courage in tkam essay

To Kill a Mockingbird

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Many people in To Kill a Mockingbird confuse courage with strength and believe that courage is the ability or willingness to use strength to get one’s way. However, the novel makes it abundantly clear that this understanding of courage is immature at best and is possibly wrong altogether. Instead, the novel proposes that courage isn’t about winning. Instead, it’s about thinking about something and choosing to do what’s right, even if doing so is difficult or guaranteed to fail.

When the reader first meets Scout , she believes that she’s very courageous: she’s hotheaded and consistently gets in fights to defend what she believes is right. Though Jem is a little old for fights like this, he, too, thinks of fighting as a more or less appropriate way to demonstrate one’s courage. This is supported as time goes on and Jem in particular, who loves football, is mortified that Atticus is the only father in town who doesn’t play in the inter-church football game because of his age. In Jem and Scout’s understanding, Atticus isn’t as courageous or as admirable as the other Maycomb fathers, simply because he’s a lawyer, which means that his contribution to the world isn’t something entirely tangible, unlike other fathers who are farmers or shop owners. In this sense, Scout and Jem tie a person’s worth to what they can do, but only if their capabilities are immediately visible to others.

This understanding of what courage means and what worth is begins to break down in February, before Tom Robinson ’s trial. When Scout and Jem discover what turns out to be a rabid dog heading for their neighborhood, Mr. Tate forces Atticus to shoot the dog—which shows Atticus’s children that he can do things—he just chooses not to. At the same time, Atticus begins to encourage Scout in particular to not fight people who taunt her for Atticus’s role in the trial. Though Scout characterizes not fighting as cowardice, Atticus insists that it’s courageous to take the moral high ground and make the choice to not try to appear powerful with one’s fists, something that he embodies as he embarks on Robinson’s case.

Atticus knows full well that Robinson won’t win his case. In Maycomb, a small, Southern town in 1935, the idea that a black man accused of rape wouldn’t suffer consequences (no matter the truth) is far-fetched. Despite this, Atticus insists to Scout and Jem, and to other adults alike, that he has to take Robinson’s case and do his best to clear Robinson’s name. He feels he must do so even if he knows he’ll be unsuccessful, something that even Scout suggests at one point is actually silly and misguided, not courageous. Atticus, however, makes the case to Scout that courage doesn’t mean winning at all. Rather, courage, in Atticus’s understanding, means taking a stand for what’s right and seeing it through, even though he knows he won’t be successful. On the day of Tom Robinson’s death, Scout begins to embody this when she begins to understand that being a lady—something she previously found unappealing and boring—actually means doing exactly that. Scout begins to see that it takes courage and poise to navigate a roomful of opinionated, racist ladies, keep the conversation focused on inoffensive topics, and keep everyone’s refreshments in order, all while experiencing major emotional turmoil and trying not betraying that to her guests. In this situation, there is no winning to be had—Scout’s courage results only in a smooth meeting of the local missionary circle, which isn’t disrupted and made ugly by news of Robinson’s death. But it’s nevertheless a turning point in Scout’s understanding of what it means to be courageous, as it represents a form of courage she previously hadn’t thought worth considering.

In this sense, Mockingbird suggests that courage is playing the long game rather than focusing on immediate wins, something it illustrates clearly when Mr. Ewell , the man who accused Robinson, attempts to murder Scout and Jem. His attempt to murder children (and for that matter, his harassment and attempted crimes against Helen Robinson and Judge Taylor ) is undeniably cowardly and morally reprehensible, but it’s possible that his attempt at violence was, in his mind, an attempt to salvage his family name by bringing down Atticus. The novel offers an example of true courage, meanwhile, when Boo Radley leaves his house for the first time in 25 years to save the children, something that clearly causes him distress, even if he knows it’s the right thing to do. With this, the novel makes allowances for the fact that at times, courage does mean acting out with one’s strength, as Boo does by killing Mr. Ewell in defense of the children. But in order to be genuine courage within the world of the novel, it must still happen only in times of great need, and must be in service of the greater good.

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Courage Quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it

There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.

