To Kill A Mockingbird Quotes That Show Courage Essay

Nishanth Miriyala

Mrs. Kiefer

English 1 Honors 6th Hour

27 February 2023

The Light in the Darkness.

Many people can show courage, but many others can end up seeing through it and truly see false confidence and pride behind those actions. True courage is that even in the darkest of times, someone is the light that shines through the darkness. People that show courage in hard times know what could happen to them yet they act upon it to win a battle. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, many characters show true courage when they are under pressure or should not as they know something bad will happen to them. Mrs. Dubose, Atticus Finch, and Jem Finch all show courage and perseverance even though they know that something bad will happen to

Dubose shows courage by fighting her morphine addiction before her death. She knew that she did not have much longer to live and had beheld nothing but she still wanted to win one last battle. Mrs. Dubose had fits of rage about Atticus defending a black man, this causes Jem to rage and destroy her property. Atticus eventually found out and punished Jem and Scout by reading to her after school every day. She was glad that they read to them as she did not have much time to live and needed someone to distract her from the pain. Atticus broke the news to them but told her that she was a warrior because “She’d have spent the rest of her life on [morphine] and died without so much agony, but she was too contrary” (Lee 127). She had an option between dying without pain or in agony but she chose that pain because she wanted to win a battle between her and her morphine addiction. Atticus sadly breaks the news to Jem and Scout but he did not make it sad, he rather told them how “Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she had died beholden to nothing and nobody” (Lee 128). Mrs. Dubose knew that she did not have her morphine addiction holding her down but she ended up deciding to let go so that she would not have any regrets. Even on her deathbed, Mrs. Dubose shows courage against her morphine addiction by quitting even though her death would be a painful

Atticus is appointed a case by Judge Taylor to defend a black man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell. Because of the racism and prejudice against black people, he believes that he will not win this case and could risk the life of Tom Robinson. Because of this case, Scout gets bullied by Francis about how his dad is defending a black man, Atticus later talks to Scout about how “[Tom Robinson] lives in [a] settlement behind the town dump….there’s been some high talk around the town to the effect that I shouldn’t do much about defending this man” (Lee 86). Atticus knows that something bad can happen to him if he were to defend Tom Robinson but still does so because he has the courage to do it. After the trial had ended, Atticus was waiting for news but he did not expect something so terrible and heartbreaking, Tom Robinson, unfortunately, died after being shot several times. Heartbroken, Atticus had thought that everyone would be mad at him because of the death of Tom Robinson, but it was the complete opposite. Atticus had been given “hunks of salt pork, tomatoes, beans, even scuppernongs … [and that Tom’s supporters] ‘preciate what you did, Mr. Finch” (Lee 244). Atticus did not just help Tom Robinson but others to believe that they finally had a fighting chance against oppression and lies that have been directed at them.