By Harper Lee’s very definition, “Real courage is when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Courage comes up so many times in this story throughout almost every single character. The characters that I will be proving the acts of courage in in this essay are Mr. Heck Tate, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, Aunt Alexandra, and Miss Maudie. Theses characters may not show quite as much courage as some of the others but they do help prove what real courage is.
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."- Eleanor Roosevelt. You are not born with courage, it 's something that’s created over time. Being courageous is never a lucid decision, it determines the quality of a person 's mind as it 's faced with difficulty, danger, pain, and a test of bravery. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee develops the theme concerning courage to show the difficulty and the necessity of acting boldly. The characters Atticus, Scout, Arthur Radley and Mrs.Dubose display an act of courage as they are faced with feasible but difficult situations.
Throughout To Kill A MockingBird, by Harper Lee there are many acts of courage. This is shown in Atticus Finch, Jem Finch, and Boo Radley. Atticus shows the most courage in the book but all three of these characters show true courage in some way, shape, or form. Boo Radley showed a lot of courage, but he was not in the storyline as much as Atticus. Throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, courage is defined as standing up for people and doing what’s right.
Particularly, Harper Lee uses Jem Atticus Finch to show that courage means pushing through even though you know have already lost. In Chapter 11, Jem and Scout had many encounters with Mrs. Dubose. Whenever they would walk past her house, she would shout hateful and insulting comments at them. Atticus told them to not let her comments affect them. One day, Mrs. Dubose made a comment about Atticus defending Tom Robinson. The comment was hateful and racist toward Atticus and Tom. Jem was angered by her comment and fueled by rage, cut down all of Mrs. Dubose 's camellia bushes. As an apology, Atticus ordered Jem to apologize and Mrs. Dubose asked him to read to her.
Courage is an attribute of good character that makes us worthy of respect. From the Bible to made-up stories; very old stories to Hollywood movies,our culture is rich with excellent stories of courage for the greater good. From David fighting Goliath in the Bible, the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz who gathers the courage to face the witch, to Harry Potter and stars war, kids are raised on a diet of heroic and motivational stories. History books tell colorful stories of social advocators, such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King , who chose to stand out against terribly unfair treatment at great personal risk. Small business
Courage is not only about winning or losing; it is also about the moral strength to do what is right rather than succumbing to personal prejudice. Atticus- Scout's father, his
“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’ courage is shown in multiple ways through his court actions and his stand against racial discrimination. For instance, as a lawyer, Atticus defends the innocent, despite controversial thoughts of others, this is proven true in the Tom Robinson court case. During this discriminative period, most African Americans brought to court for an accused crime were deemed guilty, despite the clear evidence that proved their innocence. When Jem thought Atticus’ defense of Tom will bring Tom to justice, Reverend Sykes said: “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man”(Lee 279). This proves Atticus’ courage because he chose to fight for a colored man to prove that he is not guilty of an alleged crime, despite knowing the usual outcome of the case and the disapproval he will receive from others.
In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus tells Scout that courage is “when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” Atticus has shown a lot of courage to his kids. Atticus showed courage by accepting the Tom Robinson case, by standing his ground at the jailhouse, and by standing up to Aunt Alexandra about Calpurnia. He even tries to get his kids to follow in his footsteps.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee vividly illustrates the real meaning of courage, both physical and emotional, through various situations and characters. The author explains the real meaning of courage through Mrs. Dubose, who in the novel wasn’t really seen as a main character, but as we dissect the novel in its entirety we uncover
The definition of courage is the ability to do something that frightens one, or strength in the face of pain or grief. People all over the world perform countless acts of courage every single day. Many characters in Harper Lee’s book, To Kill a Mockingbird portray these courageous traits also. Many of them performed acts that took great courage to do. Atticus’s definition of courage is going through with something you believe in even when you know it might go wrong. In the book, there are many courageous acts that happen but Atticus Finch shows the most courage all around.
"Courage is when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what" According to Atticus Finch, an honest lawyer in Harper Lee 's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. "Real courage" is when you fight for what is right regardless of whether you win or lose. Atticus fits into this definition of what "real courage" is and demonstrates it several times throughout the novel.
Atticus teachesJem that courage is not a man with a gun it’s,”when you know you’re licked but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what”(149). In deeper meaning, Atticus uses hes real courage in the Tom Robinson’s trial though the whites shamed him. It was against society’s code to like the blacks but Atticus risked his life numerous times in order to persue his morals of equality like the night a mob threatened Atticus to give Tom to them so they could murder him. Again he demonstrates his courage while staying calm when his life was threatened by Bob Ewell. Ewell spat on him and threatened to kill him but Atticus responded,”If spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell an extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take”(292-293). It took courage to stay tranquill while a drunken man was losing his temper but Atticus undertood his point of view and took the threat with courage to possibly save Mayella’s life. Moreover, everytime he shows his courage Jem and Scout learn to act more like thier father. Atticus not only uses his real courage to challenge society’s code and create equality, he also fights with is brain to pursuade others to understand all
Showing courage is not simply being physically strong. Courage is instilled in people through their morals and parents throughout their lives, and rarely changes. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the people in Maycomb county, Alabama show a courage throughout the novel. Atticus, Mrs. Dubose, and Mr. Arthur {Boo} Radley profoundly display courage in various ways and forms. To have courage is to stand up for what you believe in. People’s definitions of courage will vary on perspective and background. The idea of courage is not about winning or losing the battle or event, but doing what is right. It is exhibited in both the children and adults in the novel.
“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.