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

Courage is the action of someone presenting their opinion when taken into consideration of the possible hardships. It allows one to confront danger along with difficulty without any fear held upon. Moreover, courage is a simple word with a lot of different meanings to it, it can be defined in several ways by different people. The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is considered to be a bildüngsroman since the main character, Scout Finch matures and comes of age. The author, Harper Lee shows several of Scout’s life changing experiences, such as those with Atticus and Mrs. Dubose to convey the message that courage is not based upon one’s physical strength, but there are other different types of courage such as social, moral, and intellectual courage and Harper Lee shows it through several different ways In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee portrays courage through Atticus, specifically when he stands up for what he believes in.

So he supports and fights the case for Tom Robinson, even though he knows he is going to lose the case. Atticus fought the case in which Tom Robinson was blamed that he raped a white girl, during this time Atticus says, “There is nothing more sickening than a low grade whitman who’ll take advantage of Negroes ignorance” (pg 296). Atticus attempts to win the case and keeps hope, even when aware of the outcomes. In addition, he wants Tom to go through a trial, which will make it easier to figure out who is guilty and who is not. Lee portrays Atticus as being socially and morally courageous since he is doing the right thing even though his social reputation could be hurt in front of the townspeople. Also, Lee proves that Atticus understands and wants Scout to realize that courage is not only shown through one’s physical strength, however it is portrayed by one’s actions as well. In the beginning of the book Scout thought that courage is when someone is brave or uses their physical strength to perform an activity, like Jem and when he ran and touched the front door of the Radleys house. But when Atticus explains about Mrs. Dubose and how she is courageous, Atticus tells Scout and Jem that real courage is when “you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (pg 149).

Atticus explained the true definition of courage while discussing this topic with Scout. This shows how Scout is coming of age since she is learning more things about courage and life in general Furthermore, Harper Lee shows courage through Mrs. Dubose and when she tries to quit morphine before she died Before Mrs. Dubose died she said that “she meant to break herself of it before she died” (Lee 148). Mrs.Dubose exactly stayed focused upon her goal , since she was brave enough to attempt to do so. As well as she took the hard way through quitting morphine, a drug which she was addicted to, before she died, rather than just talking the easy way and continuing with the drug until she died. Mrs.Dubose also set her alarm clock late in order to delay the time of taking the drug. Additionally, “Her whole mind and body were concentrated on the alarm clock” (Lee 148). Mrs. Dubose depended fully upon the alarm clock which would tell her when to take the drug. Moreover, in order to avoid taking the drug she set her alarm later and later every single time. This shows that she is intellectually, morally, and emotionally courageous since she is trying to quit the drug, in her own willingness, and she is taking the right action with positive attitude and emotions.

First, Atticus, then going down to Mrs. Dubose, Harper Lee has proven to the reader that courage is when people stand up for what they believe in. Throughout the book, Atticus and Mrs. Dubose shows a lot of instances of courage. Physical strength doesn’t play a major role in defining courage, but by standing up for what they believe in. Atticus shows social courage by fighting Tom Robinson’s case even though when he knows he is going to lose it. On the other hand, Mrs. Dubose shows it by taking the hard way and trying to quit her morphine before she died, even though she could have taken the easy route and continued the drug until she died. Courage can be shown in a lot of different forms other than just one’s physical strength, Everyone has a different meaning to courage, since it can be portrayed in different ways. This information can be helpful for readers, because they can learn about courage and it can motivate them to stand up for themselves and others. A person might be socially courageous when they speak in front of a lot of people even if they get proven wrong. Therefore, courage is when a person does something even though they know that there are going to lose but they continue to fight the battle anyway.