To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Essay -- To Kill a Mockingbird Essa

To Kill A Mockingbird Courage, the mental or morale strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty, is displayed in many different ways throughout Harper Lee ¹s only published novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. To some, the courage manifested by the characters in this book is either offensive, or frivolous, but to those who realize the true meaning of this word, the fortitude and bravery exhibited by certain individuals is considered uncustomary. In fact, To Kill A Mockingbird revolves around courage, as the author of this book describes Jem and Scout ¹s (the two main character ¹s in the story) childhoods living in Maycomb County, and how, as they grow older , they learn to realistically define heroism. To distinct courage in this book however, is not an easy task to accomplish, for typically, courage is displayed in the smallest or most unnoticeable fashions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus, a man who provides the morale guidelines in the story, and also Scout and Jem ¹s father, demonstrates courage in a variation of different ways, but the biggest of all the tasks that he had to overcome was when he was given the opportunity to defend Tom Robinson in court. Atticus did not treat this litigation such as any other case that he had ever dealt with before, for he new that this one would most likely change his life. The reason: Tom Robinson was a Negro. At the time, segregation was very common among the citizens of his town, and therefore he knew that he stood no chance in winning this indictment, especially based upon the fact that Robinson was charged with a transgression such as rape. Atticus was courageous in this situation for many different reasons, but mainly because he stood up for what he believed in; in this case it was that blacks should have equal rights as whites in a court of law. A quote that fascinated me while reading this book was:  ³Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win. ²(p76) Atticus was the one to have said this, showing his acknowledgment of the fact that he was going to be on the losing end of the lawsuit. Still, he prepared for this case, willingly putting his heart into it, disregarding the insults and attacks thrown in his direction by white supremacists. Although he lost, he came out victorious in the end, as he receiv... ...asing the amount of time that she was spending without taking the drug. Eventually, by the time that Jem was no longer obligated to read, she had accomplished her goal; she was going to be free when she died, as she did kick her habit. A suffering and feeble woman going a month without consuming a drug that she has been addicted to for over five years is undeniably courageous. Mrs. Dubose could easily have died taking morphine to soothe her pain, but instead she did what in her mind was right, suffering for a month on earth, permitting her to be untroubled for eternity in heaven.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Defending a Negro, resisting the temptation of fighting, and kicking a morphine addiction. All three of these acts of courage can somehow relate to the quote:  ³Real courage is when you know you ¹re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. ²(p112) This quotes continues, implying that you rarely win, but sometimes you do, such as in Mrs. Dubose ¹s case. In both Atticus and Scout ¹s cases though, they lost, but neither winning nor losing is important, as long as inside you know you have done the right thing.