Courage Is Born In Difficult Moments
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is a novel written in 1960, that takes place in a small southern town called Maycomb, Alabama. Lee writes this novel based on her past and compares the characters to her life. Different types of courage are displayed throughout the novel. Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. In the novel, courage is achieved by having faith, being brave, and the belief that everything will be okay. In the novel a number of characters display different types of courage, including, Atticus Finch, Boo Radley, and Mrs. Dubose.
First of all, Atticus Finch is a main character that displays courage in many ways. Atticus is a lawyer who puts all racism aside and
…show more content…
Boo can be described as a neurotic man, who is Jem and Scouts next door neighbor, that stays inside all of the time and rarely speaks to anyone. The townspeople misunderstand his condition and it is said that he eats domestic animals, stabs his father with scissors, and is the town's “monster”. Throughout the whole novel Boo stays in his house but always is watching out for Jem and Scout. In the middle of the novel, Scout finds a piece of gum in a tree hole near the Radley property. She shows Jem and he says she better throw it away right at that instant, because who knows who put it there. They end up stopping at the tree everyday, seeing there were gifts left for them. One day the hole gets filled up and Jem and Scout finally figure out who was leaving them the gifts; it was Boo Radley. Boo leaves the gifts for the kids to try and extend his friendship with them. Furthermore, towards the end of the novel Jem and Scout are on their way home from a play Scout was in at the town’s pageant. They think they hear something but they are not sure of what it is so they keep walking. Out of the bushes Mr. Ewell starts to attack Jem. Scout is pushed away and Jem is knocked unconscious. Scout finds her way back home and Jem is brought back by Boo. Boo displayed physical courage by putting himself into the fight and saving the kids. As we can see, Boo is a very courageous person, even if the …show more content…
Dubose. Mrs. Dubose is an old woman who lives across the street from Jem and Scout. The main scene that deals with her is when Jem gets mad at her because she is calling him mean names. The town is calling his father mean names because he is defending a black man. Jems emotions gets ahold of him and he starts going crazy. Mrs. Dubose yells at Jem, saying his father was trash and he hits the top of Mrs. Dubose's bushes off. Jem's punishment consists of him having to go to Mrs. Dubose’s house every day and read for at least two hours. Every day an alarm goes off and Jem can leave. Later on, Jem learns that that alarm was a signal it was time for her to receive her medicine. She was addicted to morphine and her goal was to fight it off before she died. Courageous is a word that describes Mrs. Dubose. Scout’s description of Mrs. Dubose laying in her bed is “Cords of saliva would collect on her lips; she would draw them in, then open her mouth again. Her mouth seemed to have a private existence of its own. It worked separate and apart from the rest of her, out and in, like a clam at low tide”(106). Jem's description shows how miserable she was, yet she still kept fighting. She displayed mental courage, physical courage, and emotional courage. Even though she may have been mean, racist, and old, she was trying very hard to fight off her addiction to morphine before she died. With Jem’s help,
Courage is a deed that can be portrayed in many ways. In the Historical Fiction novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, there are many acts of racism and problematic cases where acts of courage are demonstrated in different and unique ways that can only be deciphered if one reads in between the lines of the words. There are three characters in particular who show courage in diverse ways. First, there is Arthur Radley who anonymously shows courage by performing tasks that cause him to face the outside world where he’s been isolated from for so long. Secondly, there is Scout Finch who demonstrates courage through her adolescent age. Lastly, there is Atticus Finch who displays courage through his selfless and kind actions. Therefore, in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses diverse characters to represent different acts of courage.
However, a certain few in the town do have moral values and look to do the right thing when faced with a tough decision. In the award-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, true understanding of courage and empathy lead Jem and Scout closer to maturity. Jem and Scout encounter courage many times on their journey to adulthood. Courage is often defined as a quality that people have that allows them to face danger with bravery. Jem understands courage a little earlier than Scout.
Without courageous people, human society would not progress. This is evident in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, whereby a few heroic individuals inspire transformations in a racist community. One of the characters who shows bravery is Tom Robinson. Even though he knows he will most likely lose, he goes on trial and fights for justice and truth. Another person who displays inner strength is Boo Radley. He is able to break out of his comfort zone and stand up for what is right, despite his fear. The most daring character in the novel is Atticus Finch. Although most of the town is against him, he continues onward and faces hatred with dignity and respect. Each of these extraordinary individuals represent Harper Lee’s belief that real courage is doing the right thing, even if it requires standing up against the majority.
Atticus Finch demonstrates both moral and physical courage through his decisions of taking on and fighting Tom Robinson’s case, despite all the critics and setbacks, by putting his own life at risk to protect his client and doing all in his power to bring justice. In conclusion, true courage is the ability to confront something even if one is “licked” from the start. Tom Robinson, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus Finch all display real courage throughout Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson, being an African-American, living in a prejudiced town and having a crippled arm, still helped Mayella, gave a truthful testimony and tried to escape prison. Mrs. Dubose courageously overcame her morphine addiction despite her age and pain.
