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Symbolism Of Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The word “courage” has many definitions. Some people say that courage is being able to face one's own fears, while others say that courage is a person with a strong heart. Harper Lee exhibits true courage as standing up for what one believes in even when it signifies imperilling something precious.
Throughout researching information about Harper Lee, I’ve learned a great number of things including who she is and how she got her commencement in literature. According to Biography.com, Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama where she and her four older siblings grew up. Her dad was a lawyer, a member of the Alabama state legislature, and her mom suffered from a mental illness, so she seldomly left the house. While …show more content…

The title is symbolic to the plot of the novel. The title, comes from a proverb that tells that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. (Literature and Theology, 436-457). The metaphor in this novel serves as an admonition for people to judge their own selves, rather than what is seen by the eyes. A mockingbird is considered to be innocuous. Therefore, it is used to symbolize innocence and the good and innocent people who are harmless, but are harmed by others. Initially, Harper writes, “to kill a mockingbird is a sin”, and as the story moves on, there is no scene where a mockingbird was actually killed, but Tom Robinson, an innocent person, was brutally struck down due to bigotry and …show more content…

At the age of 89, on February 19, 2016, Harper Lee passed away. President Obama and the First Lady said in a statement that Lee "changed America for the better. When Harper Lee sat down to write To Kill a Mockingbird, she wasn’t seeking awards or fame. She was a country girl who just wanted to tell an honest story about life as she saw it," their statement said. “But what that one story did, more powerfully than one hundred speeches possibly could, was change the way we saw each other, and then the way we saw ourselves,” the statement added. “Through the uncorrupted eyes of a child, she showed us the beautiful complexity of our common humanity, and the importance of striving for justice in our own lives, our communities, and our country.” “Ms. Lee changed America for the better,” the President and First Lady said. “And there is no higher tribute we can offer her than to keep telling this timeless American story – to our students, to our neighbors, and to our children – and to constantly try, in our own lives, to finally see each other.” (Shapiro,

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