“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare,” said Mark Twain. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming of age story about two young children, Jem and Scout Finch, growing up in Alabama in the 1930s and learning what real courage is through their father, Atticus, and the people of Maycomb. They learn to see the world from other points of view, which is also how they express empathy towards others, persevering and standing up for what you believe in, and putting yourself in danger to help others.
One message that Harper Lee provides us with is that courage is when you persevere to do something even when it gets more difficult. Atticus believes that Mrs. Dubose is the bravest person he ever
…show more content…
Everyone in the town, not just Atticus, think that Tom Robinson has courage trying to escape from prison. Mayella and her father lie about the night of _____, and the jury couldn’t see past the fact that Tom was a black man, so they threw him into jail under false pretences. “Tom’s dead. The guards told him to stop. They fired a few shots in the air, then to kill. They got him as he went over the fence. They said if he’s had two good arms he’d have made it, he was moving that fast. Seventeen bullet holes in him” (235). It was very unnecessary to kill him because he wasn’t trying to harm anyone, but the guards saw him as a prisoner trying to escape, not Tom Robinson.You should stand up for what you believe even if other people think that it isn’t the right decision. Tom believed that he deserved to be free because and he didn’t deserve to be treated with such indecency. If he had gotten away and they captured him again, he would have gotten worse punishment because him escaping meant that he was guilty, in the white man's eye. Tom was a scapegoat because he was blamed for a crime that he didn’t commit which was beating and raping Mayella Ewell. It was actually Mayella’s father, Bob, that beat her up after he caught her trying to get intimate with Tom. Atticus is not only standing up for what he believes in when he takes Tom Robinson’s case, but he is also standing up for his family. He is a kind man that doesn’t believe in using violence and believes that everyone should be treated equally. That is another reason why he chose to defend Tom Robinson. Atticus thought that Tom deserved a fair trial, and even though he knew that they probably weren’t going to win the case, he wanted to try for the sake of Tom and his family. “‘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
Atticus knew the consequences of supporting tom because of his skin and how bad segregation was in his town. He knew the community of Maycomb would dislike his actions and call him and his family names like “negro lover”. Scout asks Atticus why he was defending Tom he says“ 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”(Lee 86). Atticus could not live to know that he did not serve justice in his county, and that even though he would be called names or looked at differently, Atticus would still be doing the right thing.
(271). This quote shows Atticus defending Tom Robinson because he feels it is the right thing to do. Entering the trial, Atticus knew that it wasn’t possible to win with an all-white male, racist jury. Yet, he still chose to defend Tom till the very end. Atticus overcame the typical southern male stereotype of being racist, putting an end to the racist stereotype, and therefore a death to racism.
Dubose was in the presence of mental courage. She stopped taking her pain killers because she did not want to die addicted. Later in the book, Scout asks Atticus why he is defending Tom Robinson and Atticus says, “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess” (101). What one can learn from this quotation is that the theme of mental courage is present in Atticus as he takes on Tom Robinson’s case, by risking the opinions of others about him and if he will win or not.
Even though he got all that hatred from his own community he didn’t stop defending Tom. He believed that Tom Robinson was innocent, so Atticus fought for what he believed in. At the trial the the jury decided that Tom was guilty, all the things Atticus said was true but not enough for the people in Maycomb. Mr.Finch
Courage is not strength or skill, it’s simply standing up for what you believe in and what is right. This is the theme that was enrolled after Jem destroys Mrs.Dubose’s camellias and after she died in chapter 11. This passage also reveals Jem’s coming of age moment. After using conflict, symbolism, and point of view, Harper Lee was able to connect the theme with Jems coming of age moment.
Tom Robinson was a black man accused of raping a white girl. Since, this is based in the 1930s and in the south it was obvious that Atticus and Tom would lose this case. Moreover, this case was assigned to Atticus and Atticus still took the case proudly and willingly to prove his side even though he knew he wouldn’t win. He wants his kids to know that he tries to the right thing every step ahead. He just hopes that his kids will follow through like him.
To begin with, the concept of courage comes into play constantly when Mrs. Dubose is mentioned. Jem and Scout show courage when they read to Mrs. Dubose everyday after school and on weekends. Atticus tells his children that they should “read to her out loud for two hours… for a month” (105). This is because he wants them to
In the timeless classic, To Kill A Mockingbird, a young girl, Scout, and her older brother, Jem, learn the true meaning of courage through a series of events that happen in their tired old town, Maycomb, Alabama. In Chapter 10, Harper Lee uses the killing of a mad dog to symbolize how Jem and Scouts ideas of courage change throughout their coming of age. In Chapter 10, Scout talks about how Atticus wouldn’t teach her and Jem how to shoot when they got their air rifles. Scout says that they had to turn to their Uncle Jack who, “...instructed [them] in the rudiments thereof, he said Atticus wasn’t interested in guns.”
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
Tom Robinson has qualities in him that make him an excellent role model. Atticus is given Tom Robinson’s case and he does his job and defends Tom Robinson because he knows it’s the right thing
Courage has gone through many changes. It has been altered throughout races, cultures, religions, sex, and time. However, the core values of courage has always remained parallel. It is difficult to explain in words the meaning of courage, like describing a color, but everyone knows what courage is, how it feels, and how to perform it. In Harper Lee’s
"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 see it through no matter what. " This insightful statement was told by Atticus Finch to his son, Jem Finch. Many people in Maycomb had to deal with racism, hatred, and discrimination because of their skin color or because of the court case.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Moral Courage “Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make man brave in one way; moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another,” Charles Colton. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a bildungsroman that explores life through the eyes of six year old Scout Finch. Raised in the small and quiet town of Maycomb Alabama, Scout is surrounded by the hardships stricken by the Great Depression. Around her she experiences poverty, grief and most importantly, bigotry. Throughout the novel, Scout realizes the true beauty of life, but also the inevitable factors of ignorance and narrow-mindedness within her community.
This is one of the reasons he works so hard for Tom Robinson. Atticus knows that Tom is not guilty and wants to give him the best shot at proving his innocence, because he knows it is the right thing to do. Throughout Atticus’s time working on Tom Robinson’s case, he did not see him as a man of color, but as an innocent man. Even though Atticus knows he will lose the trial, he does everything in his power to prove that Tom is
I know three reasons, because he showed why after the court decision. The first one is, that Atticus felt like he could not accomplish the things he needed to move on to the next thing in his life. The second one is, that Atticus worked very hard to prove that Tom Robinson was not guilty and innocent. Even though he did prove a point that Tom was not guilty and the only reason why he is going to jail is because of him being black. The third one is, that Atticus felt like he does not mean enough to people for when he is doing the right thing.