To Kill A Mockingbird Courage Analysis

People have in mind that courage is about being able to save other peoples’ lives and risking your own, or to climb Mount Everest, or to jump from the top of a high building. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, real courage is demonstrated in a different and encouraging way. Real courage is shown as fighting for what is believed in and what is most important, regardless of whether you win or lose. Atticus and Scout are two characters who define courage perfectly. The reasons why Atticus shows courage is that he argued the best he could to defend the innocent man from going to jail since he knew that no one else would. Also he raised, as a single parent, two children on his own. Scout is courageous because she is a person who cherishes her

People can be seen as courageous for standing up for themselves or going to war, when courage should really be recognized when someone goes out of their comfort zone, such as talking to someone new to saying an opinion. As E. E. Cummings says, “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”. Courage is not only an act; it is what makes a person. To Kkill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a book that portrays the acts of courage both large and small that happen every day. Many people such as Boo, Jem and Scout show courage through the book but one person in particular that shows a great deal of courage is Atticus who shows courage in many different ways in order to protect himself, his family and the town of Maycomb. Atticus Finch,

Courage is strength in the face of physical pain, hardship or death. It is also the choice and willingness to confront shame and personal loss. In Harper Lee's novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird', people demonstrate courage by standing up against prejudice, and overcoming their own loneliness and fears to live a good life. Mrs Dubose faces up to her morphine addiction. Atticus faces down the racism of the town. Jem shows his courage in trying to protect his sister. Harper Lee believes that courage requires perseverance and fearlessness in risking a life to save another.

On a rainy day, a man at the bus stop asks for change. The two choices are walking past him avoiding eye contact, or giving him the change with a smile. Before even talking to this man, one may have already made the assumption that he is homeless or a drug addict wanting to buy his next high. But assumptions cannot accurately explain who he is or why he needs money. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee explores this idea of judging others before looking at the world from their perspective. Scout and Jem, although raised in a prejudice town, learn from their father Atticus that who a person is racially, does not define them as a person. Although the children make up stories about Arthur “Boo” Radley to pass the time in part one of the novel, in part two the Tom Robinson situation widens their eyes to the biased ways of their town. In the end, Jem and Scout are rescued by Boo Radley, the very person they feared during their childhood. Mockingbirds are used as a symbol in the novel to portray the fact that innocent and caring people are sometimes the most abused. The theme of presumptions and the dangers of judging others are explored through the childhood fable of Boo, the story of Atticus, and the trial of Tom Robinson; the mockingbirds.

Courage has gone through many changes. It has been altered throughout races, cultures, religions, sex, and time. However, the core values of courage has always remained parallel. It is difficult to explain in words the meaning of courage, like describing a color, but everyone knows what courage is, how it feels, and how to perform it. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus explained to us a type of courage that was shown in Ms. Dubose. These attributes were also apparent in a man named Liu Xiaobo. Both Ms. Dubose, and Mr. Liu, rose above social views to fight for their beliefs, did not give up in times of trouble, and had the audacity to face demons that were far more powerful than themselves.

In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, Calpurnia, and Atticus stand out when courage comes to mind. These characters show courage in many unique ways with different situations. In the early 1930s, in the deep south, racial discrimination was a huge conflict, for example, the Jim Crows Laws were in play, and it legalized segregation between blacks and whites. Courage isn’t always shown in situations, but simply throughout growing up.

“I want you to understand that courage isn’t a man with a gun in his hand,” (Lee 112). This is a quote spoken from a courageous man who put himself in other people’s positions and did not believe he was superior to African Americans like many in that time period. Atticus Finch is a lawyer, and also the father of Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The finches live in a small town called Maycomb during 1933, also known as the Great Depression era. Throughout the book, the town faces many racial discrimination issues, especially when an African American man named Tom Robinson is falsely accused of rape of a white female. Atticus courageously decides to take Tom Robinson’s case, therefore, going against the prejudice portrayed in the town. Malala Yousafzai was a teenager who lived in a city in Pakistan that was under control of a Taliban. The Taliban highly restricted girls from going to school because of their gender. Malala believed that everyone had the right to get an education, so she fought for what she believed in and went against the Taliban. Both of these heroes stuck up and fought for what they believed in no matter the consequences. Atticus Finch and Malala Yousafzai both portrayed courage throughout their lifetimes by having extraordinary bravery and went on to become many people’s heroes to this day.

