Anne Sexton Courage Analysis

The poem, Courage, by Anne Sexton deeply correlates with Harper Lee’s book, To Kill A Mockingbird. In the first stanza, the author writes: “The first spanking when your heart went on a journey alll alone. When they called you crybaby or poor or fatty or crazy and made you into an alien, you drank their acid and concealed it.” This quote depicts the situation of Boo Radley, who was judged and sterotyped by the whole town after getting in trouble and being put on house arrestm which weighs heavily on him emotionally. Sexton states in stanza two, “If you faced the death of bombs and bullets you did not do it with a banner, you did it with only a hat to cover your heart.” Atticus is related to this quote because he has to raise his kids by himself since his wife died, which takes an extreme amount of courage. Scout is connected to a part later in the same stanza.

“Your courage was a small coal that you kept swallowing. If your buddy saved you and died himself in so doing, then his courage was not courage, it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.” Scout’s courage to stop fighting other children who made fun of her family was represented as well as the fact that Jem helped her calm down in provoking situations, showing that he loves her dearly. Finally, Sexton concludes her poem with a moving statement: “When death opens the back door, you’ll put on your slippers and stride out.” This line is an example of how Mrs. Duboise feels after trying to get over her morphine addiction, ready for her depature from the world. Many characters and their sitautions were tied to this poem in literal and symbolic ways.

There are many themes being developed in To Kill A Mockingbird and many connect to the poem as well as the characters do.

The first theme I find important is: do not judge others and their intentions. This theme is shown in the book because of rumors about the Radley’s and how Scout’s family is also being treated the same way now. The first stanza depicts this theme by showing how your feelings are affected by the disasters that come with life. The second theme in the book is: always have courage, especially when you stand alone. Many parts of the poem correllate to the characters and their situations, and all the characters have to show an immense deal of courage at some point in their lives. It takes Atticus courage to raise Jem and Scout on his own, for Scout to hold back her anger and take humiliation, for Boo Radley to endure all the hatred for him, and for Mrs. Duboise to accept death willingly. All of them face it alone as well and deal with their feelings on their own. Therefore, it almost seems like this poem was made for the story itself and to symbolically show the troubles of all the

characters.