How Does Atticus Show Courage

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Courage is defined as “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, and pain.” It is portrayed in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird multiple times by the main characters, Atticus, Scout, Jem, and Dill. The events that involved courage in the novel was Atticus defending Tom Robinson while the kids, Scout, Jem, and Dill messed with Boo Radley, which led to Scout and Jem reading to Mrs. Dubose.
Atticus showed the most courage in the novel and influenced the kids and the people around him to also have courage. Atticus showed courage when he was appointed as Tom Robinson’s defender in court. He constantly had to deal with the hate and disapproval of defending a colored man around the town. Though he received …show more content…

Dubose. When Jem comes across Mrs. Dubose one day, she slashes him with rude and hostile name calling towards Atticus. Jem, outraged, while knowing the consequences, had the fearlessness to destroy the sick lady’s Camellia bushes. As punishment, Mrs. Dubose gives Jem orders to read to her for a month. With the image of a crazy lady, Jem and Scout are hesitant of coming over and reading to her. Encouraged by their dad, the two siblings gather the strength to enter the house of what they thought was an insane lady’s. The kids finally get used to entering her house everyday to read for a month. Though they came over every day, the kids never comprehended Mrs. Dubose to be a morphine addict. When Mrs. Dubose passed, Atticus once again taught his kids a lesson of courage by explaining to them why he made them go over to her house every day; he wanted them “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, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I knew” (149). Atticus explained the whole concept of courage to the kids, giving them a new perspective of Mrs. Dubose and how she was the

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