Unarmed Bravery in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Many Children receive Bravery Awards every year around the world, and none of them hold any weapons or punch someone in the face to prove that they are brave, unlike what the majority of people picture it. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus believed that true bravery and courage is facing the negativities of life and society persistently, and by sticking to your belief no matter what the cost is. Jem and Mrs. Dubose are two characters that strongly apply to Atticus’s meaning of bravery and courage.

Mrs. Dubose was a real brave woman in the eyes of Atticus. Atticus tried to teach his children the true meaning of bravery by setting her as an example. Mrs. Dubose struggled so hard to die in the way that she wanted to die in, but she also did not ask for help although it was hard for her to fight the addiction alone. “Most of the time you were reading to her I doubt if she heard a word you said. Her whole mind and body were concentrated on that alarm clock.” (Harper Lee, 120)
In this quote, Mrs. Dubose was fighting for her dignity while she was alive by not begging for help. If Mrs. Dubose told Jem that these were her last days, he would have come earlier every day and that would ease her struggle. Instead, she chose not to do it and she ignored the pain to keep her dignity. Mrs. Dubose’s beliefs were her top priority. The actions that most people took or her personal needs did not affect her way of thinking because she had a courageous heart. “Jem, when you’re sick as she was, it’s all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn’t all right for her.” (Harper Lee, 120)
When Atticus set Jem as an example, he did not mean him personally but he mean...

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... of bravery and courage in the eyes of Atticus, and both Jem and Mrs. Dubose applied to his meaning. Mrs. Dubose strongly played the role of the courageous woman that fights for her dignity ignoring what other people do, and represented the person who fights alone without asking for help. Jem went through the process of growing that led him to be a responsible man who stands for his word no matter what, despite the fear that he might face by doing that or despite the bad results that could occur to him. By understanding what courage and bravery truly are, positive results could occur in society as a result of that. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” Mrs. Dubose was a great example of fighting addiction, and Jem was a great example of the true form of maturity, and if these examples were used well they could be set as a solution to most of the problems in the world.