Hello again fellow fanfic-ers!

Here is my first TKaM fandom. Yes, It was for an assessment piece.

Although, I had read the book several times before doing it for a school assignment, and had always wanted to write a fanfic on it. I have a few plot bunnies digging warrens in my brain, but haven't found the courage to attempt anything yet.

Just wondering what you guys thought of this...It was a monologue (supposed to be 600 words but I cheated by going over obviously...my teacher didn't mind.) I decided to set it just after the end of the book, the night Jem is knocked unconcious/has his elbow broken. What I wanted to do, which I thought would be interesting, was to explore how Atticus felt in a letter to his children; written to be read by an older Scout and Jem.

I was actually the only one in my class to do Atticus, which I felt was pretty important considering the unexplored depth Atticus as a character holds. Even though we get the gist of his views via Scout, we never REALLY hear Atticus' voice on his own.

Consider this more a writing 'practice'. I just wished we could do something more indepth then what we had to do. I'm a little annoyed I couldn't do what I really wanted do and doing a really well-written, relfective piece but MEH.

Anyways, I'd love to hear any feedback.

Maddy

(NOTE: Feel free to PM/email me if you want to discuss TKaM more, or need any help with any assignment. I'm not trying to be narcissistic or anything, but I do consider myself pretty well suited to answering any questions etc. anyone has about the novel/my motives behind this monologue.)

To My Dear Jem and Scout,

Even though it may not have seemed like it as I write this, perhaps a little too unfathomable for your young minds to comprehend; but my life, and yours, perhaps will be defined forevermore by my work on the Robinson case. In the wake of Mr. Ewell’s tirade, as you both lie sleeping soundly in your rooms, I felt compelled to write this letter to answer any future questions you may have, on what transpired between those few long years in Maycomb, at a time where I will presumably be unable to enlighten you myself.

Already, Mr. Robinson’s passing has been affecting me. I fear that for as many restless nights as I have had in the past few weeks, that there will be many more years of them to come. The treatment of Mr. Robinson from the faithful townsfolk of Maycomb County; our friends, neighbours, fellow citizens, will be burnt into my memory and no doubt haunt me just as powerfully as it does this very day.

I ask most of all that as you read this, you harbour no ill will or resentment to those who opposed my stance on the defence council during the trial. You must understand, Maycomb as you will surely see it in years to come far beyond my own, has been plagued by this intolerance and bigotry long before you or I had settled here. Where civility and respect among others seemed uprooted by the ugly claws of prejudice and the persecution of, someone I have always maintained and believed myself, was an innocent and upstanding man.

Folks I think, too far gone in the sensationalised story of the attorney defending the black man; far from any godly sense that may usually have held their tongue, forgot I was assigned the Robinson case.

Although I must admit I was a fool. A fool in many ways from the day I accepted the case. Now I would hope that as you grow, and certainly by the time you would read this, you realise I myself am guilty of martyring a cause that was not mine to defend. As praised and righteous a man I may have felt, I had let you, my children, play the part of a victim just as Miss Mayella had that very same day on the stand.

I will never forgive myself for the associable guilt I thrust upon the both of you. You were perhaps persecuted more then I in many ways. Although I may have bared the brunt of the more publicly demeaning acts of Mr. Ewell and other slightly maddened folk, I accepted that as my role as Mr. Robinson’s attorney, and as you would know, I have remained loyal to his case as to his memory and legacy.

You, on the other hand, were forced to accept the punishments of my challenging of Mr. Ewell’s accusations, and had no freedom to refute such slurs and claims made by the more narrow-minded adults surrounding you. You, merely children, were robbed of your childhood as Mr. Robinson was quickly robbed of his dignity. I cannot speak on the behalf of those who during this time made your lives difficult, but I can say as a father, I had taken your struggles, as well as Mr. Robinson’s own, to bed every night.

You were forced to, dare I say, live a coloured life that I’m sure that although better for it, you will never fully comprehend what it did to you, what I did to you, or more importantly, what I didn’t do?

I feel as though I may never redeem myself for my absence as a role model, protector and father during my time as Mr. Robinson’s attorney. Although I trust you will see what I had done as a testament to what my social conscience couldn’t bear to live with. To fight a less fought battle to bring fairness and justness to such turmoil; to support more virtuous views and acceptance of the reservations of others.

My legacy to you, perhaps greater then any lesson I could ever teach, will be that I sacrificed myself so that many others would not suffer at the hands of this ill-fated charge. I, if imprudently, defended innocence on the deepest of levels, to the most brutal of audiences.

I ponder with the deepest optimism of your futures. Although it may often be hard, I ask you to offer guidance and wisdom when needed, and to show compassion, (which seems to be so very lacking) even in the most pejorative of circumstance, Perhaps it is with the forgiving of us, and the gradual return of good sense and ethics, that will shed some light on even the darkest of people.

It is with all sincerity and good faith that I hope for as many Mockingbirds that fly rarely in Maycomb and elsewhere, that you as my children will protect them.

Don’t be surprised if one day, in a Blue jay’s nest, a Mockingbird lays its egg.

You loving father,

Atticus Finch.