How Does Tom Robinson Use Real Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel about a girl named Scout and her family during the course of three summers. The story takes place in Alabama in the 1930s during the Great Depression and segregation. Scout’s father Atticus defends a black man named Tom in a rape case against a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Tom’s character teaches us readers about courage in many ways. He displays real courage by speaking his mind while in court. Tom also demonstrates courage by standing up for himself throughout the trial. Lastly, Tom shows us readers real courage when he does what he think is right when he attempts to escape from prison. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson displays to us readers what real courage is. To be courageous you need to speak your mind. Tom tells his true feelings during the trial.“ ‘Yes, suh. I felt right sorry for her, she seemed to try more’n the rest of ‘em---’ ‘You felt sorry for her, you felt sorry for her?’ ” (Lee 197). In this passage, Tom is asked why he helped Mayella so much, and his answer was he felt sorry for her. In this time period, whites were viewed as superior to blacks. For Tom to say that he felt sorry for Mayella sounded like he thought himself better than Mayella, a white woman.

He was a black man in a white man’s world, but he didn’t give up. Tom endured the case, knowing that white men would never find him innocent in any crime against a white person in that time period. He expressed his true feelings during the case. He also stood up for himself, as to not let the false case kill his spirit. Tom Robinson, when he was given the chance, did the right thing for himself when he tried to escape from prison. Atticus himself said early in the book that real courage is “ ‘…..when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.’ ” Tom