According to the dictionary, courage is the ability to do something that frightens one or strength in the face of pain or grief. Courage is shown throughout the whole book of To KIll A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. To Kill A Mockingbird is told from the main character Scout’s perspective about her town and adventures with her brother Jem. Almost all of the characters, including Scout show some type of courage in this novel. According to Atticus, Scout and Jem’s father, courage is ¨ It´s when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.¨ (Lee 149) Characters that live up to Atticus’ definition of courage are Mrs. Dubose, Boo Radley, and Atticus himself.
First of all, Mrs. Dubose shows courage because she stands up for herself. Mrs. Dubose did not rely on other people, she was her own person, She died standing up for herself, and that was the bravest thing to do in Atticus’ eyes. “You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died
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Even Atticus himself lives up to his own definition of courage. Atticus stands up for an African American man, even though he knows he can’t win. ¨If you shouldn’t t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it?” “For a number of reasons,” said Atticus. “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn´t represent the county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” (Lee 100) When Atticus decided to stand up for Tom Robinson, he was willing to give everything up just to help this man. In a situation where someone needs help, the brave thing do do would be to stand up for that person no matter what the consequences. That’s exactly what Atticus did, he was willing to give up a lot just to help someone because he knew that it was the right thing to do and the only way to do it was with
Courage is a deed that can be portrayed in many ways. In the Historical Fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, there are many acts of racism and problematic cases where acts of courage are demonstrated in different and unique ways that can only be deciphered if one reads in between the lines of the words. There are three characters in particular who show courage in diverse ways. First, there is Arthur Radley who anonymously shows courage by performing tasks that cause him to face the outside world where he’s been isolated from for so long. Secondly, there is Scout Finch who demonstrates courage through her adolescent age. Lastly, there is Atticus Finch who displays courage through his selfless and kind actions. Therefore, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses diverse characters to represent different acts of courage.
Courage is when you know you’re beaten. The character Atticus, for instance, who was a seasoned lawyer acted courageous defending Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was a black man who was accused of raping a white girl. Atticus was appointed to defend him. Jem was happy because he thought his father had won the case but Reverend Sykes loathed telling Jem “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…”(Lee 208). Atticus was sure he wasn’t going to win the case, nevertheless he gave it a try. That didn’t stop Atticus from trying to defend his client Tom Robinson. Another part in the novel when Atticus was courageous was when he shot at the man street dog. Heck Tate the Maycomb Sheriff was not as courageous as Atticus so he handed Atticus the air rifles and with one shot Atticus took down the street dog. Miss Maudie says “I saw that, One Shot Finch” (Lee 97). Atticus was referred to as one-shot finch because of his shooting skills. The other incidence in the novel when Atticus portrays courage was when he was not scared when Bob Ewell threatened him. Bob Ewell was the man who accused Atticus’ defendant Tom Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella. Atticus thought Bob Ewell threatened him as some sort of revenge, but unfortunately Atticus was wrong because when Bob Ewell said ...
"Courage isn't an absence of fear. It's doing what you are afraid to do. It's having the power to let go of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory." ~John Maxwell. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout (Jean Louise Finch), Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch), and Atticus Finch display acts of valor that contribute, and in some cases encourage their rectitude. Harper Lee demonstrates that acting courageously can lead to an improved, sustained, or newly developed personal integrity.
Similarly, a great example of courage is displayed within the life of Mrs. Dubose. She was a sick old woman, waiting for death. However, she had one more goal to achieve before her life come to an end. She wished to free herself of a morphine addiction. Mrs. Dubose displayed courage in a situation where most people would surrender to the drug. She did not fear for death. Moreover, she challenged death through her perseverance to leave this world free of addiction. People around her came to know of her courage after she passed away.
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 ever knew” (Lee 149). I think that it shows the courage that even though morphine is extremely addictive Mrs. Dubose tried her hardest to be free of it even when she knew it would be hard. She seems like a strong woman and that she was grown up on the principle to always try your hardest and never give up. She knew she couldn’t do it right away so she was clever enough to do it slowly. Finally, in this quote Scout is fighting with Francis even though she was not supposed to; “This time, I split my knuckle to the bone on his front teeth. My left impaired, I sailed in with my right, but not for long. Uncle Jack pinned my arms to my sides and said ‘Stand still!’” (Lee 112) This shows courage because even though she was told not to fight even if it is to protect someone. I think this shows that she will not tolerate people talking bad about the people she cares about and that she is extremely loyal. Based on my findings I can see that Harper Lee uses Scout, Atticus, and Mrs. Dubose in these ways to show courage by showing that they will fight for what is right no matter if they get in trouble or will have problems along the
Courage is a major theme in “To Kill A Mockingbird” that has many asking the question, “What character shows the most courage?” To answer the question, Atticus shows the most courage. He shows courage by taking up a case that causes tragedies and distrust between families. As well as setting examples for his children, by doing the right thing. Despite what many people believe, Atticus shows the most courage because he is always facing challenges and setting examples to do the right thing for his children.