“If you shouldn't be defendin' him, then why are you doin' it?”

“For a number of reasons,” said Atticus. “The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again.”

"Atticus, are we going to win it?"

“No, honey.”

“Then why—”

“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win,” Atticus said.

After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn't fight any more, her daddy wouldn't let her.

It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.

“Atticus, you must be wrong…”

“How's that?”

“Well, most folks seem to think they're right and you're wrong…”

“The one that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

“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.”

Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. “Atticus,” his voice was distant, “can you come here a minute, sir?”

Beneath its sweat-streaked dirt Dill's face went white. I felt sick.

Jem was standing in a corner of the room, looking like the traitor he was. “Dill, I had to tell him,” he said. “You can't run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin'.” We left him without a word.

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To Kill A Mockingbird: Heroism & Courage of Atticus Finch

To Kill A Mockingbird: Heroism…

Atticus is the textbook definition of a fair and courageous man. His arch throughout To Kill a Mockingbird is one that shows he not only teaches his children equality, but does whatever he can to set an example as well.

Atticus is easily the bravest character in the whole book, he took on a losing case to show his kids what true courage is. Throughout the entire book, he guides both Scout and Jem to stay away from prejudice.

Throughout the entire novel, Atticus proves himself to not just present himself as a patient, empathetic, and smart man, but to live it out in his every action.

Atticus is a fair man. That is made abundantly clear toward the end of chapter two. We learn Atticus aided Mr. Cunningham with legal affairs when he couldn’t pay right away. Atticus accepted Mr. Cunningham’s request and was patient.

Over the course of a year, Atticus got paid back. He had grace and patience with Mr. Cunningham and it paid off. Atticus indirectly taught Jem about patience through Mrs. Dubose.

The context behind this conversation is Jem discussing his punishment with Atticus after he had gone and destroyed her bushes. Jem said “Yes sir. She wants me to come every afternoon after school and Saturdays and read to her out loud for two hours. Atticus, do I have to?” Atticus replied “Certainly.” Jem complained, “But she wants me to do it for a month.”

Atticus responded, “Then you’ll do it for a month.” This was only one example of Atticus teaching Jem about patience. Even though it wasn’t a direct example, Jem was still taught a valuable lesson about patience thanks to Atticus.

Atticus shows and teaches empathy to both Scout and Jem. A great example is Mrs. Dubose. Atticus tells Jem several times that she’s an old lady and to be a gentleman. Perhaps the most famous quote in To Kill a Mockingbird is about empathy.

At the end of chapter 2, Atticus says to Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”.

Atticus is easily the smartest man in the entire book. He’s smart enough to not fall astray due to prejudice. He makes a compelling case to show that Tom Robinson is innocent. He makes it known that it was physically impossible for Tom Robinson to have r*ped Mayella Ewell.

This quote that took place in the courtroom perfectly illustrated that. It is Atticus’ response to Bob Ewell’s false accusation. “Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson’s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you. You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral, some Negro men are not to be trusted around women—black or white.

But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire.”.

The quote shows just how smart Atticus is. He has every single quality to be a great hero.

Atticus is easily the hero of To Kill a Mockingbird . He may not have accomplished the impossible and saved Tom from life in jail, but he did touch the lives of many people.

He taught his kids several important life lessons, about avoiding racial prejudice, learning to be patient, and practicing equality. Atticus is a courageous and kind man who teaches his lessons through example.

When saying that to Jem, and Scout he risked the chance of them not listening to him. Lastly, it is courageous of him standing up to the individuals at the jailhouse. Atticus risked the chance of the individuals getting him, and Tom, and killing, or hurting them physically.

Through all these examples, of courage, and risk we can see how extremely courageous Atticus was during this novel.

To Kill A Mockingbird: Courage Through Perseverance
To Kill A Mockingbird: Courage through Perseverance
To Kill a Mockingbird: Atticus Finch Character Analysis
Moral Courage in To Kill A Mockingbird

Author: William Anderson (Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team)

The Role of Courage in To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Category: Life , Literature
Topic: Courage , Harper Lee , To Kill a Mockingbird

Pages: 2 (847 words)

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