Beckett Napier, Asher Zam, Atticus School of Law

“We’ve done business in this court for years and years,
and Mr. Finch is always courteous to everybody. He’s not trying to mock you, he’s trying to be polite.
That’s just his way” (207).

(Atticus tries to love everybody equally, including while on defense.
He will treat them with respect even if he knows deep down that they are lying).

“I never heard Atticus raise his voice in my life, except to a deaf witness” (195).

(To keep the witness calm and sharp, Atticus never visibly becomes angry in court.
He treats the witness with dignity up until the end).

“Can’t see what witness’s literacy has to do with the case, irrelevant’n’immaterial.”…
”Judge, if you’ll allow the question plus another one you’ll soon see.” 

(Atticus uses small questions not obviously related to the crime to get real answers, not lies.
Eventually the questions connect and the truth is told). 

“Atticus was showing the jury that Tom had nothing to hide” (217).

(Atticus use’s his questions, to show things in a certain way instead of using just what he says.
By having Tom say the details of his previous run in with the law,
he shows that Tom has nothing to hide and is not lying).

“Atticus sometimes said that one way to tell whether a witness was lying or telling the truth was to listen rather than watch” (219).

(One of many examples showing Atticus’s almost disregard of race and prejudice.
By watching you see things like nerves and stereotypes of good or bad,
whereas when only listening, you hear the genuine answer, nothing else).

“He’s the same in the courtroom as he is on the public streets” (226).

(Atticus never changes his way of conducting himself, no matter the situation.
His respectful way of doing his job as well as living his life allows for people to become calmer
and much more reasonable. Allowing him to firmly get his point across without aggravating
anyone in the process).

“...Then Atticus did something I never saw him do before or since, in public or in private:
he unbuttoned his vest, unbuttoned his collar, loosened his tie, and took off his coat.
He never loosened a scrap of his clothing until he undressed at bedtime” (pg230)...
“We had never seen him sweat-he was one of those men whose faces never perspired” (232-233).

(In court, Atticus strives to be professional as well as extremely calm.
By loosening his clothing and beginning to sweat (For the first time in court),
it is visible that Atticus truly cares about the fate of Tom Robinson, despite his race.
Atticus also loosened his clothing to become friendlier, especially to the jury.
He is doing all he can to help Tom beat the case)

““It’s an easy question said, Miss Mayella, so i’ll try again.
Do you remember him beating you about the face?”
Atticus voice had lost it’s comfortable ness; he was speaking in his arid, detached professional voice.”
(210)

(In this scenario Mayella didn’t know if she should lye or not and looks at
Mr. Gilmer for help but can’t do anything. Now that’s she’s stuck she tries to avoid the
question by not answering it or pretending to not understand it.
But then Atticus changes his nice questioning tone and
mood and try to make it kinda personal with Mayella to get her to answer the question.)

“Atticus’s next question was one word long. “How?” Mayella was raging .” (211)

(In this instance Mayella is of the hook raging and being really emotional but
Atticus stays professional and calm and goes on with the trail normally this makes
mayella look like a mess and even judge taylor notices.
This is a good tactic because it makes it look like Atticus is the more responsible person and
\therefore more likely telling the truth).