To Kill A Mockingbird Essay

To Kill A Mockingbird Essay
ENG2D
Mrs.Normore

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 hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” –Atticus Finch. Atticus, his daughter Scout, one of his neighbours Mrs. Dubose, an innocent man accused wrongfully of rape Tom Robinson, and his children’s guardian angel Boo Radley, are all characters in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird who demonstrate the quality of courage. They also make it clear that courage is not necessarily risking physical danger, but a dedication to principles first and acceptance of consequences second.

Throughout the novel, Atticus demonstrates a great amount of courage. One of his first acts of courage he shows is shooting the sick dog. “…Atticus’s hand yanked a ball-tipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulders. The rifle cracked. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk…. He did not know what hit him.” (Lee Harper p.96) Atticus proved how courageous he could be by shooting the dog. He thought he had forgotten how to shoot but he knew what had to be done and that everyone was counting on him to get the job done and to put this poor dog out of its misery. The next act of courage Atticus showed was when he stood up to the mob at the jailhouse to protect Tom Robinson. “Jem spoke. ‘[Mr. Cunningham] would have killed you last night when he first went there.’ ‘He may have hurt me a little… but son, you’ll understand folks a little better when you are older. A mob is always made up of people, no matter what… Every mob in every little town is always made of people you know—doesn’t say much for them, does it?’” (Lee Harper p.157) It took a brave man to stand up to an angry group of men, but that is exactly what Atticus did that night at the jailhouse. Even though he expected the sheriff to be by his side if he needed help, he soon found out the sheriff was sent out on a “sniper hunt”, Atticus kept his cool and still seemed to be in control of the situation, all that risk to keep Tom Robinson safe and comfortable. Although Atticus demonstrated great courage in these past two points, one of his most challenging acts of courage was taking on the Tom Robinson trial. “I’m simply defending a Negro-his name is Tom Robinson.” (Lee Harper p.75) Atticus knew what he was getting himself into, defending a Negro, but he knew it was the right thing to do and was willing to accept the fact that everyone was going to hate and criticize him for his choice. Now, although Atticus did show a lot of courage in the novel, he is not the only one.

Scout was also very courageous throughout the novel and demonstrated a lot of maturity within this courage. One of her courageous acts was when she stuck up for Jem at the jailhouse. “ ‘Don’t you touch him!’ I kicked the man swiftly. Barefooted, I was surprised to see him fall back in real pain.” (Lee Harper p.152) Scout most likely knew she was three times smaller than all those men in the mob that night, but when she saw her brother being threatened by one of them, size didn’t seem to matter anymore and she kicked the man to back off of Jem. This shows a lot of courage on her part because kicking a grown man when you’re so much smaller is a brave thing to do but it was the principle of it all, she felt she needed to stand up for her brother even if it meant making a risky decision. The next act proving that Scout has courage is when she runs back to save Jem from Bob Ewell. “More scuffling and there came a dull crunching sound and Jem screamed. I ran in the direction of Jem’s scream and sank into a flabby mal stomach.” (Lee Harper p.262) Scout and Jem have a very strong sibling relationship. When she heard a crunching noise and realized her brother got hurt, all that was going through her mind was that she had to go find him and get him some help. Even though she knew whoever hurt Jem was obviously a bigger force, she didn’t care, all she wanted was her brother safe. His safety before her own, that shows a lot of courage. In the end though, Scout’s most courageous yet challenging act would have to be, a lot like her fathers, keeping her cool while people were trash talking her family. “Somehow if I fought Cecil [for what he had said] I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem or me to do something for him. I felt extremely noble for having remembered…” (Lee Harper p.77) Scout is very hot headed, especially when it comes to her family. So when Atticus asked her to keep her cool while the trial was still on, you could immediately tell how hard it was going to be for her, but she would rather seem like a coward to others than let her father down. All these situations are perfects proofs of how courageous Scout is and how much more mature she got by the end of each chapter. Lastly, we have the three last characters who, in the novel, also demonstrated in their own forms how much courage they really had.

Boo Radley, Tom Robinson and Mrs. Dubose all showed their own forms of courage in the novel. First we have Boo Radley, who saved Jem and Scout when Bob Ewell was attacked them. “ ‘Somebody was staggerin’ around and pantin’ and – coughing fit to die. I thought it was Jem at first, but it didn’t sound like him…. I thought Atticus had come to help us and got wore out-’ ‘Who was it?’ ‘Why there he is, Mr.Tate, he can tell you his name.’…. ‘Hey, Boo…’” (Lee Harper p.270) Throughout the novel Boo acts like a guardian angel towards Scout and Jem. He didn’t need to, he wanted to and when he risks his life for two kids he barely knows, that says a lot about him and just proves how much courage he has. Next is Tom Robinson. Tom’s act of courage in the novel was the fact that he wasn’t afraid to respond/act like a human being towards Mayella, a white girl. “ ‘…It seemed real quiet like, an’ I didn’t quite know why. I was studyin’ why, just passin’ by, when she says for me to come there and help her a minute. Well, I went inside the fence an’ looked for some kindlin’ to work on, but I didn’t see none, and she says, ‘Naw, I got somethin’ for you to do in the house….’ Well, I went up the steps an’ she motioned me to come inside, and I went in the front room….’” (Lee Harper pp.192-193) Tom didn’t feel the need or obligation to talk to Mayella like he would her father or any other white folk in Maycomb. He felt different around her because in a sense, she was also a victim since her dad beat her; she was also treated like dirt. Tom showed courage right when he walked through that front door, and into that house. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be in there with her alone but he felt as though he needed to go in and help her because no one else would. Last character is Mrs. Dubose. Her act of courage was battling her morphine addiction. “ ‘Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addicted…she took it as a pain killer for years.’” (Lee Harper p.111) Mrs. Dubose recognized she had a flaw and knew she had to fix it. She made it her goal to die free of her weakness. Although she had help from Jem reading to her as a distraction, it still takes a lot of courage to realize you have a flaw, and even more to do something about it. Mrs. Dubose really did have the biggest challenge to overcome but with more challenge comes more courage.

In conclusion, all the characters used in this essay, Atticus, Scout, Boo, Tom and Mrs. Dubose all proved to have demonstrated a great amount of courage throughout the novel. While reading the novel you can tell that courage in the time set of the novel (1930s) is defined much differently than today. I’ll end this essay the way I started it, with a quote about courage. “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”- John Wayne