In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout and Jem learn many things about courage, from many different people, throughout the story. I believe that courage is when someone does something, that they might be scared to do, for the well being of themselves or someone else. There are many people that show courage in this novel, but there are three people that show courage that really stick out to me; Atticus, Mrs. Dubose, and Boo Radley. I feel like Scout and Jem really learned a lot about courage from all three of them. First of all, Atticus is one of the most influential people in Scout and Jem’s life, during the story. Throughout the story, Atticus shows them that being courageous is not always what they think. During the novel, it looks like Atticus always tries to be courageous and set an example for Scout and Jem. An example of when Atticus tries to teach them about real courage is when he says, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of 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 and you see it through no matter what.” (Lee 112). This quote …show more content…
Dubose. As a punishment, for killing Mrs. Dubose’s flowers, Jem had to read to her for one month, and Scout decided to tag along. Everyday while reading an alarm clock would go off, and Mrs. Dubose’s caretaker would make them go home. Everyday they would have to read for longer and longer. After Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus tells the kids that Mrs. Dubose was addicted to morphine and she wanted to die free from it. Atticus tells the children, “She said that she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody.’” (Lee 111) Atticus wanted Scout and Jem to see that Mrs. Dubose was very courageous for trying and succeeding at quitting morphine. That should show Scout and Jem that you don’t have to put your life on the line for someone else to be
“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Atticus Finch. This quote is proved to be true in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee as it demonstrates the true definition of courage. The book takes you along the journey of young girl, Scout Finch, during a time where colored people are thought less of. She experiences this first hand as her father, Atticus Finch, has been assigned to defend a colored man who has been accused of raping a white female. Scout along with her elder brother Jem, learn the definition of courage through some of the characters and how they act to the events that occur before and after the trial. In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, many characters are great examples of trusting yourself when all odds are stacked against you. Throughout the novel the characters that display courage are Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley.
As the predominant idol to Jem and Scout over the course of the novel, Atticus demonstrates that the ambitions people achieve deserve commemoration, even if their activities and stances are contentious. After vandalizing the entirety of Mrs. Dubose’s camellia bush garden, Jem attempts to justify his stunt to Atticus. Citing Mrs. Dubose’s appalling insults directed towards his father, Jem firmly believes that he is vindicated from any form of punishment. Consequently, Atticus makes it mandatory for Jem to read for Mrs. Dubose for over a month. After Jem finished his exercise, Atticus informs his children of Mrs. Dubose’s death roughly one month later. Revealing that Mrs. Dubose had an addiction to morphine, Atticus highlights that she retained
To Kill a Mockingbird In the 1930s it was slightly different than it is today. The 1930s had nasty flaws including sexism and very bad judgement but especially racism. And this book shows both sides of racism who was for it and who was against it. This will mainly show the courage from characters that aren't for racism. All these characters show their courage through their actions words and that shows that courage is demonstrated throughout the story by the characters.
Moreover, every other character in the story can be said to have courage, especially Atticus. The book revolves around Atticus and how he has no fear to defend a black man. Atticus is a lawyer that always had justice and never accepts injustice. He defends a black man named “Tom Robinson” who is accused of rapping a white girl whose own father had infact raped. “I’m simply defending a negro his name’s Tom Robinson” “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again” (Lee,100). These quotes show that Atticus is not afraid and is brave enough to hold his head up in town even if he defended Tom, an inferior in their society. It also shows how well educated and mature he is that he even connects his job to his kids and he always tries to be good to be the best in his kids’ eyes. He wanted his kids to get along with other people and for them to learn courage from them like Mrs. Dubose, for example.
Lee and Conolly shows the audience that courage tend to come in diverge forms. One form is physical courage. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus demonstrates courage in a physical sense as he finds himself in a face off with a loose rabid dog, only armed with a shotgun. " For God's sake, Mr. Finch, look where he is! Miss and you'll go straight into the Radley house!
