Courage: The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, etc without fear.

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David Laskin’s Children’s Blizzard steers you through the events and hardships of the blizzard in 1888. The storm arrived quickly and with great hostility, surprising everyone in the Midwest area. The meteorologist failed to send out a dire, divulging the people of the storm. The blizzard was named “The Children’s Blizzard” due to the number of over 200 children being released from school during the storm, leading to their deaths. In brief, the book has many stories of different families, people, and children and their experiences with the blizzard of 1888. David Laskin shows the reader that courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty or danger without fear, or to have bravery, or the ability to do something that frightens one. For example, at Groton School, Walter had a lot of courage as well as responsibility as being row monitor. Being row monitor meant that Walter had to take everyone’s coats and stow them away at the beginning and ending of the day. In fact, on this particular day, however, the children did not have the need to wear their coats. That is until the unexpected blizzard rushed through the Midwest. Groton School evacuated all the children and teachers and loaded them onto drays. As soon as Walter climbed on the dray, he realized he forgot his cherished perfume bottle he used to clean his slate. Walter jumped off the dray and headed towards the schoolhouse. Consequently, Walter was unaware that the dray would be gone by the time he returned. Soon, Walter became too cold to function, and lay down in the snow. Later, Walter’s older brother, Will, found him. Walter was unconscious, but still breathing. Eventually, Will managed to get him to his fathers office. Walter and Will... ... middle of paper ... ...dig a deep cave in the straw so they all could fit inside. May kept taking roll call to assure herself that all the students were still alive. That is to say, May showed courage by her ability to do something that frightened her: to keep the children alive by seeking shelter. David Laskin defined courage in his novel, Children’s Blizzard, by the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty or danger without fear, or to have bravery, or the ability to do something that frightens one. Walter showed courage when he risked his life for something he really loved. Likewise, Grace similarly showed courage and bravery when she set out to help and find her son. In like manner, May Hunt showed her ability to do something even though it scared her, she had to save the children. The amount of courage needed during this calamity was a substantial amount.

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