The 1960s Civil Rights Movement is one of the largest social movements in American History. For many years prior, the majority of African Americans had just lived with discrimination as if it were a part of life. It took years for them to muster up the courage to fight the oppression and begin the Civil Rights Movement. Harper Lee uses a similar brand of courage in To Kill a Mockingbird, when many of the community members are put in situations in which they must be brave or cowardly. Harper Lee uses To Kill a Mockingbird to raise awareness about the importance of courage and how true courage is only shown when met with confrontation. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus met with confrontation multiple times and shows courage with his …show more content…
After Atticus took the Tom Robinson case, Scout was met with a lot of pressure and hate from some of her classmates. Cecil Jacobs in particular taunted Scout she, "I[Scout] drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away"(Lee 75). Scout had use her courage to escalate fight and rather let it end much more peacefully. She was faced with a choice in which she used her courage to make the right choice and listen to her father while facing some taunting and antagonizing remarks for standing down. Scout is also met with a situation in which she must have the courage to speak up for her fellow classmate. She says,'Miss Caroline, he’s a Cunningham.'(Lee 23) Scout sees that Miss. Caroline is offering Walter money for food and explains that he does not take money. She sees the potential damage to his pride and sticks up for him.In her own mind she sees giving money to a Cunningham as an unjust action. Scout and her family were faced with danger as an angry mob gathered to hurt Tom Robinson. It took courage from Scout as she unknowingly uttered the words,“Hey, Mr. Cunningham. How’s your entailment gettin’ along?”(Lee 142), which stopped the mob and prevented further damage. Scout was met with a situation in which she saw danger, but used her courage to try and talk to one of the mob members. With courage, she had she unknowingly managed isolate a single member of the mob leading to it being
* Scout’s moral development throughout To Kill a Mockingbird has to do with how she is taught to see “the other”, her exposure to racism and injustice, and that she had Atticus as a parent to guide her through her childhood. These factors together create a stable learning environment for Scout to grow and develop in.
She later talks about the conflict with him and he gave her some advice on how to handle the situation, for the next time it comes up again, that instead of fighting for him, for her to still stand tall and be the better person even if it doesn’t help those who are depicting their ignorance. Atticus shows Scout the meaning of courage instead of being like everyone else, a coward and ill-mannered. Another quote to compliment Atticus as a very brave character would be when they experienced the passing of Mrs. Dubose, he used her as an example of courage, “…I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his
Courage has indeed been demonstrated a lot by many characters in different situations. Both Scout and Atticus have shown many examples of courage throughout the story by doing or saying things that were hard for many ordinary people to do.
In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays courage through Atticus, specifically when he stands up for what he believes in. So he supports and fights the case for Tom Robinson, even though he knows he is going to lose the case. Atticus fought the case in which Tom Robinson was blamed that he raped a white girl, during this time Atticus says, “There is nothing more sickening than a low grade whitman who’ll take advantage of Negroes ignorance” (pg 296). Atticus attempts to win the case and keeps hope, even when aware of the outcomes. In addition, he wants Tom to go through a trial, which will make it easier to figure out who is guilty and who is not. Lee portrays Atticus as being socially and morally courageous since he is doing the right thing even though his social reputation could be hurt in front of the townspeople. Also, Lee proves that Atticus understands and wants Scout to realize that courage is not only shown through one’s physical strength, however it is portrayed by one’s actions as well. In the beginning of the book Scout thought that courage is when someone is brave or uses their physical strength to perform an activity, like Jem and when he ran and touched the front door of the Radleys house. But when Atticus explains about Mrs. Dubose and how she is courageous,
There are many examples of courage in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Courage is the ability to conquer fear. Did you know there were 6 types of courage? Yeah, crazy, right? There are many people who display courage in this novel but right now I am going to focus on the ones that I think are the top three. Before you read you should know what the types of courage when you see them.
Courage can mean many different things to many different people. To some, courage can be the ability to stand up for what is right, while for others it can be challenging oneself with tasks one is not accustomed to. Harper Lee incorporates different types of courage in To Kill a Mockingbird so many can connect to a moment they felt that courage. Courage is seen throughout the novel in the form of overcoming one’s fears, fighting prejudice, and standing up for what one believes to be just.
