Type Of Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Types of Courage Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird emphasizes several instances of courage in many different forms: physical, mental, emotional, and moral. Three main characters, Jean Louise Scout Finch, her lawyer father Atticus, and her older brother Jem encounter prejudice, hypocrisy and other evils in Alabama during the 1930’s. Several characters in this novel help Scout and Jem understand courage as a reoccurring theme to the plot, with each example a different exploration of the moral nature of human beings. Consider Mrs. Dubose an elderly ill-tempered racist woman with a hearty morphine addiction. In order to go to town, the children had to pass her house, unless wanting to walk a mile out of the way. Strolling home from town one…show more content…
Three main characters, Jean Louise Scout Finch, her lawyer father Atticus, and her older brother Jem encounter prejudice, hypocrisy and other evils in Alabama during the 1930’s. Several characters in this novel help Scout and Jem understand courage as a reoccurring theme to the plot, with each example a different exploration of the moral nature of human beings. Consider Mrs. Dubose an elderly ill-tempered racist woman with a hearty morphine addiction. In order to go to town, the children had to pass her house, unless wanting to walk a mile out of the way. Strolling home from town one afternoon, a verbal dispute ensued with Mrs. Dubose. Hand to her mouth Mrs. Dubose declares, “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”(102). Jem retaliated by cutting the tops off of every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned with Scout’s baton, covering the entire ground in petals and leaves. As punishment, Jem must go read to Mrs. Dubose at her house every day for a month. Each session is longer and longer than the one before, and Mrs. Dubose hardly seemed to pay attention to his reading. Soon after his punishment ended, Mrs. Dubose passed away. Atticus revealed the true nature of his punishment. Mrs. Dubose had been a morphine addict for a long time, but wanted to overcome that addiction before she left the world; Jem’s…show more content…
Atticus explained, “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” (30). Atticus wanted Scout to realize that people were only responsible for what they knew that people were doing the best they could without an ideal upbringing and education. Atticus was kind, protective, and very patient with his children. He was also firm but fair and always found a way to impart a bit of wisdom and help them become good people. Most of all Atticus taught Jem and Scout by example; he was a model of courtesy and kindness. The theme of courage throughout To Kill a Mockingbird is a gradual process displayed by more than one character. Courage is not about winning or losing, it is about thinking what is right instead of relying on personal prejudice and then doing what is right whether you win or lose. In short, Scout and Jem gradually discover that moral courage is both more complicated and more difficult than physical
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