chose that punishment for
Jem. During this time Jem witnessed Mrs. Dubose
overcome a morphine addiction, and Atticus says
to Jem, "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. Mrs. Dubose won . . . she
was the bravest person I ever knew" (112). Scout
also hears this speech, and undoubtedly Atticus's
eloquence in portraying this message has as much
of an impact on his children as the experience of
reading to Mrs. Dubose has on Jem.
Not only does Atticus's style make him ef
fective, but his persona does too. While classical
rhetoricians write extensively about the techniques
of effective oratory, they also emphasize the impor
tance of the speaker's character. In Rhetoric, Aristo
tle states matter-of-factly that good men are more
believable than others (182). Similarly, Quintilian,
an admirer of Cicero, emphasizes in Institutes of Ora
tory the importance of a speaker's morality and good
character: "no man will ever be thoroughly accom
plished in eloquence, who has not gained a deep
insight into the impulses of human nature, and
formed his moral character on the precepts of others
and his own reflection" (418). As teachers, we have
a golden opportunity to emphasize character build
ing when we teach oral communication. In a short
introduction to Cicero's work, Patricia Bizzell and
Bruce Herzberg affirm that "[t]he establishment of
good character, both for the speaker and his client,
was often crucial to winning a case" (283).
Atticus possesses a character worth emulating.
Readers of To Kill a Mockingbird can safely say that
80 July 2016
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Brooke Richelle Holland
while everyone in Maycomb may not like Atticus,
they cannot argue with his virtuous character. In
reference to the trial, when Alexandra expresses her
fear for how the town will tear Atticus apart, Miss
Maudie responds, "Whether Maycomb knows it or
not, we're paying the highest tribute we can pay a
man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple"
(236). We want students who will fight for truth.
We want students who, when provoked by Bob
Ewells, will look at situations from all perspectives
and say, "if spitting in my face and threatening me
saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that's some
thing I'll gladly take" (218). As written in Rhetoric
ad Herennium, middle style discourse is relaxed—not
as ornate as the grand—but not as ordinary as the
simple (249). It is an understandable, impressive
dialect that invites agreement and achieves respect.
Cicero's Grand Style and Atticus's
Speeches to the Jurors
Once students speak fluently in the middle style
they can graduate to the grand and achieve the
highest level of eloquence. Our students will fit Ci
cero's call for a man "who can discuss trivial matters
in a plain style, matters of moderate significance in
the tempered style, and weighty affairs in the grand
manner" (Orator 343), and they can learn how to at
tain eloquence in the grand style by studying Atti
cus Finch's speeches to the jurors. The grand "style
is magnificent, opulent, stately and ornate" (342).
The eloquence of the grand style has the "power to
sway men's minds and move them in every possi
ble way" (342), and this is what Atticus Finch does
in the courtroom. Like many speakers of the grand
style, he is not always favored by his audience, but
his job is to challenge minds and to display truth.
In Rhetoric, Aristotle explains three modes of per
suasion. The first is a belief in the credibility of the
speaker. The second comes through invoking an
emotion in the audience. The third is the speech
itself when its message and words are solid (181).
Atticus accomplishes all of these.
In the courtroom, Scout describes Atticus as
"speaking easily .... He walked slowly up and
down in front of the jury, and the jury seemed to
be attentive" (Lee 202). Addressing the jury as
"Gentlemen," he begins (202). Atticus's words
are tough, simple, and gripping. Tom Robinson's
fate hangs from each word. Atticus perceives their
cowardice, but he continues anyway. Speaking with
"the kind of eloquence which rushes along with
the roar of a mighty stream, which all look up to
and admire, and which they despair of attaining"
(Cicero, Orator 342), he continues. He reminds the
jurors "that this case is not a difficult one," that the
"case should never have come to trial," and that the
case of an innocent Black man accused of raping
an abused, unfortunate, White girl "is as simple as
black and white" (Lee 203). He restrains his words
but not his emotion when he indirectly accuses
Bob Ewell of raping Mayella: "The defendant is not
guilty, but someone in this courtroom is" (203).