Jem begins to understand that Boo is not dangerous instead he wants to help him and Scout. Boo leaves gifts for the children in hole in the tree and Mr. Nathan puts cement in the tree to stop Boo from communicating With the children. Also later in the story they find out that Boo put a blanket over them during the fire.
Scout recognized who Boo really was, and she recognized the affection and reinforcement he had given Jem and her over the years. She saw that he observed their experiences, their hardships, the summer heartbreaks, and watched them mature through the years of their lives. Jem rolls Scout down the s...
The children laugh and imagine the reclusive life of Boo Radley, yet their father quickly puts a halt to their shenanigans, as they should not judge the man before they truly know him. Atticus unforgettably tells the children, “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.” During Dill’s last night in Maycomb for the summer, the children wrongfully ventured onto Boo Radley’s property. He shoots at the children, and in their escape, Jem loses his pants. He later returns to find them mended and hung over the fence.
Courage is when you know you’re beaten. The character Atticus, for instance, who was a seasoned lawyer acted courageous defending Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson was a black man who was accused of raping a white girl. Atticus was appointed to defend him. Jem was happy because he thought his father had won the case but Reverend Sykes loathed telling Jem “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…”(Lee 208). Atticus was sure he wasn’t going to win the case, nevertheless he gave it a try. That didn’t stop Atticus from trying to defend his client Tom Robinson. Another part in the novel when Atticus was courageous was when he shot at the man street dog. Heck Tate the Maycomb Sheriff was not as courageous as Atticus so he handed Atticus the air rifles and with one shot Atticus took down the street dog. Miss Maudie says “I saw that, One Shot Finch” (Lee 97). Atticus was referred to as one-shot finch because of his shooting skills. The other incidence in the novel when Atticus portrays courage was when he was not scared when Bob Ewell threatened him. Bob Ewell was the man who accused Atticus’ defendant Tom Robinson of raping his daughter Mayella. Atticus thought Bob Ewell threatened him as some sort of revenge, but unfortunately Atticus was wrong because when Bob Ewell said ...
Boo finally found his inner strength and decided to enter the woods and save Jem. By doing this, he demonstrated that he learned to overcome his fear and be around others. A second example is when Boo laughed at Scout, Jem and Dill. When Boo laughs, the author does not tell us the type of laugh. “Through all the head-shaking, quelling of nausea and Jem-yelling, I had heard another sound, so low I could not have heard it from the sidewalk.
Courage is not something that we are born with, it is a skill that takes time to learn and only a few are lucky enough to have it. To Kill a Mockingbird is not only about life in a world full of hate, it is about standing up for anyone’s beliefs being brave enough to do it. In this story, Harper Lee says “Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do” (Lee 112). In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates courage through Atticus Finch, Mrs. Dubose, and Arthur Radley.
As the story progresses, Boo becomes more of a symbol of kindness and bravery than that of the "town freak" which he is made out to be. Boo leaves presents for the children in the hollow trunk of an old tree, as well as covers Scout with a blanket during Miss Maudie's fire. However, it is not until he saves Jem and Scout's life from the hands of the deranged Mr. Ewell, that Boo shows his true heroic character. Even though Boo is a physically weaker man, he shows no fear when it comes to protecting Jem and Scout's life.
Similarly, a great example of courage is displayed within the life of Mrs. Dubose. She was a sick old woman, waiting for death. However, she had one more goal to achieve before her life come to an end. She wished to free herself of a morphine addiction. Mrs. Dubose displayed courage in a situation where most people would surrender to the drug. She did not fear for death. Moreover, she challenged death through her perseverance to leave this world free of addiction. People around her came to know of her courage after she passed away.
...l along Boo just wanted to have someone to call a friend because of suffering from lonesome. Even though he may have been involved in the fires and other acts he did in Maycomb he was not like what anyone said a bout being a nocturnal monster or a heartless person. Boo was a normal human being living in his own world for the longest time till he broke out of his shell when Scout and him met on Halloween night. The Change that happens in the Radley house is dramatic Boo goes for being the towns "night phantom" to being a Hero in the end. Lastly how did Scout have the courage to walk up to the Radley's porch was because Scout believed Boo to be a big hero for what he had done. Another reason Scout had walked with Boo home was to go see Jem who was there from when Boo carried him from the fight that night back home. Scout saw Boo as a positive at the end of the story.
Within the novel "to kill a mocking bird" the character Atticus finch defines courage as, "Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." Atticus takes the first step by being courageous to take the Tom Robinson case, defying the towns liking of prejudice, even his own sister thinks that he is disgracing the family by taking the case he explains with concern
Eventually, Jem is no longer able to contain his rage and destroys Mrs. Dubose’s garden. As a result, he is forced to read to Mrs. Dubose as punishment however, he soon learns “Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict” because “she took it as a pain-killer for years”(Lee 147). After her death, Atticus helps Jem and Scout see beyond her sickly appearance and malevolence. “I wanted you to see something about her-I wanted you to see what real courage is... It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin