In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird there is a theme of courage throughout the story. Harper Lee’s message about courage is that adults and children can be equally courageous. Harper Lee wants her readers to know that courage can be shown in many different ways. Some of the courageous acts in this story are when Atticus takes the case for Tom Robinson, and when Scout stands up for Walter Cunningham. Other examples include, when Boo saves Scout’s life from Bob Ewell and when Mrs. Dubose overcomes her addiction. All of these actions display Harper Lee’s message of courage.
To Kill A Mockingbird is filled with acts of courage by adults and children. For example, Scout stands up for Walter Cunningham when Miss Caroline tries to give him money for lunch. Scout tells her “The Cunninghams never take anything they can't payback”(26). Scout shows a lot of courage standing up and defending another student, even when others would not show bravery. Another example is when Atticus takes the case of Tom Robinson. Atticus explains “I’m simply defending a negro--his name’s Tom Robinson”(100). Not many people during that time
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Miss Dubose, who recovered from being addicted to morphine, also shows courage in the story. Atticus tells Jem about Miss Dubose and says “She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody”(148). She did not want morphine to have the best of her at the end of her life, she wanted to be strong and to have no regrets. Likewise, Boo saving Scout is also a very courageous act. Scout explained, “The scuffling noises were dying; someone wheezed and the night was still again”(351). Boo was doing his job to protect the kids and keep the night nice and peaceful. He did not want Scout or Jem to be stabbed to death. Boo has stayed inside his house most of his life, so for him to come out and kill Bob Ewell to save Scout and Jem is a great representation of
Courage isn’t always bravery. Sometimes courage goes unseen. To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, displays different types of courage. It is written from a point of view of a child whose name is Scout growing up in a Southern town with her brother Jem. Their father, Atticus Finch, is defending an African American man named Tom Robinson who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The Finches mysterious neighbor in Maycomb County, Arthur Radley, whom the children have never seen until Halloween night, adds to the rising tensions in the town. The book teaches many lessons and sheds light on some of the problems we still have today. One of the lessons it teaches is courage. Courage is standing up for what is right, just like Atticus,
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there was a lot of quotes that really made you sit back and think about life. One quote Atticus said that was my favorite was, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” I like Atticus’ quote because it is saying to not judge someone by the way they look, judging a person defines who you are, and judging is sometimes false information.
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.
Power, it is something that everyone wants, it classifies us. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is about a powerless black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Because of Mayella’s class and gender she is powerless, but her race makes her have a little more power.
Courage, as defined by Collins Dictionary, is “the quality shown by someone who decides to do something difficult or dangerous, even though they may be afraid”. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee has created many characters who exhibit such courage, even in the face of adversity, and develops this into a major theme. Atticus Finch, Arthur Radley, and other members of the Finch household and Maycomb community, display amazing courage in the things they say, but more importantly in the way they act. These characters all contribute to the novel’s theme of showing courage through adversity.
“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 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
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.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, courage can be found in every chapter and on almost every page of this book. Virtually every character in this book posses courageous qualities. In this novel, the Finches' are just a few of the people who endure harsh blows over about a three year period. However, each and every one of them step up to the plate with courage ready to strike. Atticus especially shows courage when he agrees to defend Tom Robinson. Atticus did not have to take this case, and everything that accompanies it. However, Atticus wanted to prove that being prejudice and racist is undoubtfully wrong. To try and convey this message was a difficult take to preform, but Atticus wanted the people of Maycomb to understand why he felt this way. Another charater who clearly shows courage is Boo Radley. Boo Radley was the person who killed Bob Ewell. Boo Radley did this because Bob Ewell was trying to kill Jem and Scout. Boo Radley, beyond a shadow of doubt, walked into that situation
"Courage isn't an absence of fear. It's doing what you are afraid to do. It's having the power to let go of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory." ~John Maxwell. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout (Jean Louise Finch), Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch), and Atticus Finch display acts of valor that contribute, and in some cases encourage their rectitude. Harper Lee demonstrates that acting courageously can lead to an improved, sustained, or newly developed personal integrity.
Another device that assists in portraying courage is through the characterization of one of the main focused characters, which during the whole duration of the novel was flat and static, Atticus Finch. In the narrative, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus shows many daring moments, as a lawyer and father, he is a role model to not only the coloreds’ in Maycomb community but including the kids, Jem and Scout. To Scout, he speaks to her about fighting all the time because of what people say about him and he tells her a bit of advice, “… You may 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 fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change… it’s a good one, even if it does resist learning.” (76) Since his daughter, Scout, was already hearing so many negative feedback from many people in Maycomb including the kids her age, she had got into it with a classmate of hers, Cecil Jacobs, after verbalizing how Atticus “defends
In the book, “To kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee explores the concept of moral courage. It's the courage of one family who begins to overcome the gossip and prejudice in one small town. To me this means, for example, Atticus left his towns bubble which was very racist and old fashioned to stand up for what is right. Atticus is the father of Jem and Scout, he is the town lawyer and he believe that everyone should be treated equally. Jem is the son of Atticus he is maturing and follows in his father's footsteps. Scout is the narrator of the story and she doesn't understand a lot of things but her father's quote “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view till you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” helps her understand why people do things a lot better. Boo Radley is the…. Tom robinson… Bob ewell….Mayella…
Courage is strength. Courage is honesty. Courage is standing one’s ground no matter what. Courage is standing up for others. In Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem Finch, along with their father Atticus, live in Maycomb County, a small, mainly racist town in Alabama during the Great Depression. The Finch family’s neighbor, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus display acts of personal courage in the story. Specifically, Mrs. Dubose displays courage in her honesty and strength, and Atticus displays courage in his responses to racism based threats and keeping others safe.
Who would destroy something that contained a heart filled only with good? The answer to that can be found in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee in an unjust time of unequal opportunity. The story follows the retelling of an 8-year-old girl named Jean Louis and those around her moral growth. She lives in Maycomb Alabama during the Great Depression. She has many chapters of growth including changing from afraid of a person to wanting to meet them, seeing people put on masks in order to avoid judgment, and watching an innocent man go to jail. Scout learns that to Kill a mockingbird is a sin for they have done no wrong, that people make that most meaningful mockingbirds, and the true significance of them because of the moral growth they bring about in people.
Courage is about people confronting situations or accepting challenges in spite of the potential failure. Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, and bravery. This idea of courage is a prominent theme in Harper Lee’s in To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel deals with two children- -Jem and Scout-- coming of age in a racist environment. Their father Atticus defends a local African American. All characters learn lessons about courage and racism. In this in mind, it is important to examine how courage is examined through the characters of Jem, Atticus, Boo.