Courage is not something that we are born with, it is a skill that takes time to learn and only a few are lucky enough to have it. To Kill a Mockingbird is not only about life in a world full of hate, it is about standing up for anyone’s beliefs being brave enough to do it. In this story, Harper Lee says “Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing 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” (Lee 112). In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates courage through Atticus Finch, Mrs. Dubose, and Arthur Radley.
Mrs. Dubose shows courage in the novel through her bravery. Like before, Atticus and Jem are speaking about Mrs. Dubose’s courage. While speaking, Atticus says, “...she died beholding to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew,” (Lee 149). This quote means that Mrs. Dubose needed a lot of courage and bravery to get off of the morphine. This is significant because it shows that she had bravery, and bravery is very closely connected to courage. This connects to the point because she needed courage to start and end the wrath the drugs had on
The highest level of courage is staying true to yourself. Being honest to yourself and standing up for what you believe in takes great courage. Unfortunately, being courageous comes at a high cost and you may not always be rewarded for it. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, many characters show courage at the topmost level. Their acts may seem foolish and immoral to others, but they do what they believe in. The book shows that true courage is fighting in what you believe no matter what the consequences. We see this type of courage in Jem, Scout, Atticus and even Boo Radley throughout the course of the book.
In the novel to kill a mockingbird the story has a lot to say about courage. Courage was really a hard thing to have when you have a lot of people against you. You can show courage in many ways. Courage to me is something that can inspire a lot of people and it shows true colors in a person's character. The main person in this novel to me who had the most courage was Atticus. The reason why I say that is because back then segregation was going on . Blacks and whites couldn’t get along, mostly white people took over the town and treated black people like they wasn’t nothing. But all white people wasn’t the same. Atticus took courage and showed equality to Tom Robinson. A men who he had to defend in the courtroom because of a white women accusing that he rapped her. No matter what people thought or what people thought about the situation Atticus still took on his word about equality and still did his job like he was supposed to do. He took on a hard case , mainly because he knew that the
In conclusion, Atticus shows praiseworthy courage and behavior, in many instances, throughout the story; not by fighting or killing, but by standing up for what he believed in a civilized and determined way. His sense of morality and equality motivated him to take the risks he did, and was praised by the African American society for the actions he, as a white man, took to support the blacks. In many other instances people were able to display courage, and some good came out of it. Antigone pleased the gods but payed the price for taking unimaginable actions. Rosa Parks sparked a sense of freedom from racism and segregation in the minds of many. Courage is taking risky actions, of which even if you have slight chances of success, you continue to follow through with it and never give up.
Atticus Finch demonstrates both moral and physical courage through his decisions of taking on and fighting Tom Robinson’s case, despite all the critics and setbacks, by putting his own life at risk to protect his client and doing all in his power to bring justice. In conclusion, true courage is the ability to confront something even if one is “licked” from the start. Tom Robinson, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus Finch all display real courage throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson, being an African-American, living in a prejudiced town and having a crippled arm, still helped Mayella, gave a truthful testimony and tried to escape prison. Mrs. Dubose courageously overcame her morphine addiction despite her age and pain.
On the way back Atticus just walked by and told Mrs. Dubose, ? you look as pretty as a picture? Mrs. Dubose was so stunned that she could not say a word back to him. Later Jem and scout leaned how courageous Mrs. Dubose really was after Jem cut up her camellia bushes, the kids found out that she was a morphine attic brave enough to get off the drug that killed her. Atticus was incredibly courageous taking on tom Robinsons case against the prejudice of Macomb County and he shows incredible courage when he says, "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and won.
He demonstrates this when he showed Jem and Scout to be overcome; for example, when he advised Scout to quit battling the general population that deride her Scout must be overcome enough to disregard the cruel comments and put herself above them. One individual that Atticus respected for having genuine valor is Mrs. Dubose. At the point when Jem demolished her camellias since she verbally hurt him, he made Jem go and perused to her. He did this since it was a discipline as well as on the grounds that he needed Jem to gain from her. At the point when Atticus stated, "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand." This demonstrated the amount Atticus regarded Mrs. Dubose for attempting to conquer her fixation. He additionally called her "the bravest person I ever knew". Atticus needed Jem and Scout to realize that he was not fearless for having the capacity to shoot an insane canine dead with one shot; yet he is valiant for protecting Tom Robinson despite the fact that he knew he had lost before he began. He shows them that being fearless is supporting what you believe is correct regardless of what others
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout sees her father, Atticus, shoot a mad dog. Although Atticus does not think of it as a very courageous act, Jem and Scout were proud of their father. He was not trying to prove anything, yet they were still impressed. Later on in the story, Jem and Scout encounter the malevolent Mrs. Dubose. When she talks bad about Atticus, Jem decides that the best way to settle things is to destroy Mrs. Dubose's camellias. After Atticus hears about this, he makes Jem read to her every afternoon for a month. Jem and Scout soon find out that Mrs. Dubose was a very sick lady, and took morphine to assuage her pain. It was not until after she died that Atticus explains to Jem and Scout how courageous she was because she knew she was dying but was still determined to die free of her morphine addiction. He said “I wanted you to see what real courage is instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand” (149) to show them that courage isn’t always about doing something violent. Mrs. Dubose fought against great odds, even though she knew that it would cause her great suffering and eventually lead to her demise.