Next, in one statement, he accepts that rape has
happened, shows empathy, and attacks the jurors'
morality: "I have nothing but pity in my heart for
the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not
extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake,
which she has done in an effort to get rid of her
own guilt" (203). Cicero describes an orator of the
grand style as one who "seems to be scarcely sane"
(1Orator 343), and for a man to voice what Atticus
does may seem crazy, but Atticus must expose these
truths. He speaks blatantly about the racism May
comb's citizens harbor: "She [Mayella Ewell] has
committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid
and time-honored code of our society .... She must
destroy the evidence of her offense. . . . Tom Robin
son, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson
away from her" (Lee 203). While Atticus's speech
may not be as ornate as some in the grand style, his
words are impressive, and he speaks with an unre
lenting momentum absent in the middle style.
After showing the black-and-white truth that
Maycomb citizens deny, Atticus, with unparalleled
conviction, continues addressing the jurors and with
a final firm plea for- the justice he knows they know
is due, and he says, "A court is only as sound as its
jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make
it up. I am confident that you gentlemen will review
without passion the evidence you have heard, come
to a decision, and restore this defendant to his fam
ily. In the name of God, do your duty" (205). Every
time I read those words and hear Gregory Peck's
voice from the 1962 film as he leans into the jury
box, I sink into my seat and picture myself looking
up at him, speechless, nodding my head obediently.
While some scholars may argue that the language
English Journal 81
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Classical Rhetoric in Atticus Finch's Speeches
in this speech is not ornate enough to be considered
grand, I argue that the momentum, rhythm, and
poignancy of this speech make it grand.
Cicero claims that an orator must know both
sides of the argument and also that "the complete
and finished orator is he who on any matter what
ever can speak with fullness and variety" (De Oratore
297). Atticus does—in one speech he employs irony,
mentions tradition, asks questions, and references
Thomas Jefferson, Einstein, and God. Furthermore,
Cicero describes a man of the grand style to be one
who tries to work his audience into a "fiery passion"
and "seems to be a raving madman among the sane,
like a drunken reveler in the midst of sober men"
(IOrator 343). Cicero's definition almost implies a
man who has lost control, and while Atticus does
meet a lot of the qualities laid out by Cicero regard
ing the grand style, he is never out of control. He
speaks with an ignited passion because he believes
what he says. He seeks to move his audience, and
even though they do not give him the answer his
speech warrants, I am certain that if we could in
vestigate the heart of each man in the jury box we
would see pride overruling truth. They believe At
ticus. But when dealing with men, Atticus knows,
and our students must learn, that reason will not
always win. However, eloquent speakers such as At
ticus attack men's minds to the point where even
if there isn't outward approval or acknowledgment,
there is inward change.
An Orator's Life
I analyze Atticus's speeches with my students to
reveal a speaker's life. Some of my students may
want to be professional, public orators, and in the
courtroom Atticus Finch reveals the challenges,
stimulation, and moral responsibility of such a ca
reer. In Book Ï of De Oratore, Cicero writes about the
scope of oratory's influence: "there is to my mind
no more excellent thing than the power, by means
of oratory, to get a hold on assemblies of men, win
their good will, direct their inclinations wherever
the speaker wishes, or divert them from whatever
he wishes" (293). Teenagers want to be persuasive
and be heard, and Cicero's rhetoric shows them
how. The skill of oratory is so widespread that if
our students could catch a glimpse of the good they
could do with it, they would be on fire. Atticus
shows glimpses of this good, and Cicero also does
when he writes, "the wise control of the complete
orator is that which chiefly upholds not only his
own dignity, but the safety of countless individuals
and of the entire State" (De Oratore 294). Oratory is
a humanistic art. Once acquired, it is a skill we can
use to better ourselves, our friends, and our com
munities, just as Atticus Finch does. As we, with
the help of Atticus Finch, educate students on how
to be eloquent and how to employ the three styles
of oratory and other classical techniques, they will
be equipped with the tools needed to incite change
in their spheres. (§f
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Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner,
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Brooke Richelle Holland teaches tenth- and eleventh-grade English at Collegedale Academy in Collegedale, Tennessee, and
has been a member of NCTE since 2010; email her at brookeholland441@gmail.com.
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