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Harper Lee Courage Quotes

Decent Essays

IAKT

I believe that Harper Lee’s definition of “courage” is doing something even though you know you may lose, and it doesn’t matter if it’s physically or emotionally. Scout, Atticus and Mrs. Dubose all help explain this definition. Firstly, there are a few quotes in the story that explains the definition. The first one is, “Because I could never ask you to mind me again. Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those firsts down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with …show more content…

These quotes all have different meanings, but connect with each and Harper Lee’s definition of courage. The first quote is from Atticus and he is telling Scout about his case with Tom Robinson and how people will make fun of her because of him, but he tells her to fight with her head and not with her fists. This is an example of courage for Atticus, because Atticus is being brave to defend a man even though he’ll have to swallow his pride. This quote shows that the definition is correct because with Atticus, he knows people will talk dirty and bully him about defending Tom Robinson, but it’s the right thing. The second quote is when Scout was facing Francis who was calling her father nasty names. Usually, Scout would fight someone like that -- but because her father told her not to she, for the first time, chose not the fight. This is an example of courage because she chose to swallow her pride in order to make Atticus proud, which may be hard for her because earlier in the story she has a tendency to fight others. This quote shows that the definition is correct because even though she has a tendency she to be violent with others, she fights the urge internally and decides to lay down her fists, even though the harassment may continue. The last quote is from Atticus talking to his son, Jem, about Mrs. Dubose after she died. Jem questions Atticus on why he earlier called her a great lady, and he responds with saying that she

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