Courage: How can it change society?
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” Mark Twain In our class, we were tasked to read the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, as well as watch the documentary Eyes on the Prize, where we witnessed the death of Emmett Till and the uprising it caused. We read and listened to the I Have a Dream Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The main focus of this unit was the book To Kill a Mockingbird, where Harper Lee writes about the story of two children living in Maycomb during the time of the Great Depression. Maycomb is a city in Alabama where the people who live there demonstrate huge prejudice towards black people. Throughout the story, the children learn valuable lessons which help them mature from children to young adults.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee communicates to her readers, through the characters, that in order to bring about social justice, those in the community must have certain types of courage; physical, moral, and mental courage. In numerous occurrences within the novel, Lee clearly describes that one must have physical courage to stand up for the oppressed, moral courage to do what is morally correct, and mental courage to fight back against psychologically harmful comments.
To start, Harper Lee describes, through the character Atticus Finch, the physical courage that one must have in order to bring about change in social injustice. One day, a rabid dog starts wandering down the
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
“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Atticus Finch. This quote is proved to be true in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee as it demonstrates the true definition of courage. The book takes you along the journey of young girl, Scout Finch, during a time where colored people are thought less of. She experiences this first hand as her father, Atticus Finch, has been assigned to defend a colored man who has been accused of raping a white female. Scout along with her elder brother Jem, learn the definition of courage through some of the characters and how they act to the events that occur before and after the trial. In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, many characters are great examples of trusting yourself when all odds are stacked against you. Throughout the novel the characters that display courage are Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley.
In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird courage is defined as standing up for what one believes in. Throughout the part one of the book Atticus stands up for what he believes in even though he is heavily criticized. Out of every character introduced so far Atticus has shown by far the most cnjourage. Scout and Jem show courage by trying to communicate with Boo Radley even though all of the terrible rumors.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a timeless novel that has been both accepted and refused by many readers. To Kill a Mockingbird took place is a town called Maycomb. It is narrated by a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, otherwise known as Scout, who learns how to deal with many things in her life. While learning to deal with racism, injustice, and criticism, she also finds courage being showed by many of her role models. The theme courage is best depicted through Boo Radley, Scout and Atticus.
Courage has indeed been demonstrated a lot by many characters in different situations. Both Scout and Atticus have shown many examples of courage throughout the story by doing or saying things that were hard for many ordinary people to do.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee shows the racism and prejudice that occurs in America during the Jim Crow era. The story is told by Scout who grows up noticing how unfair the world can be. It takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s, when blacks were commonly discriminated against. Throughout this book the reader is reminded of how a little courage goes a long way. The theme for To Kill A Mockingbird is courage because Jem, Atticus, and Ms Dubose demonstrate courageous acts throughout the novel.
True Courage Atticus’s Middle Name Throughout time we have only seen a few people that have had true courage. True courage is not something that your born with, it’s something that takes a certain individual. Courage and true courage are different in their meanings. Courage is doing somethings that frightens someone, while true courage is not just doing what scares you but doing something that is unheard of or not of human instincts. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee we see how Atticus has true courage.
Every day, men and women alike bear witness to acts of courage or events that they can learn from. A firefighter going into a burning house to save a family could be one such example, or perhaps even something as simple as a child standing up to a schoolyard bully. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout Finch and her older brother, Jem, watch as their father Atticus tries to combat racism in their little town of Maycomb, all while he teaches them on what it means to be a good person. Throughout the novel of To Kill a Mockingbird, characters have either acted courageously or seen acts of courage and learned lessons from others that the audience can absorb.
In literature themes of courage are very often seen in the story’s main character. However, some pieces are an exception. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” demonstrates that every individual has the capability of being courageous. First, marginalized citizens are capable of being selfless in order to help a community that may not treat them equally. Next, The youth of a community are represented as children being courageous when adults put them in situations requiring them to be. Finally, courage is also displayed an adherent for a marginalized group stands in the face of racism, opposing societal norm. All these types of characters that Harper Lee has created demonstrate one thing: Courage is a virtue which everyone can exhibit when fear forces him or her to act.
In the the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Scout learns that there are many different kinds of courage. There are many displays of courage, by many characters of the book, subtle though they are. Many you probably wouldn’t think twice about.
In harper lee’s novel to kill a mockingbird, different forms of courage are explored and are found throughout the novel and itis shown that there are many different ways in which people can show courage, apart from just physical courage as scout finds as she experiences during the novel (the other form being mental courage). This novel is set in the 1930’s in America in the imaginary town of Macomb county just after the great depression.According to Atticus finch, one of the protagonists in to kill a mockingbird, “courage is when you know your licked before you begin”. This shows that atticus is the moral voice of the novel and also shows many forms of courage. Mrs doubose also shows physical courage by attempting to overcome her addiction
In life society faces challenges and difficulties, but it is how we respond to them that shapes our values and character. Courage is not a ‘lose or win’ situation, but it is defined as doing what is conscientious instead of what is, according to one’s values, wrong. It helps to shape the world and provides insight into people’s opinions and actions. Courage is exemplified in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird as Atticus teaches his children the important lessons of life and how true courage is not gained through a gun. Real courage is the power and willingness to do something about a concern, which relates to the experience of Mrs. Dubose and her quitting the use of morphine in order to die clean. Like Atticus’s teaching, courage is also shown through the heroic actions of abolitionist, Harriet Tubman, as well as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. These powerful role models inspire the idea of courage as they took action on what they believed in. The courage of amazing historical figures has given today’s society a sense of freedom of choice, and encourages people to create new ideas for their beliefs. The courageous acts of Malala Yousafzai for human rights advocacy and also the bravery of the men and women who serve our country in the United States Armed Forces demonstrate the belief and action of our current society. Courage is an important and consistent attribute in Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mockingbird, as well as Harriet Tubman’s contribution to the abolitionist movement,
Be The Change You Wish To See Often in literature as in life, characters and people witness and experience discrimination, racial injustice, under education/poverty, prejudice, and pollution. Regardless of the conflict or time period, the characters and people often become negatively affected. Among these negatively affected, there are always those who fearlessly stand up for their beliefs. Standing up for what you believe in also requires a great deal of bravery. In the following three speeches and novel - Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman”, President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s “The Great Society”, Shirley Chisholm’s “Equal Rights for Women”, and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” - taking a stand with bravery shows.
Courage exists in several forms in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. As defined by Atticus Finch courage is, “when you know you’re licked…you see it through no matter what.” Lee explains that courage is the idea of standing up for yourselves and others, do what you believe is right, and being honest and brave despite the situation. Through, the characters Lee demonstrates that courage has many forms and courage is not physical strength but inner strength.
Harper Lee uses her novel to teach us important lessons from the characters presented in To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus, a fair and moral character, whose parenting style is unique, lined with honest and example, teaches us to follow his ways. Scout, an innocent girl who teaches us what’s important in life. Tom Robinson, someone who is ostracized for being African American, can teach us the importance of equal treatment and awakens us to our surrounding society. Lee’s construction of characters gives us perspective to issues in our society today, how they still matter and what we can learn from the novel such as compassion, justice and understanding.