Courage in TKAM

Moon Park
Mr. Trecker
HSE 2-3
3/12/14
To Kill a Mockingbird
Norman Schwarzkoph, a United States general, once said, “True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyway, that’s what courage is.” Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is set in the early 1900s, a time where racial segregation and the Great Depression happened in a small Alabama town called Maycomb. The story is narrated by a young girl named Scout. Scout and her brother, Jem, are two children growing up in a prejudicial racial community, often discrimited themselves, due to their Father’s views. Their father, Atticus Finch plays an important part in the story by defending an African-American named, Tom Robinson, who allegedly raped a white girl named Mayelle Ewell. In Harper Lee’s novel, she uses the character, Atticus Finch, to define true courage as a decision of doing what is right rather than following the crowd out of fear.

Atticus does not give up without worrying about the consequences and knowing that he will most likely be hated by a lot of people. In the summer, Atticus is summoned to take Tom Robinson’s case about rape. Atticus accepts Tom’s case and later explains to his kids why he took it: “The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in this legislature” (Lee 75). From this statement, it becomes clear that Atticus takes this case because he felt like Tom deserves to be treated equally. He shows courage because he faces strong opposition and discouragement in Maycomb and he knows he will most likely not get a fair trial. Atticus regards justice more than he cares of defending a man of a different race, he also sees the case as his civil duty as a lawyer and has the courage to step up and defend the case to the best of his abilities. The story of a young girl named Malala Yousafzai relates to that of Atticus, she also believes everyone deserves an equal opportunity. When Yousafzai was 11 years old, she was shot three times point-blank by an assassin sent by the Taliban because she was having an education. After numerous surgeries, she miraculously survived and fully recovered. Instead of stopping to learn, she had the courage to try even harder to get an education and is now studying at Birmingham, England. Yousafzai speaks for education for every child in the world; she believes that everyone has the right to go to a school and learn. People who muster up their courage to go against their fears without worrying about the consequences and knowing that they could possibly lose show true courage.

Courage is also putting one at risk to do what is right. Atticus stays with Tom Robinson outside his cell, because he knew a mob will come out but he is not afraid. When the mob leaves, because of Scout, he says to Tom, “They’ve gone...Get some sleep Tom. They won’t bother you anymore” (Lee 155). Since Atticus knows that Tom Robinson is an innocent man, he stays with Tom to make sure the mob does not hurt him. That shows that Atticus regards justice more than his fear of dying. He puts himself in danger. He takes a risk to do what is right, in this case to keep Tom Robinson safe from any danger before the trial. Another display of Atticus’s courage is shown when he shoots the rabid dog in front of the Radley’s house. When the sheriff hands the gun to Atticus, at first he is unwilling he says, “I haven’t shot a gun in thirty years-“(Lee 96). Atticus knows that no one else is able to shoot the dog, so he takes responsibility to bring down it with one shot. He knew many people could get hurt if he had not shot the dog. He shows courage because if he had missed the shot, disaster would have happened, but he believes in his skill and takes it. This shows how Atticus is willing to compromise his strong sense of values to ensure the safety of the community. In a way, Atticus is made to seem like a guardian for Maycomb, not only did he protect them from the rabid dog, but also from the prejudicial feelings within the people.
In conclusion, Atticus shows that true courage is facing ones fears without worrying about the future. Learning what courage is can help influence choices. This will help people be brave more often, and teach them that using words are more powerful than using fists. True courage doesn’t always necessarily mean violence.