Examples Of Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

There is nothing harder in life than being truly courageous. When you know you will be defeated, but you begin anyway and go through with it no matter what. That's what courage is, and there are tons examples of courage, but in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses character development to to show courage.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee develops Atticus to be a very courageous man. Atticus is brave enough to take on the Tom Robinson case, despite knowing it will be difficult on his family warning scout that she might, “ 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.”

Atticus knows he needs to take this case, and he is brave enough to put his own well being on the line to advocate for Tom. Atticus is also brave enough to take on the Tom Robinson case despite knowing he will lose the case. Atticus knows that “When it's a white man's word against a black man’s, the white man always wins.” That is one of the bravest things you can do, because “Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” The last significant act of courage Atticus shows is when he accuses Bob Ewell saying that “there is circumstantial evidence that beaten - savagely, by someone who led exclusively with his left[Bob Ewell]” Atticus was brave enough to stand before at least 100 white men and women and accuse a white man of committing a crime that was said to be done by a black man from 3 other white men and woman. This was something unheard of in this time period and region. Atticus said what needed to be said, because he was brave enough to do the right thing.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper shows lots of courage through Boo Radley. Boo shows large amounts courage when Miss Maudie’s house caught fire and “put the blanket around you[Scout]” This may not seem like much, but this probably took a lot of courage. So many people of maycomb speak the awful rumors about Boo. For him to set aside the unacceptable acts of others, and come out of his house to do a small deed of good is very courageous of him. Boo also shows tremendous amounts of courage when Jem and Scout are attacked scout notices that a "man [Boo Radley] was walking with the staccato steps of someone carrying a load to heavy for him," ( Lee 263) but only after does she observe, "He was carrying Jem" At this part in the book, not only does Boo come out of his house, but he takes on testosterone, liquor, and rage filled man, not to mention this man was also armed with a knife. We all can agree Boo was extremely courageous here.
The last person Harper Lee shows tremendous amounts of courage through is Jem.

Harper Lee gives us a glimpse of Jem’s courage right off the bat when “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us…” When Jem runs on to the Radley property and slaps the house it takes a lot of courage. Jem had to put aside all of the rumors and horror stories he has heard about Boo Radley and slap that house. Sometime later, Jem learns to be brave from Mrs. Dubose. When Jem tore up Mrs. Dubose’s flowers he was punished by having to read to her."Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict...She took it as a pain-killer for years.” Mrs. Dubose was brave enough to kick her addiction to the side despite her agony. From this Jem learned that true courage is “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” Jem uses this lesson to show huge amounts of courage when he goes to defend Atticus from the angry mob at the jail. Jem and scout “were accustomed to prompt, if not always cheerful acquiescence to Atticus's instructions, but from the way he stood Jem was not thinking of budging.” Jem was well seasoned on the idea of courage. Jem, a young boy, stood up to an angry mob of men just to protect his father. He knew what courage was and he showed it. Jem had courage to begin with, but went on to learn true courage and went on to show

it.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses character development to to show courage. She developed Atticus, Jem, and Boo throughout the book to be courageous people. These people show their courage in several ways, and they lean a lot along the way. After all, courage is “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”