Lack Of Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

During the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch showed a lot of moral courage. He defended a black man accused of raping a white woman, which was an impossibly difficult task in Maycomb County, Alabama. His actions helped many people, like the whole of the black community. However, some people in the book demonstrated a lack of moral courage, and this caused harm to people, both physically and emotionally. One example was when the jury convicted Tom Robinson of raping Mayella Ewell, even though the evidenced was stacked against Mayella. This occurred probably because of the old prejudice in the South, which discriminated against blacks. As children, Jem and Scout were hurt emotionally by this because they didn’t
understand why a man could be convicted based on his race. For the majority of the trial, Jem thought that the case was an easy win for Atticus, as the evidence piled up, but was crushed and upset for many weeks after the verdict. Jem mutters “It ain’t right” all the way from the courthouse until he meets Atticus. Tom Robinson was hurt physically by this, as he was sent to prison, and later shot while trying to escape. It may not have been obvious, but Tom was also hurt emotionally by this. When Atticus was trying to convince Tom they had a good chance on the appeal, Tom seemed to not have agreed. Atticus said “I told him what I thought, but I couldn’t in truth say we had more than a good chance. I guess Tom was tired of white man’s chances, and preferred to take his own.” Another example was of Miss Gates, the 3rd grade teacher Scout had. During their Current Events class, Miss Gates described in detail the plight of the Jews under Adolf Hitler’s rule. She described how they had been run away from their lands for all of time, and praises the Jews for being deeply religious, contributing to every society they belong to, and overall being the best people she knew. However, Scout heard her talking by the courthouse how it was time for the blacks to learn a lesson. This hurt Scout very badly emotionally, and made Jem have to remember how Tom was unfairly treated, which hurt him. When Scout tells Jem about Miss Gates, “Jem was suddenly furious. He leaped off the bed, grabbed me