"Courage isn't an absence of fear. It's doing what you are afraid to do. It's having the power to let go of the familiar and forge ahead into new territory." ~John Maxwell. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout (Jean Louise Finch), Jem (Jeremy Atticus Finch), and Atticus Finch display acts of valor that contribute, and in some cases encourage their rectitude. Harper Lee demonstrates that acting courageously can lead to an improved, sustained, or newly developed personal integrity.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a fictional novel that was published in the 1960’s. It tells the tale of a young girl named Scout, and her family who live in Alabama in the 1930’s where blacks still do not have equal rights. A black man is on trial for the supposed rape of a young lady, Mayella Ewell, and one courageous lawyer, Atticus Finch, the father of Scout, decides to prove his innocence even though the odds are stacked against him. In the novel courage is defined by a quote that states, “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyways and you see it through no matter what…” (Lee, 149).
Courage, according to the dictionary is, “the ability to do something that frightens one.” On the other hand, courage defined in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is, “ it’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyways and you see through it no matter what.” (Lee, 112) Through this quote, Atticus defines the fact that one must fight with all their might for something that is right despite if they win or lose. But what does it take to be courageous? Throughout the book, courage is best exemplified through the characters Atticus, Scout, and Jem.
Mrs. Dubose quitting her addiction proves to the kids they should do what's right. Mrs. Dubose’s was so weak that, while others would’ve taken an easier, painless death, she “meant to break herself [of the drug] before she died...to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody” (Lee 148) out of pride. By Mrs. Dubose deciding to take the hard way of death, she established that just because something might be easier to do, it doesn't make it right. Relating to Jem and Scout by revealing to them that they shouldn’t become like the other people on town and start to think negatively about the trial just because it's easier to hate instead of defend. Mrs. Dubose had such a strong courage that it made Atticus “want [Jem and Scout] to see what real
It’s not until Jem and Scout are exposed to maycomb's prejudice that they finally realize courage is not always taking action or being brave, but is instead doing what you know to be just even if it's hard. One example of the kids new understanding can be seen when Scout goes to the schoolyard to fight Cecil Jacobs until she “remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away, ‘Scout’s a cow—ward!’ ringing in my ears. It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight.” Cecil Jacobs calls Scout a coward while in reality, she is actually being courageous by doing the right thing and not taking a hostile action in the name of her father and what she learns to be morally right.
Atticus’s son, Jem, finds trouble with Mrs. Dubose; this caused a change in her character. Jem becomes angry with Mrs. Dubose because of her comments about Atticus to him and Scout; out of anger Jem “cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves” (103). When Atticus became aware of Jem’s actions he sent him down the street to apologize to Mrs. Dubose for what he had done. As a punishment, Mrs. Dubose asked that Jem to come to her home and read to her every day for a month. As asked Jem did bringing Scout along each day. After a month had went by Jem was asked to continue coming to read to her. Jem was not a fan of the idea but he did not want to disappoint Atticus so he did as he told him. Later, after Mrs. Dubose passes away, Jem is informed of why the reading was important to Mrs. Dubose. She had a morphine addiction and reading to her was helping her to break her habit. Jem
Courage, as defined by Collins Dictionary, is “the quality shown by someone who decides to do something difficult or dangerous, even though they may be afraid”. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee has created many characters who exhibit such courage, even in the face of adversity, and develops this into a major theme. Atticus Finch, Arthur Radley, and other members of the Finch household and Maycomb community, display amazing courage in the things they say, but more importantly in the way they act. These characters all contribute to the novel’s theme of showing courage through adversity.
First of all, Atticus tells Jem the story of Mrs. Dubose. According to Lee, “ She’d have spent the rest of her life on it and died without so much agony, but she was too contrary-”(111). Atticus tells Jem to be gentle with Mrs. Dubose because she
“I wanted you 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 it through no matter what” (149). Many people do not do the right things sometimes because they’re not brave enough to do so. To kill a Mockingbird was published July 11th, 1960 by Harper Lee in New York City. This novel was about racial tensions and also involved a court case of rape between an African American man and a white woman. This novel is known all around the world, it has become a classic Modern American Literature and has also won the Pulitzer Prize. In the novel To kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses the story's conflicts and mood of
Courage is defined as "the quality of mind or spirit enabling one to meet danger or opposition with fearlessness." According to Atticus Finch, one of the main characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, "Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." (pg.121). Harper Lee clearly portrays the theme of courage in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. One likes to think of a hero, as strong, brave, and meeting all challenges head on. All the characters in this book have a different view as to what courage