Preview

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay-Emotional/Moral Courage

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1404 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay-Emotional/Moral Courage
To Kill A Mockingbird Essay-Emotional/Moral Courage

Webster's dictionary defines courage as "mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty." According to Atticus Finch, one of the main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird, "Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." (Chapter 11, Page 124) No matter how you define it, Harper Lee definitely portrays the theme of mental courage in this book. The book demonstrates that mental courage is fighting what you believe in no matter the consequence. It is one of the most predominant themes and is shown in many of the characters, including Atticus, Jem and Scout, who all show mental courage in their everyday lives.

First of all, Atticus demonstrates mental courage when he undertakes the task of defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of rape. Atticus knows he won't win the case and like Mrs. Dubose in her battle against morphine, he is "licked" before he begins. Nevertheless, Atticus knows that Tom is innocent and that he must fight for him, since no one else will. Atticus's strong sense of morality and justice motivates him to defend Tom with vigor and determination, giving it all he's got with one mission in mind. He wants the people of Maycomb town, whether they believe it or not, to hear the truth about Tom, "That boy might go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told." (Chapter 15, Page 146) Furthermore, Atticus showed true mental courage when he went against Maycomb, a generally prejudice town, in order to defend Tom. He understood that taking the case would make him an object of scorn and ridicule. That no one would forgive him for believing in a black man's word rather than a white man's. Even his own sister expresses disapproval of his decision, practically telling him he was bringing disgrace on the family. But, no matter how much his reputation suffered, he did not change

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Courage is characterized as mental or moral strength to surpass notions of fear. As demonstrated by Atticus Finch and Mrs Dubose in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the development of courage gives the character’s strength and courage to hold their heads high, while fearing none. Harper Lee depicts the theme of courage incalculable amount of times, detailing courage as “ when you know you’re licked before you being, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” (Chapter 11, Page 124) All of the characters have an alternate kind of perspective of what courage is exactly, which will be examined in depth.…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harper Lee makes the theme of courage clear and strong in the book “To kill a mockingbird”. Throughout the story there are many demonstrations of courage. Some of these are firstly masked to later be uncovered and at first they may not seem obvious. Some moments of the courage portrayed aren’t physical courage but rather mental and psychological. The story is narrated to us by Scout who is growing up in a small town known as “Maycomb” which is situated in the Southern part of The United States. At the time the novel takes place, racism and segregation was very common in the south and Harper Lee makes this very clear as Maycomb is a stereotypical early twentieth century,…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, I believe courage is a main point in the story. Courage is strength in the face of pain or grief. Sticking up for others, helping others that are in danger, and sticking up for yourself. To Kill a Mockingbird, has many examples of courage and they all show different meanings of what courage can do and how people show it during different events that happen. Having courage can cause something very succesful to happen without you knowing.…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Finch Courage

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In your mind what does courage look like, and how is it embodied by people? Different characters embody many forms of courage in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The main character of the book is a southern girl named Jean Louise Finch, and she lives near a house that the characters call the Radley house. Jean Louise believes that a mysterious man nicknamed Boo Radley is being held in the Radley house, and as a youthful girl this frightens her and the other characters. In addition to this plot, Jean Louise’s father, Atticus, is a lawyer, who got enlisted to defend a black man named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a white teenager named Mayella Ewell. However this is problematic for Atticus because the story took place in…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Courage is when someone takes pride in what they believe in even if they are alone. In the novel To Kill Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch demonstrates the greatest amount of courage. Atticus took on the rape case of Mayella Ewell defending an african american man Tom Robinson, knowing what the outcome would be.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, there is an array of countless problems that must be faced by the citizens of Maycomb. How did they respond? After all, as the town was told, it had nothing to fear but fear itself. At least the more intelligent responded courageously. Relentless determination and perseverance were the only option to keep everything together. One character who shows this is Atticus, who stands up for African Americans inside and outside of court. Even though he’s called names and threatened, he supports Tom and promotes equality. In this novel, courage is defined as standing up for what you believe in. Lee tries to convey the point that readers can improve society using courage. Atticus has real courage because he stands up for equality when he defends Tom, faces danger to protect others, and doesn’t stop when the town’s residents insult him.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Was Atticus Right

