Fear and Courage in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Although his real name is Arthur Radley, the kids in the story have no idea who really Arthur is. Every kid in Maycomb has heard the rumors of Boo Radley and his murderous intentions, but that’s not exactly the case. Radley did not physically harm anyone at all under the ark of the story. He was actually quite the opposite, giving Jem and Scout things via the tree trunk with the hole in the middle, wrapping Scout in a blanket in winter, and even saves Jem from an assault that happens at the end of the book. In almost all of the book, the readers have no idea who “Boo Radley” is and what he’s capable of.

Courage in “To Kill A Mockingbird” is very hard to come by because of all the prejudice remarks and racist comments to the local African-Americans in the story, Atticus although puts aside the differences between white and black people and decides to help a black man in court. This is a very big part of the book, and shows a huge example of courage. In Maycomb finding courage is extremely hard, especially when it has to do with protecting another race that your entire town despises. Another example of courage is when Atticus protects Tom Robinson in the jail room. In the jail room, an angry mob of white men came rushing in to kill Tom Robinson.

Furthermore, Courage's past is unknown and the only details revealed is that his parents were s... ... middle of paper ... ...nment. Courage's owners do not take him for a walk as courage is shown always inside the house or on the porch (unless he is saving them). Courage is also shown to be afraid of birds because they always make fun of him. Courage is also afraid of his shadow and is not naive as he is fully aware of the villains intentions. Courage is also shown trying to reach perfection in the episode titled "Perfection".

People these days tend to make assumptions about others based on the criteria such as a person’s clothing or skin. However, people rarely realize that these assumptions can lead to violence and it could end up killing innocent citizens. In another way you can put it is that, prejudice ruins and sometimes even destroys society. It also causes people to lose all understanding for their fellow human. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch says, “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” (39).

By not having responsibilities, he denied himself the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them, thus making him inexperienced. His inexperience is what leads him to being foolish, he has only had a handful of experiences that require responsibility, and each time he has failed to do what was necessary. For example, when Nobody was first going to school, he was told not to interact with the students, and to stay unnoticed. However, he disobeyed his instructions, which resulted in punishment by the police, and needed Silas to rescue him. Additionally, in chapter 4, Nobody left the graveyard without telling anyone, and took a sacred treasure with him.

The parish authority explained that they had never discovered his father or anything about him. One kind word or look had never been given to him at the home, but still it had the only friends he had ever known. When he is brought in front of the parish authorities, they exclaim that he was a fool, just as they had suspected. He didn’t even know how to pray, simply because no one had taught him. A whole group of the children decided that one of them should ask the master for some more food, and it ended up being Oliver.

Without restrictions, the boys ruled themselves and answered to no one, except those they were loyal to or feared. The boys found out that no one is really in control and they can do what they wish, although they may face consequences for it. There is a lack of restrictions on the island and the boys have freedom to do what they want. This is shown by their lack of caring for each other and the tasks that they are assigned. The boys on the island tried to work together at first, but that failed because of a lack of strong leadership and irresponsibility among the children.

That being said Scout has never experienced a time when a child has a single mother, so she doesn’t understand it. Another way Scout and Jem’s innocents is demonstrated is how they believe everything they are told. For example they are told the Boo Radley is crazy and tried to kill his family by everyone on the street, so they develop this fear of Boo. Scout... ... middle of paper ... ...ve his I have a dream speech to the March on Washington. This was a good time to release To Kill a Mockingbird because it addressed the issue of segregation.

(pg. 8-9) Since Boo Radley was isolated and locked away from the people of Maycomb the town had a need to start gossiping about Boo, especially since they did not know why and what actually caused his isolation and being kept away from the rest of Maycomb. The fact that Boo also isolates himself causes the outside to talk about him, giving him a bad reputation. But the gossip and rumors did not stop there, it was also said by Jem that "Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he... ... middle of paper ... ... already happening outside of the courtroom to the front lawns of others. Many people including Alexandra are unjust in this book, though there are very many more that may be worse.

Dodd never claimed to be sexually abused but he wasn’t educated about sex. “Westley’s father, Jim Dodd, told The Oregonian that he acknowledged his son’s sexual deviancy with “father-son chats,” but mostly avoided talking about it, despite Westley’s increasing arrests and warnings. The eldest of three kids, Westley was otherwise well behaved. “He never did drugs, he never drank, he never smoke” said the elder Dodd.” (Scott, S n.d.). Dodd’s exposing abnormalities began to escalate to molesting around the time his parents divorced.