“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Although sometimes acceptable, this saying is often a very bad idea. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, some circumstances arise in which this saying would definitely not work. Even so, it can prove difficult not “joining ‘em,” and it can take a lot of bravery. There are numerous examples in this book, but three people are especially courageous. Despite the fact that Atticus, Miss Maudie, and Mrs. Dubose all differ greatly from one another, each of them shows exceptional courage. Atticus had a very difficult job to do. Someone had to defend Tom Robinson, and Atticus realized he could not just turn and leave. If he refused, he would have gone against his own character. Even though he knew he would lose the case, he pushed on. As Scout said during the trial, “It was like watching Atticus walk into the street, raise a rifle to his shoulder and pull the trigger, but watching all the time knowing the gun was empty.” (282) From the very beginning, Atticus expected he would suffer defeat, but he persevered to the end, showing a courage that many people would not soon forget. …show more content…
Many times, she invited Scout and Jem into her house when they had no one to play with. During the coldest winter in years, her house burned down. It destroyed many of her possessions with it, including numerous plants she grew in her yard. She could have reacted like most people would in such a situation, but what she said to Scout and Jem was, “Always wanted a smaller house…Just think, I’ll have more room for my azaleas now!” (97) Whether or not she was actually so eager to have a bigger garden, or just tried to make the children see it that way, it took courage to even act so happy at losing her house and many of her possessions in the middle of