Courage in Literature

Period 2

10-12 Final Exam

“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” –Mary Anne Rudmacher

This is a great quote and really speaks true. When Mary Anne Rudmacher says “courage does not always roar,” she means that true courage isn’t about who can talk big or who’s got the biggest ego. That’s not bravery, that’s show boating before the fact. Her second sentence goes on to say “courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow,’” meaning that courage is the fact that when someone fails, they don’t go home with their tail between their legs, but hold their head high and try again, despite having failed the first time.

This process of trying, failing, and trying again is one that I am all too familiar with. When I first started wrestling at the high school level, I thought I was invincible. I had wrestled on Modified the year before and finished the year off with a bang, without giving up a single point. I was pretty cocky. I found out that because of my size, I was the only heavyweight our team had to put out there. Almost immediately, I understood the difference between Modified and Varsity. I got tossed around like a rag doll. Every single one of my opponents was lean and muscular and tough as nails. I even ran into one opponent who was balding. I lost again and again, and again, and again. Where I had done so well in eighth grade, I had done poorly as a freshman. Sure, there were some victories and some high points, but there were a lot more lows. But despite this seemingly unending pattern of one loss after another, I not only stayed on for the rest of the year, but I came back to wrestle the following year ...

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...ge. After having almost died because of the swarms, Jack comes back that very same day more determined than ever to destroy the things.

If courage is truly what Mary Anne Rudmacher says it is, then I am all too well familiar with such courage. The characters in each of my books exemplify courage as well. Rick Deckard exemplified courage by doing something that completely went against his ideals and that he really didn’t want to do. Jack exemplified courage by trying to take down the rogue swarms even though he nearly died trying to do so on more than one occasion. The best example of all was Helena, ruthlessly going after Demetrius even though he despised her so. Whenever she got shut down, she came back swinging. People don’t necessarily need to be proud to be brave. They just need to find in themselves the strength to get back on their feet and try again later.