To Kill A Mockingbird Moral Courage Essay

What Really is Moral Courage?
How far would you go to do the right thing if it had the potential to hurt you in the long run? In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, that was a question that the characters had to ask themselves when they knew they had to do the right thing but did not know how far they should go. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates moral courage throughout the book by using the literary elements such as conflict and characterization.
To begin with, Harper Lee uses the literary element conflict to express moral courage. Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces usually between a protagonist and antagonist. The character that demonstrated moral courage throughout the novel was Atticus. He was known to be the most respected man in Maycomb because of his wisdom, and his admirable behavior. In the novel, Atticus got appointed a case where he had to defend a African American man, Tom Robinson, that was accused of raping a white woman named Mayella Ewell.During this time, there was an extreme amount of racial tension and discrimination of races. The fact that

Atticus took this case, was very risky because since he was a white male he was supposed to conform to what the whites thought was right and that was putting Tom Robinson in jail even if he wasn’t guilty. Atticus knew that if he did not take this case, he would not be able to walk around with his head high “Right, But do you think I could face my children otherwise? You know what’s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease.”(Harper Lee 117)
Atticus’ statement shows that him defending a Negro during that time of racial tension, it was going to have a bad outcome. He knew that people were going to be against it but he decided not to conform to what everybody thought was the right thing to do. That was moral courage because it was the right thing for him to do based on his values and what he believed in. His actions showed courage because he went against what everybody thought and even though he would be looked at differently he didn’t care as long as he did what he thought was right.
Additionally, Harper Lee uses characterization to express moral courage. Characterization is the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character.There are two different types of characterization which are: Direct and Indirect. Direct Characterization is when the author tells you the personality of the character. Whereas, Indirect Characterization is when the author shows things that reveal the personality of the character. Harper Lee develops moral courage through Atticus and through Scout. Atticus is the father of Scout and throughout the story he teaches Scout. Harper Lee uses Indirect Characterization for Atticus when Bob Ewell spit tobacco in Atticus’ face and threatened him,”...Atticus was leaving the post office when Mr.Ewell approached him, cursed him,spat on him, and threatened to kill him.” Also it states “Miss Stephanie said Atticus didn’t bat an eye, just took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and let Mr. Ewell call him names wild horses could not bring her to repeat.”(Harper Lee 291) Lee didn’t directly tell her audience that Atticus was a moral man, she showed her audience. This was moral courage because he did the right thing of not letting Bob Ewell get the best of him and also it was courage because he had the strength to hold back and not do something back to him after all that.
In addition, Scout was another character that showed displayed moral courage overtime.

In the beginning of the story, she was very ignorant and immature to racism “Catching Walter Cunningham in the schoolyard gave me some pleasure, but when I was rubbing his nose in the dirt…”(Harper Lee 30)This quote shows how immature Scout was by fighting over pointless reasons and had little things get her upset. Later on in the novel, Scout started to mature and understand the harsh realities of the world. When Tom Robinson gets arrested and sent for jail, she realizes that people are judged because the color of their skin and she states “ ...Nothin’s wrong with him. Naw,Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”( Harper Lee 304) This is where Scout really grows up and knows that should not be black or white people or rich and poor people, we should just be

people.
Harper Lee using the literary elements, conflict and characterization, created the message that people are people. It showed how these characters behavior displayed moral courage even if there would be risky consequences in the end. So, back to the question, how far would you go to the the right thing if in the end it could potentially hurt you? This is a question that we all have to answer at one point in our lives like these characters.