Courage isn’t limited to saving a kitten from a burning building. While courageous acts are valuable to society, these don’t alone define the term “courage”. It’s necessary that every young child growing up knows that they don’t have to do outrageously difficult tasks in order to be courageous. Courage can be simple acts of standing up for what you believe in when it’s against the popular opinion. I am defining courage as the little bravery of stepping off the ledge and just letting go. Nelson Mandela once said, “I learned that courage wasn’t the absence of fear, but triumph over it.” This perfectly encaptures my personal definition of the term courage. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines courage as “mental or moral strength to venture, …show more content…
Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the protagonist Dorothy encounters a scarecrow who desires a brain. She’s “off to see the wizard” in order to return home to Kansas, and her Aunty Em and Uncle Henry. The scarecrow joins Dorothy, and her little dog, too, in hopes that the Wizard will grant him a brain. The trio comes across the Tinman who has rusted. He reveals that he desires a heart, as a terrible sorceress had enchanted an axe to cut off his limbs so that he wouldn’t be able to marry her daughter. Dorothy and the Scarecrow explain that they are requesting a wish from the Wizard, and invite the Tinman to join them on their adventure. Finally, the group encounters a lion. The lion attempts to eat Dorothy’s dog Toto, and Dorothy chides the lion for being so cowardly. The Cowardly Lion admits that Dorothy is correct. He’s a coward, which is shameful for the “King of Beasts”. Dorothy explains their quest, and invites the Cowardly Lion to request courage from the Wizard. However, the Cowardly Lion displays amounts of courage that are contradictory to his nickname. The group encounters a large chasm that they cannot cross. The Lion says that he could leap across and deliver the group across one-by-one. The group agrees, and despite the great amounts of fear the Lion has, he succeeds in his task. This demonstrates the complexity of the term courage. It isn’t necessarily seen on the surface, because while the Lion is afraid of his own roar and terrified of small field mice, he can overcome his personal fears and deliver his friends to safety. When the group encounters a wider chasm, the Lion holds off two tiger-bear beasts so that the Tinman can cut down a tree in order for them to cross the chasm safely. Each person is different, and holds different capabilities and values and to define the term courage for a general population is
Mark Twain best described courage when he said that, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear” (Twain). Both in The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and Watership Down by Richard Adams, the authors deal with the topic of courage and each share a similar view on it as this quote. Indeed, both authors suggest that courage is not accumulated simply by acts of heroism, but rather by overcoming fears and speaking one’s mind as well. These books are very similar in the way that bravery is displayed through the characters in an uncommon way. Firstly, an example of bravery
According to Google.com courage says “The ability to do some things that frighten one (Noun) Mr. Frank showed courage by letting the Van Daans in the Secret Annex and Mr.Dussel too. Another way he showed courage was when a robber broke into the shop where the Annex was above,
Courage: the ability to do something that frightens one, meaning the act of being courageous is not to be deterred by danger. This one word can categorize a person on a whole higher level. Stonewall Jackson exemplified tho word better than anyone else ever could have. For example, at the first battle of Bull Run, while several Confederate units were falling into disorder and panic, their general pointed to Jackson and his men who were withstanding the attack and said "There stands Jackson like a stone wall!" thus urging his men to gather their courage as well and regroup behind Jackson's position. In spring 1862, in Shenandoh Valley, Virginia, Stonewall created the Valley Campaign. In Jackson’s Valley Campaign, he marched
"Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." (124) As stated by Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, courage is when you know you won’t win, but you follow through with your ideas
To be courageous you cannot be deterred by possible outcomes that may involve danger or pain. To be courageous you have to be more than brave you have to be undaunted and have a heart of a lion. Through Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird courage and determination are embedded through the character’s actions. Atticus Finch, a lawyer in Maycomb County, explains to his son Jem, “I wanted him 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 if through no matter what.(Lee 149)” Through this quote Harper Lee is trying to convey that, real courage is more than appearance it is a significant action
One of the best explanations of courage is the following by Maya Angelou: “One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtues with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” Her explanation summarizes all that courage can lead you to who you are in life. Courage is standing up for what you believe in, despite disapproval, pain, fear, uncertainty, or intimidation. Courage is challenging what is normal. Courage is giving voice to those who cannot speak for themselves. Courage is using whatever power available to educate the world about injustice. Courage is following your heart even when the path is not known. Courage is trying after failing.
...lf-confidence. The Scarecrow was the one who believed that he had no brain even with him coming up with brilliant and clever solutions to the many problems that they faced on their journey. The tin man believed that he didn’t have a heart, but cries when bad things are brought upon the creatures they come to encounter. The lion believed that he had no courage even though he was the one brave enough to continue the journey, he always stated how brave he was and pushed forward even when the others did not want to. A famous quote from Carl L. Bankston III of Salem Press stated that "These three characters embody the classical human virtues of intelligence, caring, and courage, but their self-doubts keep them from being reduced to mere symbols of these qualities” (). This is an important quote because it highlights the self-confidence that Baum explored in his story.
Courage is the thing which can be found in a child to an old man. It needs a lot of courage to take out courage from the heart. It is like a brain. It depends on the person, how and when he uses it. This tiny word has the power to convey the whole gesture of a person. According to Harper Lee?s genius ?To Kill a Mockingbird?, Courage is when you know you are licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through it through no matter what.
“Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.” Courageous people understand the danger that they face when they act how they do. That is what courage is all about. Many historical events occur due to people having the courage to do what they think is right, or because of those who use their courage to do what they want. Having the courage to stand alone in one’s beliefs may be one of the hardest thing a person can do.
True courage is rarely found, while many strive for it, it is scarcely achieved. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare there are multiple acts of true bravery, which occur because of the desire to set past wrongs right. However, there are also many acts of cowardice because Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become greedy and commit many horrific crimes. It is these yearnings that set this tragic play in motion, and destroys any relationships that stand in the way of gaining it. The inevitable demise of Macbeth was set in motion by Lady Macbeth’s greed for power, but by Macbeth becoming King and gaining all this power his morals suffered greatly, and he became fearful and paranoid of anyone that was a possible threat to his throne.
Many soldiers of today know what courage is. Courage is doing what is needed to do, not what absolutely must be done. In Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”, the soldiers were not what one would think of as courageous. The soldiers were courageous in the sense that their courage came from fear of dishonor. The soldiers did what must be done in order to keep their honorable reputation. True courage was not present until the end of the story.
In life there are many terms that are relative to individual cultures. That means that the definition is different depending on the culture's location and its persons believe. The definition for one such term, courage, as defined by both Daniel Webster and Funk & Wagnalls is "That quality of mind or spirit enabling one to meet danger or difficulties/ opposition with firmness/fearlessness." The words that make courage a relative term are danger and opposition.
Courage is a state of mind that enables a person to overcome fear, pain, danger, or hardship. Although different from one another, all aspects of courage involve taking risks.
What is courage? Courage is the spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, and bravery. Courage to me is bravery, heroic acts, and people that put their life in danger. Many people show acts of courage everyday in the world. You might not know if you are showing courage, unless it is a big act.
An act of courage comes when one risks their life while reacting to a certain situation at a particular moment. Courageousness often happens with split-second situations which can be risky and or an act that wouldn’t normally be done. For an act to be courageous it must follow the following criteria: