Both Atticus Fince and Mr . Fielding are both in a time in history when
their culture was dominant but where they did not subscribe to its
ideology . Atticus , despite immeasurable odds , fights to defend Tom
Robinson in an impossible case in which he ends up losing . But Atticus
is no dreamy optimistic . He knows what faces him but the promise of The
Constitution as well as desire to serve as an important role model for
his children , is what is most important to him . And in the end , he does
not , and the reader is made to feel that he will never , submit to the
herd mentality concerning racial superiority . Mr . Fielding , in 1940 's
India , is in the middle of their right for decolonization and to have a
country of their own . Mr . Fielding has neither time nor desire to
identify himself with his own heritage and country in order to submit
his will over the people of India . He cares little about class , race and
the impediments that the two are supposed to place on a person 's
friendships . Atticus must fight his own society in order to give Tom
Robinson a fair trial , or as fair as Atticus can provide . But since he
does not require the cheer of the crowds and approval from the town , but
is guided by faith and a strong sense of right and wrong . Mr . Fielding
is the same to a degree and for a good portion of A Passage to India . He
cares nothing for social or ethnic classes and identifies with people as
individuals instead of what class or race they belong to and loses
friends because of it . Atticus Fince , in Harper Lee 's To Kill a
Mockingbird is the quintessential hero . He is a man of strength in a
time when many others have submitted the herd mentality of blaming their
troubles , brought on by the Great Depression , on the minority within
their society . Atticus is hard to pinpoint but as it is said in the
book "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 (Lee , 1999 , p . 35 ) Atticus is aware of the situation that he is
in . He is at the center of a racially charged atmosphere in 1930 's
South . he is given the impossible task of defending a black man against
the charge of raping a white woman , despite the lack of credible
evidence as well as the believability of the defendant and her father .
Atticus knows in his heart that there is little chance of winning the
case and he knows that the sentence for a black man raping a white woman
is life in prison or even death . Finch also knows that he is a father , a
single parent in charge of two young and impressionable children who are
in danger of submitting to the prevailing ideology about African
Americans and perhaps all minorities...