The Courage to Free a Mockingbird

When Scout is being made fun of by Aunt Alexandra, she stands up for the fact that she doesn't want to act very “girly”. A quote from the book talks about how Scout did not the act the way Aunty wanted: “‘When I appeared in the doorway, Aunty would look as if she regretted her request; I was usually mud-splashed or covered with sand,’”(Lee 149). Scout did not really want to be prim and start growing up yet she wanted to stay young and not have to worry about the future. The Tom Robinson case made her more courageous and self confident about herself not who Aunty was forcing her to become. This is an example of moral and physical courage. It is moral in way that Scout was different and she knew that, and she was ok with that. It is physical bravery in the way that Scout does not mind doing things women are not supposed to do. Scout acted more grown up, and stood up for herself when she had to. She was not scared because she was so young and went for it, she went for every opportunity she got to stand up tall and defend herself. However, courage is also shown when she knows what to do and what not to do. She kicks a man after making a rude remark to Jem and, Atticus is proud (Lee 173). Scout shows more examples like this all throughout the book. Moral courage, more than physical bravery in this example is shown. Moral courage because of how confident that Scout can do what needs to be done, even if

"I wanted to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun." What kinds of heroism and courage are shown in To Kill a Mockingbird? Discuss.

Instead of explaining to his children how the white society should treat others of a different race, he teaches his kids about equality. He says to Scout: "I do my best to love everybody... I'm hard put, sometimes—baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you" (Lee 144). In other words, Atticus declares that he does his best to love everybody, which teaches Scout that she should not judge or mistreat others by race, but to give equal respect to all mankind. Moreover, Atticus gives his children a perspective on what real courage is. He says to Scout: “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” (Lee 149). Atticus’ statement gives Scout a lesson. She learns that courage is not doing a hard task and being able to succeed in it. It is about believing in something and doing your best to achieve it, even though you may not succeed. Atticus teaches his kids moral values by telling them the act of true courage and leads them to the path of

In To Kill a Mockingbird, one of Atticus Finch’s most significant qualities, courage, impacts the story. Throughout the book, Harper Lee portrays courage as doing something out of your comfort zone, for the greater good or a good cause. The first example shows how Atticus’s quality of courage impacts the story. Atticus is sitting in front of the jail cell where Tom Robinson, the African-American man he is defending, is being kept. When Mr. Cunningham and the rest of his followers confront Atticus, he stays strong, keeps his ground and doesn’t let anything happen to Tom. The interaction starts with Mr. Cunningham approaching Atticus, “He in there, Mr. Finch? He is, and he’s asleep. Don’t wake him up. In obedience to my father. There followed what I later realized was a sickeningly comic aspect of an unfunny situation: the men talked in near-whispers. You know what we want. Get Aside from the door, Mr. Finch. You can turn around and go home, Walter. Heck Tate’s around somewhere.”(171-172) Atticus stops Mr. Cunningham and his men from harming Tom before his trial. It took courage to stand up to men who are usually cordial with him resulting in Tom not being killed and allowing the trial to continue. In the second example, it shows how Atticus’s actions reflect what how Harper Lee believes courage looks like in everybody. Atticus is brought to a tough decision in whether or whether not to defend Tom Robinson. When Scout asks him about the case and why he decided

This shows a very strong example of how Harper Lee uses moral courage. “You know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.” “Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it” (218). This quote supports my claim of Atticus having the moral courage because Atticus knows no one in Maycomb county likes the fact that he is defending an African American man to the best of his ability to save Tom Robinson’s life. Also another example is when Atticus talked to Scout and Jem about why he took on the case and didn’t back down. “Every lawyer gets one case in a lifetime that affects him personally, this one's mine I guess” (101). This quote is similar to my claim and shows how Harper Lee demonstrated courage in his characters because Atticus knew that this case would affect him personally because this was his first time defending an African American man. Atticus knew he would lose respect from the Maycomb community and there would be problems before and after the case was finished but he continued to defend Tom. Another example of how characterization was used by the use of mood is when Atticus killed the mad dog. “I haven’t shot a gun in 30 years-” (99). “ Besides that, he wore glasses. He was nearly blind in his left eye” (99). These quotes show courageous because Atticus wasn’t the only one that seen the mad dog. The sheriff of Maycomb, Calpurnia, Jem, Scout and others were at the scene too. Although sheriff Heck Tate was there, he wasn’t the one that killed the dog. Even though he was nervous because he hasn’t shot a gun in thirty years, Atticus shot him. Additionally he could barely see out of his left eye, the only eye he could really see out of was his right. He took this shot not knowing if he would hit him or miss, endangering himself and others. However, he was a hero that day and saved their

Moreover, every other character in the story can be said to have courage, especially Atticus. The book revolves around Atticus and how he has no fear to defend a black man. Atticus is a lawyer that always had justice and never accepts injustice. He defends a black man named “Tom Robinson” who is accused of rapping a white girl whose own father had infact raped. “I’m simply defending a negro his name’s Tom Robinson” “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again” (Lee,100). These quotes show that Atticus is not afraid and is brave enough to hold his head up in town even if he defended Tom, an inferior in their society. It also shows how well educated and mature he is that he even connects his job to his kids and he always tries to be good to be the best in his kids’ eyes. He wanted his kids to get along with other people and for them to learn courage from them like Mrs. Dubose, for example.

