Burning Courage Research Paper

Emma Powers

Ms. Logan

English 10-B

16 November 2015

The Burning Courage

Throughout one’s lifetime, they face many situations in which their stomach drops and a flash of fear can be seen glazing their eyes. In the few seconds it takes for this fear to pass throughout the whole body; a new feeling forms like a fire spreading heat to the surrounding area. That is courage. The burning courage grows like a flame, quickly engulfing the fear and turning it into adrenaline. Courage is overcoming pain, discomfort, danger, or uncertainty to protect someone else, or promote a cause no matter the cost despite wanting to become a better person; Several characters, including Dedé in Alvarez’s In the Time of Butterflies, Heck Tate in Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird,

Atticus, the town lawyer, has his mind set on the idea that his son, Jem, accidently stabbed Mr. Ewell during their tussle. Accounting for the time of night and the surprise Mr. Ewell caused him, Atticus deems it plausible, only ever thinking Boo Radley brought home his children. However, Heck Tate knows the truth about how Bob Ewell was killed. Building enough courage to speak against one of the most respected people in the town, Heck Tate ends up protecting Boo from the mayhem the townspeople will cause if they know the truth and eases the untidy mind of the tired lawyer who is sure his son did more. Heck Tate pleads his case by saying; “It ain’t your decision, Mr. Finch, it’s all mine. It’s my decision and my responsibility. For once, if you don’t see it my way, there’s not much you can do about it. If you wanta try, I’ll call you a liar to your face. Your boy never stabbed Bob Ewell… didn’t come near a mile of it and now you know it. All he wanted to do was get him and his sister safely home” (Lee 369). Through his actions, Heck Tate protects an innocent, a mockingbird one might say, from the repercussions of his heroic act. He also cleans the hands of an innocent boy only trying to get him and his sister home unharmed. By stating it “ain’t [Mr. Finch’s] decision” to call the case, Heck Tate eliminates Atticus’s ideas for the cause of Bob’s death. Being the police officer of the town, Heck Tate states it is his “decision and responsibility.” Tate’s conclusion is the final conclusion. Knowing Atticus to be one to see one point of view and that point of view alone, Tate explains the distance of Jem’s counter reaction to Ewell’s attack “didn’t come near a mile.” By being so far off Heck Tate concludes that an innocent Jem and by standing Boo are both innocent. Even though it takes heaps of