Courage is a common trait among great literary protagonists. From Hermione Granger in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series to the eponymous character in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, courage is a trait that many authors use to incite the audience’s support and encouragement of the courageous character. However, courage is not always represented definitively in the same way; Hermione Granger and Jane Eyre both display courage physically and morally, still, some would argue that one character is more courageous than the other or that one type of courage is a better representation of the word. At its core, the debate comes down to a matter of linguistics and the development of the English language, but more interesting literature stems from the debate of the socially correct usage, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird tackles the challenge of defining courage. Lee asserts that courage is the act of striving to meet a difficult goal in order to increase one’s positive contribution to a society. This definition of courage is displayed through the actions, words, and beliefs of the characters; Arthur “Boo” Radley, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus Finch. Arthur “Boo” Radley is a reclusive character who falls victim to Maycomb’s small town ideology of hiding rather than solving its problems, as well as its close knit community of gossip and rumours. Boo Radley makes an ongoing effort to defy these rumours and break free of his hiding despite being hindered by nearly every citizen of Maycomb.
Set in the town of Maycomb County, this novel describes the journey of two young kids growing up in a small-minded town, learning about the importance of innocence and the judgement that occurs within. The individuals of Maycomb are very similar, with the exception of Arthur “Boo” Radley, the town’s recluse. Boo Radley has never been seen outside, and as a result of this, the children in the town are frightened of him and make up rumors about the monstrous things he allegedly does. This leaves the individuals in the town curious as to if Boo Radley really is a “malevolent phantom” like everyone assumes that he is or if he is just misunderstood and harmless. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Boo Radley is a saviour. This is
Boo Radley is a ‘malevolent phantom’ and a character that has been shaped by gossips and sustained by children’s imaginations. “Stephanie Crawford, a neighbourhood scold… said she woke up in the middle of the night and saw him looking straight through the window at her.” This dialogue is an example of the gossips and how the legend of Boo Radley developed, lies that persecute his innocence. Setting is used to develop Boo’s surroundings and to summon an eerie atmosphere giving Maycomb reason enough to reject and victimise him for being different. “…rain rotten shingles drooped… oak trees kept the sun away and the remains of a picket fence drunkenly guarded the front yard.” The Radley house has been established as a neglected, out of place and isolated home through Harper Lee’s use of connotative words. This evokes within the reader the same view of Boo as the rest of the town and allows us to understand where the misunderstanding comes from before we
Everyone in Maycomb believes that the Radleys are dangerous and no one dares to really talk to them. They don’t follow the unwritten social rules that everyone else follows, and that is weird and mysterious to people. The community is mostly suspicious of Arthur Radley, also known as Boo Radley. People believe he is hostile because when he was a teen, he got in with the wrong crow and was arrested. Fifteen years later, he had another incident.
A remarkable American soldier and author named William T. Sherman once stated, “Courage, a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure It.” Going against what society says and sticking to your beliefs is an act of courage. In the realistic fiction novel, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee, an average southern family, the Finches, fights against the racism of a small town. Harper Lee’s message is expressed by symbolism through the two characters Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, the bildungsroman of Scout, and the hero archetype of Atticus .Harper Lee portrays that courage should be shown through loyalty not popularity.
In today's society, courage is defined as the ability to succeed without changing who we are as a person or what we believe in hoot courage, justice is weak and society is corrupt. In Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel "To Kill a Mockingbird', courage is presented through the characters Atticus Finch and Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose as they confront their issues and embrace life regardless of what others think. Harper Lee constructed her narrative during a time of prejudice and injustice against Black Americans; hence courage was vital to overcome the racial discrimination many faced Both Atticus and Mrs Dubose along with the crucial events in the novel teach Jean Louise Finch, as well as the audience, the significance of courage and create an understanding that courage exists in several forms, Courage is often seen as the physical bravery an individual can display in a fearful H ever, it is also when an individual knows there is no chance of winning, but continues to fight for what they believe in. Harper Lee constructs a masculine image of this type of courage through Atticus and his handling of the mad dog incident. When comparing Atticus to the other fathers in Maycomb, Jam and Scout think of him as old and feeble' though the mad dog occurrence reveals a side of him that had not yet been discovered by his children; that he was once the best marksman the town with the name of one shot Finch'. Heck Tate insists that Atticus should kill the diseased animal even though
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee gives us the character Atticus Finch to give us an example of what courage is through symbolism, pathos, and irony. In this analysis I will talk about about how Atticus’s actions and words all seem to try to teach us something, and that something is courage. We can see the biggest example of Atticus’s courage when he has to talk about Tom Robinson’s case or when he talked to the kids about what Mrs. Dubose was trying to do before her death. Atticus’s courage is the type that allows him to do what he thinks is right even if people don’t agree with him or if it seems hopeless to try. Atticus is also seen trying to pass down his courage and wisdom to his kids throughout the story.