“Courage is not the absence of fear but the acquired ability to move beyond fear” (-Unknown). Courage is a person who steps up to do something they don’t want to regardless of what other people think of them. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird the novel highlights themes such as, racial injustice, improper judgement, thinking in other perspectives and lots of courageous acts through the use of her many characters. Atticus is a character of courage in a way he steps up to defend an black man,Tom Robinson, in a tough case. But there is another character who goes by the name of Mr. Dolphus Raymond who showed more courage because he, a white man, married a black woman at the time of racial injustice when not all whites respected blacks. Atticus tells Jem, “...to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.” (Lee 112) In this novel Harper Lee chose to define courage as a person who has the strength to do something that they are either afraid of or know others may not accept it courage is mistaken for a heroic figure. Mr. Dolphus Raymond is courageous because of his beliefs, actions, and words.

Atticus shows courage by defending a black man in court in his extremely racist town. Judge Taylor asked Atticus to defend the black man, Tom Robinson who was on trial for his life. The judge knew Atticus would fight for Tom fairly. Atticus accepted this challenge knowing that the citizens of Maycomb may disagree with his decision. He believed every individual was equal and Atticus felt it was his obligation to represent him to the best of his ability. Atticus took defending Tom so seriously he ended up sitting in front of Tom’s jail cell to make sure no intruders laid a hand on him before the trial. Countless community members might think that Atticus was just doing his job, however numerous people would never be able to take this task on.

In To Kill A Mockingbird courage is a very apparent in Harper Lee’s message in the book. A good example of this is, according to Atticus Finch, one of the main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird, "Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." This is exemplified when Atticus takes the trial of Tom Robinson, but we’ll get into that later. Also when Boo Radley fights Bob Ewell in the woods for Scout and Jem, and my last example of when Mrs. Dubose dies in pain to not become a morphine addict. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee proves that you should always fight for something you believe in, even if it is destined to fail.

Martin Luther King stated: “Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles...there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” This quote is relevant throughout To Kill a Mockingbird because courage is a quality that most of the main characters possess. Taking place in Maycomb, Alabama, during the Great Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of two children named Scout and Jem. Their eyes are opened to who their neighbors really are when their father is appointed to defend an African American accused of rape in a prejudice town. The children grow up as the trial hypnotizes the citizens, and the reader sees courage

“[Courage is] when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (Lee 112). When courage is mentioned, one may think of “a man with a gun in his hand” (112). This is a myth that Harper Lee debunks in her book To Kill A Mockingbird. Courage is a recurring and vital theme in her book because many of the characters show the other townspeople what courage looks like.

"Jem, 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. It 's when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." This insightful statement was told by Atticus Finch to his son, Jem Finch. Many people in Maycomb had to deal with racism, hatred, and discrimination because of their skin color or because of the court case. Most of them, if not all, showed true courage by standing up for what they believe in and keeping their heads up high. Harper Lee uses many scenes and key characters to develop the theme of real courage for instance, Jem, Atticus, and Miss Maudie go through a journey to discover, understand and to show that real courage is mental courage in the face of physical and emotional torment.

“... Real courage… It’s when you know you’re lcked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” These are the wise words of a character named Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. This novel by Harper Lee is about two children that have to experience the real world at a young age, during a troubling time in history. These children are exposed to racism and prejudiceness and are forced to grow up, seeing that people are not as they seem. In this novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Boo Radley, Atticus Finch, and Jem Finch show courage in ways that define their character.

“Courage doesn 't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I’ll try again tomorrow’” - Mary Anne Radmacher. Through this quote one can see the advantages of real courage. One can really understand the true meaning of courage by reading the books To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. The book by Harper Lee is written by a 9 year old’s perspective named Scout. Throughout the book she discovers many mockingbirds in her society and the trouble they have to live through. This helps the reader identify many subtopics in the book like prejudice vs tolerance, compassion vs ignorance and more importantly courage vs cowardice. She deciphers the true meaning of courage vs cowardice when she meets the mystery character, Boo Radley. The book by Sherman Alexie too has similar themes and settings. It’s based on the struggles Indian’s face in America due to their race. The book uses a teenagers perspective to exhibit these struggles. This helps teenagers connect to the book as even they might have perspectives similar to of Junior’s (main character). Both the authors use similar literary devices like external conflict, internal conflict and characterization to keep the reader interested in the text. In both the texts one can see that the thematic idea conveyed is that courageous people don’t roar about their strength, but they use it to benefit the community as a whole.