Jean Louise Finch, otherwise known as Scout, learns a variety of life lessons during the course of “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. Over the course of “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Scout learns lessons such as: to kill a mockingbird is a sin, respect people’s privacy, and she cannot understand someone until she has seen things from their point of view. People such as Atticus, Tom Robinson and Mrs. Dubose help teach Scout these lessons, and guide her through life.
Halloween night truly was a house of horrors in Maycomb. It was a normal Halloween until Officer Heck Tate found Bob Ewell, Maycomb citizen and father to eight children, dead underneath the big oak tree.
In doing so, this puts Atticus a wielder of courage for the fact that justice has more power than the harm that is to come from defending Tom Robinson. Also, Atticus shows physical courage as he sits outside the jail cell protecting Tom during the night from the mob attempting to lynch him. As Atticus defends Tom, he tries to talk sense into the mob of people, in doing so Atticus puts himself first in front of the danger of the angry crowd, being ready to face threats of death or even death without expressing any show of fear. Because of the amount of tension and hate towards Atticus for defending Tom Robinson, he tells Scout “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.” (Lee 39). However, he tells Scout this advice which then governs her through the novel as she develops and as many question the reason Atticus defends Tom. Atticus is explaining a person does not know what another person is going through until one pictures their world through their own eyes and see the views of that person and their experiences. Additionally, Atticus’ display of physical courage is evident in his relationship with the people of Maycomb. During one night, a
"I certainly am (a “nigger-lover”). I do my best to love everybody..” says Atticus Finch, from Harper Lee’s book “To Kill A Mockingbird.” In the book, racism and social inequality was something that occurred. But today, I believe it is different. I disagree with the statement that America will never achieve true racial and social equality because there’s amendments that grant all U.S. citizens rights, there are people making a change and protecting those whose lives are in danger because of their race, and there are punishment for the people that show unlawful acts of hatred towards those people.
To Kill a Mockingbird, I think should not be required text because despite its positives themes that touch on subjects not only on race, but justice, feminism, and compassion, the novel cannot surpass how outdated it really is. Likewise to how progressive the book was for its time, it still doesn’t beat out a lot of books we have today that will resonate better for students who are not able to see themselves in Atticus or Scout. Plus, Harper Lee’s depiction of Tom Robinson’s demise might give a lot less hope to students of color, give others the idea that only a whole healthy person is capable of rape, or make some more suspicious of sexual assault survivors. But, although these concerns can be avoided with an excellent teacher; in the off
To Kill a Mockingbird A book report by Hannah Cummings The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a dramatic tale set in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The main character and narrator of the novel is a young girl named Scout Finch. The conflict occurs when Scout's father, Atticus Finch, agrees to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, in court against a white family, the Ewells. The novel begins with Scout, her brother and her best friend having an obsession with their strange neighbor, whom they call Boo Radley.
Some believe that To Kill A Mockingbird is out of date, that it is no longer relevant and students cannot relate to it. To Kill A Mockingbird can relate to events that have happened not to long ago. An event happened at University of Massachusetts over racism. The NYPD has a long recorded of killing unarmed black men. Ferguson, Missouri has been through a lot in the past few weeks. To Kill A Mockingbird is still relevant to students today because racism still exists.
Good afternoon Mr/Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen. The topic for our debate is that to kill a Mockingbird should be a compulsory text on the Scotch Oakburn year 10 advanced English course. We define the topic as Harper Lee’s novel to kill a mockingbird should be required to be studied by everyone in the year 10 advanced English classes. We as the affirmative team believe that this statement is true.
For my paper, I have chosen to analyze the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This movie is based on the novel – by the same name – written by Harper Lee. The story has two major plotlines. One follows Jem, Scout, and Dill as they try to uncover the secrets behind the infamous “Boo” Radley. It’s only at the end of the movie that we learn “Boo’s” real name to be Arthur, and that we discover he actually tries to protect people, as he saved Jem and Scout’s lives. The other major plotline, and the one most relevant to this class, follows Atticus Finch, Jem and Scout’s father, as he tries to represent Tom Robinson. Mr. Robinson is an African American man who has been charged with raping Mayella Ewell. The movie then