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Imagine having to do something in which you knew you would fail but you did it anyway. Atticus Finch does this in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus demonstrates one of the main themes in the novel, which is “courage is doing what is right even when the odds of succeeding are poor”. Atticus does this by defending Tom Robinson, a black man who has his odds stacked against him only because of his skin color. Atticus faced much backlash, from other whites for defending Tom. Since Tom was a black man, Atticus was doomed to lose, but Atticus did it anyway because it was the right thing. It took courage from Atticus to take Tom’s case because he knew that either way the case went, he would be hated by the fellow whites in Maycomb. Lastly, Atticus defended Tom because he knew that Bob Ewell had beaten his daughter, and the fact that Tom raped Mayella was fabricated. Atticus had the courage to defend Tom, not only to protect him, but to protect the law.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most people may not know this book was based off some of Harper Lee's childhood experiences. The theme is based off many things but main thing is moral courage and how it is used in conflict and characterization. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows how conflict and characterization reflected this theme of moral courage through many problems that happened and through many of the characters actions in this novel.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem shows courage every day to his sibling and friends and other townspeople. Lee tries to show that courage can be defined in many different ways, and that courage doesn't have to mean that a person is brave, although it can be someone who is brave. Through Jem Lee can show what courage can really means, by Jem`s actions and by how he is seeing about the world around him. Jem Protects his sister and Dill constantly, and he learned to do that from Atticus and now he is teaching Scout and Dill how to act. He will respect adults, yet when he is in danger with another adult he will do whatever it takes to protect his family.In the novel, courage is when someone is willing to do anything to help someone…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you know what courage is? Have you ever done something that involved courage? Or have you seen someone have the courage to do something they possibly didn’t want to do? Well, courage is stepping out of your comfort zone even if it’s frightening; this is shown in To Kill A Mockingbird through pain, social criticism, and moral courage.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Modern Hero

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Instead, as Miss Maudie states, he believes that taking advantage of his ability is dishonorable, and he is not proud of it. Later, Atticus tells Jem and Scout that he didn’t want them to think that courage was a man with a gun. Along with teaching his children to be noble, Atticus proves himself to be heroic as well. The people of Maycomb start reacting to Atticus’ willingness to defend Tom Robinson, a black man. Atticus reasons, “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Lee 101).…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bam! Bam! Bam! “Order in the court! I find the defendant guilty of all charges. You will be hanged for this offense.” This was the sentence for Tom Robinson, a courageous black who stood up to defend himself in court. It took great courage to stand up for blacks back in that time. Atticus Finch was very courageous to stand up for a man who had done no wrong; many people gave him grief for doing his job. There is indeed great courage in this story, not only Atticus’s defense, but in others, such as Mrs. Dubose in battling her morphine addiction, and Dill for running away after his parents lost interest in him. In the novel,To Kill a Mockingbird, courageous acts are seen throughout the course of the story, which makes the story far more exciting and adventurous.…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, explores how courage can be shown in multiple important characters during the novel. These characters include Mrs Dubose, Atticus, Jem and Maycomb County itself. Harper Lee cleverly depicted several forms of courage during the novel such as childish courage, moral courage.…

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Courage is grace under pressure. Courage is when a person has the ability to do something frightening while resisting fear and moving beyond. Courage is what many don’t have because they don’t have the strength to do something courageous. Atticus has courage because he is brave enough to do what is brave enough to do what is right with grace and while being under pressure. Like many great and successful books written over time, Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, contains many characters with great characteristics. Atticus has many qualities about himself that makes him one of the novel’s favorite characters. Boldness, talent, and fortitude are traits that makes Atticus a model of courage in, To Kill a Mockingbird.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To kill a mocking bird

    • 1056 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Atticus displays true bravery and courage in the book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus did not fight Bob Ewell even though he spat on him, threatened his life, and said harsh things. Scout stated, “Miss Stephanie said Atticus didn’t bat an eye, just took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and stood there and let Mr. Ewell call him names wild horses could not bring her to repeat” (Lee 291). Atticus took on all the bad words Mr. Ewell was saying and did not say a disrespectful thing back. He would rather have Bob Ewell be mean and disrespectful to him than to take his anger out on his own children. Atticus treated Mrs. Dubose with respect even though she said mean statements to him. As Atticus was talking to Jem he said, “She’s an old lady and she’s ill. You just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it’s your job not to let her make you mad” (Lee133). Atticus taught his children good morals which lead him to being strong by keeping his head held high and ignoring other people’s comments. Atticus also took Tom Robinsons case without hesitating or complaining. He defended him as well as he could while his kids were being harassed with comments about him. Mrs. Dubose stated, “Your fathers no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (Lee 135). Atticus did not have to take this case, but if he did not take it, he would not be brave or courageous. He was brave to believe in his children, and courageous to take on a…

    • 1056 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays