What Is The Importance Of Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird
In her timeless novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee emphasizes the importance of courage and highlights its meaning within the context of the book. Lee uses varying situations and an onslaught of characters to reiterate her perspective, creating a multifaceted topic that extends into a larger theme of doing right despite the majority doing wrong. The character who the book’s definition of courage derives from is Atticus. He is constantly instilling his beliefs of courage onto his children; whether that be through pointing out exemplary spirit in another character, or simply living by his own accords. A singular moment that showcases Atticus’s bravery is when he shoots Tim Johnson. Atticus does not enjoy the guilt that stems from killing
an innocent animal, however, he must euthanize the pup in order to protect his family and town. He acts knowing he will only feel sorrow, but does so because his moral compass dictates him to. In a broader example, Atticus shows bravery throughout the entirety of the Robinson trial. Though he knows that he will not win the case, Atticus defends Robinson, explaining to Jem,“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 you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” Through Atticus’s parenting, Lee builds a foundation of courage defined as the ill-fated action motivated not by reason but by hope and ethics. After setting the groundwork through Atticus, Lee shapes and supports her philosophy of courage through events and characters, the most significant of which being Mrs. Dubose. The author characterizes Dubose as an irritable shell of a woman who has only the will to complain. Later, Lee reveals the deeper aspects of her life and her morphine addiction. Atticus explains her abstract bravery, “She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you're sick as she was, it's all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn't all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that's what she did.” Dubose adheres to the novel’s version of courage in that she quit morphine knowing that she was going to die and was motivated by her sense of morality.
an innocent animal, however, he must euthanize the pup in order to protect his family and town. He acts knowing he will only feel sorrow, but does so because his moral compass dictates him to. In a broader example, Atticus shows bravery throughout the entirety of the Robinson trial. Though he knows that he will not win the case, Atticus defends Robinson, explaining to Jem,“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 you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” Through Atticus’s parenting, Lee builds a foundation of courage defined as the ill-fated action motivated not by reason but by hope and ethics. After setting the groundwork through Atticus, Lee shapes and supports her philosophy of courage through events and characters, the most significant of which being Mrs. Dubose. The author characterizes Dubose as an irritable shell of a woman who has only the will to complain. Later, Lee reveals the deeper aspects of her life and her morphine addiction. Atticus explains her abstract bravery, “She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you're sick as she was, it's all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn't all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that's what she did.” Dubose adheres to the novel’s version of courage in that she quit morphine knowing that she was going to die and was motivated by her sense of morality.