Scout, Jem, and Dill then discuss why Boo stays hidden. This is when Dill explained, “Maybe he doesn’t have anywhere to runoff too” (Lee 192). Dill suggest that Boo might have been through a l;ot and doesn’t have any loved ones to go to. We then realize Boo symbolizes innocence being destroyed because when he was little he has had no one to care for or love. One of the most memorable scenes is when Atticus and Heck Tate realize that Boo killed Bob Ewell. They discuss whether or not to expose him but Scout comes in and states “well, it’d be sort of like shootin a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” (Lee 370). Scout believes that by exposing Boo to the public after all these years of him locked in his house, it would be like killing an innocent mockingbird. At this moment Boo Radley officially becomes a mockingbird.

Courage is shown within the characters of To Kill A Mockingbird in several situations.  The characters are challenged to face danger or pain without fear.  The courage they display gives them strength and deepens their self-understanding as the novel progresses.

Courage can be defined in many different ways as shown by Anne Sexton’s “Courage” poem and Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. Anne Sexton would say courage comes in small acts and in these small acts of courage is what teaches people how to find the strength within themselves to accept things the way they are. Atticus Finch, one of the main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird, would argue that courage is perseverance and fighting till the end even though the battle has already been lost. This novel takes place around the 1930s, and is told through the eyes of Scout Finch. From her, one might learn about her father, Atticus Finch, an attorney who hopelessly aims to prove the innocence of a black man wrongly accused of rape. Both of these definitions, however, apply to three of the characters in the novel; Atticus represents both his definition and Anne Sexton’s, Scout represents Anne Sexton’s and Mrs. Dubose, an elderly woman addicted to morphine, represents Atticus’s.

Atticus defends a clored man,Tom Robinson, in a town full of "the disease". First of all when the mad dog came Atticus defended the town from the rabid dog. Atticus defends Maycomb and gets rid of the racism that the dog represents. This forshadowing helps us know that Atticus will try his best to take a step toward justice. It takes courage and dauntlessness to do this. Atticus explains to his son that at the end of chapter 11 what real courage is. "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 anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."He explains how you don't only need physical but also mental courage. He refers to the gun in hand as him killing the mad dog/disease and the idea of being icked before you begin refering to the fact that he started out knowing that there was no way he would win this case yet he had to have caurage to fight for justice. When scout asks her father whether

In addition, Jem is faced with a courageous situation in regards to the Radley house. His courage stems from fear of receiving a whipping from Atticus, and more important, his disapproval. Jem is willing to risk his life in order to save his father from showing disappointment. The threat of Mr. Radley waiting for the intruder with his gun instills fear within Jem. However, Jem overcomes this fear in order to sustain Atticus' faith. Being the only and eldest son places pressure upon Jem to set an example and implant pride within his father. The possibility of being shot is an obstacle Jem must overcome with mental courage, which he does. Lastly, Jem also shows mental courage when he stops himself from bragging about Atticus and how he was a very good shooter. When Atticus shot the mad dog, Jem found out that his father was a very good shooter and he wanted to tell everyone in school about it. But, he knew that Atticus did not consider a man with a gun in his hand real courage and so Jem kept quiet and did not brag about it, which took mental discipline and courage on his part.

They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (chapter 10). One of the Character who fits the symbolic meaning of mockingbird is Boo Radley. He is a man who is regarded as mysterious and dangerous by the community . He shows his goodness by giving gifts to the children and saving their lives. Doing no harm to others and expects nothing to return. Just like it is sin to kill a mockingbird, in this case, Boo should not be kill . That's why Heck Tate insists Bob Ewell fell on his own

“Mr. Finch – Jem didn’t stab Bob Ewell,” said Heck Tate. “Bob Ewell fell on his knife. He killed himself.” Atticus looked like he didn’t believe Mr. Tate. Mr. Tate kept glancing at Boo.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus shows moral courage because he respects every person equally and has the courage to think differently than everyone else. An example of this is when he is talking to Scout after her unfortunate first day of school. She is mad at her new teacher, Miss. Caroline for getting her in trouble twice in one day. Atticus says “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around with it.”

During the 1930’s in a little town called Maycomb courage was needed, courage to help those who need it most. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee a young girl Scout is challenged with the problem of racism as it sweeps through Maycomb, to stay strong and to stand for what is right. Scout is a little girl who enjoys wearing overalls and playing in the mud. She has an older brother named Jem, who she looks up to for her wisdom as well as her “boyfriend” Dill. As they grow up her father, Atticus is tasked with defending an innocent black man from getting in trouble for something he did not do. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird courage is shown by Atticus and his children Jem and Scout in a town full of racism