Arthur “Boo” Radley is a man who was involved in a gang when he was young. Now he is seen as an insane and murderous person by the town. People rumor him to walk around at night and peer in people's windows and eat squirrels and cats.
2. Arthur Radley, or “Boo Radley”, the son of Mr. Radley is a distant, lonely, isolated man who isn’t ever seen by people outside his house. People in Maycomb perceive him as an awful person, with a terrifying appearance who fills them with aghast.
The town of Maycomb has created a horrible label for him because of his parents and social issues. Many people think as Jem, Scout and Dill that, “judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained (...) There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (16) all because of the stories they heard around. Boo Radley shows the theme of coexistence of good and evil, because no one knew who he was so they made up horrible rumours by pure ignorance although he is nothing of a monster as people describe. He turns out to be a protective, shy and caring person at the end of the book protecting Jem and Scout from Bob
2. Arthur Radley, or “Boo Radley”, the son of Mr. Radley is a distant, lonely, isolated man who isn’t ever seen by people outside his house. People in Maycomb perceive him as an awful person, with a terrifying appearance who fills them with aghast.
Jagged facial scars, disgusting yellow teeth, big bug eyes and drool dripping from his mouth, were the rumors that were spread about a man that will later show his true self to the Finch children, as a kind and caring person. The small town of Maycomb, located in Alabama, is a town where everybody knows everybody business. It is a place where rumors are guaranteed to go around, rumors about a man named Arthur Radley. Arthur “Boo” Radley is not how everyone perceived him to be in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, as shown through the town’s image of Boo, the foreshadowing taking place at the scene of Miss Maudie’s house catching fire, as well as the plot twist that takes place at the end of the book.
Courage is universally recognized by all men in every single culture, yet what it truly means is usually mixed up with physical strength or using an advantage no one else had to win. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, True courage is defined as fighting as hard as you can in a fight that may not be in your favor, or facing a situation you are terrified of. Through her character's, Lee shows this definition of courage. Atticus, Mrs. Dubose, and Arthur (Boo) Radley all show tremendous courage throughout the book by defending a dead man, beating an addiction, and preventing a murderer from stealing the lives of two innocent children.
Mr Radley was ashamed of his son’s behaviour when he got into the wrong crowd as a youngster and punished him by locking him up. There is a lot of gossip around Maycomb about Boo and people blame him for any bad things that happen in the neighbourhood, ‘Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.’ Jem turns him into a monster, ‘his hands were blood-stained’, and ‘his eyes popped’. At the end of the novel however, we find that Boo is misunderstood, and gossip of the town’s folk has made him up to be a ‘malevolent phantom’. Scout tells us he is timid, he had, ‘the voice of a child afraid of the dark’.
“Maycomb County had recently been told it had nothing to fear but fear itself.” This fictional town in Alabama seems to be nothing but a tired, old, slow town. Beneath the surface it has many underlying secrets. One specific rumor that has been flying through the town for many years is about a young man named Boo Radley. Within the first eight chapters of this book Boo has been categorized as a villain.
Boo Radley, also known as Arthur Radley, spends his days inside of his house. This is different from the other people living in Maycomb, and leads to the other citizens starting rumors about him. The first summer Dill is visiting Maycomb, Jem tells Dill the rumors surrounding Arthur Radley, such as “he dines on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch” (13). Arthur’s habit of staying inside is seen as a negative attribute to the rest of the people in Maycomb, so they assume that he can’t be normal. This unfair treatment spreads even to the children who have never seen Arthur and leads to them assuming that he is as evil as everyone says.