Acts Of Courage Quotes

741 Words3 Pages

Boone Davis

Ms. Wolter

Period 2

Due 20

Acts of Courage

Nelson Mandela once said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Through the exploration of this unit, many characters have shown courage. More specifically, the short story “The Transcript of Joseph McNeil” written by Newsday, the poem “I Look at the World” by Langston Hughes, and the movie “Shrek” by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, best exemplify the idea of courage from the quote by Nelson Mandela.

“The Transcript of Joseph McNeil” is a short story that backs up the quote of Nelson Mandela. In the text when McNeil is talking about his life in segregation, he …show more content…

In the poem, “I Look at the World” the speaker is taking about all the things wrong with the world when he says, “That all these walls oppression builds Will have to go!” (10). Langston is saying that the oppression of segregation is like walls built to limit the freedoms of African Americans. He is also saying the walls will have to go, meaning that he will have to stand up and fight to achieve this. Again building up bravery to fight against an evil like in Langston’s case it shows the triumph that relates to Mandela’s quote. The quote continues to support Mandela’s words by suggesting that courage can triumph over the fear of challenges. As he goes on in the poem he continues to say, “Then let us hurry, comrades, The road to find” (10). These words are a call to action for African Americans to join the fight for civil rights. The action of fighting against what they feared with courage and bravery shows success as mentioned in Mandela’s quote. Despite the fear that may consume Hughes and many other African Americans during this time, it is vital to recognize how the fear turned into fuel to drive the civil rights movement. As conveyed before, this poem continues to connect to the idea of Mandela’s claim by showing the triumph over the challenge of