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Examples Of Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. An ordeal or circumstance that can bring out this instantaneous bravery and audacity inside of someone.Courage can be defined by something everyone wishes to display.Not only is it an attribute of good character, but it's what makes us worthy of respect. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters would not have been able to make it without having and acting upon courage.Throughout the novel courage was mainly defined through the actions of Atticus, Jem, and Scout. A primary example of courage is displayed by the character Atticus. When Atticus was faced with a rabies infected dog, in a calm and collected manner “ Atticus's hand yanked a ball tipped lever as …show more content…

When Dill came to visit for the summer he challenged Jem’s courage and bravery. He stated, “I’ll swap you the gray ghost if you just go up and touch the house” (Lee 14).The Radley house to Maycomb was extremely similar to Pandora’s box. In Jem’s mind, touching this house could either get him killed or release the ‘evil’ contained within. So, what seems ridiculously easy to most was Jem’s biggest fear. Just to touch the Radley house Jem had to gather any and all courage that he possessed, making this a huge courageous act for him. In a similar instance, Mrs. Dubose pushed Jem to his limit by talking crudely towards Atticus. Jem then throws all common sense out the window, “forgetting that she packed a pistol… forgetting that if Mrs. Dubose missed her girl Jesse wouldn’t...he had cut the tops off of every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned”(Lee 102-103). Again Jem displays courage in an instance in which he is able to perform this act to Mrs. Dubose precious flowers. Jem knows that this action is putting his life in danger, but he chooses to defend his father in this huge courageous act. Through Jems actions, and an enormous amount of courage is …show more content…

Atticus displayed courage by putting his life on the line and killing the rabies infected dog as well as standing up for Tim Robinson when no one else would. Like Atticus, Jem displayed a great amount of courage when he touched the Radley house and by defending Scout against Mr. Ewell. Scout showed courage by putting herself before a lynch mob ,in the process she saved both Atticus and Tom Robinson, as well as walking Boo Radley home .This instantaneous bravery that arises within a person in dangerous or threatening situations helps people step out of their comfort zones for the better.Courage is the ability to perform even if all your instincts are screaming for you not

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658 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the story, Jem (taken from the word gem meaning a cherished and prized person) is used by Harper Lee as a representation of courage. In the beginning, Jem’s first act of courage occurs when Jem accepts Dill’s provocation to go and touch the Radley house. In the story, Scout says, “In all his life, Jem has never declined a dare” (Lee 16). This quote shows how Jem would never demur any sort of challenge, even if it involved stupid or childish acts like going to a forbidden place. Scout also shows how Jem even accepted a dare from her to jump off the roof of the house as a kid.

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680 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus ‘the dad’ shows courage when he stood in the middle of the street, facing off with a rabid dog armed with a shotgun ”In a fog, Jem and I watched our father take the gun and walk out into the middle of the street..”(104). that’s a huge act of courage to protect loved ones. His personality is full of courage to the things he says to what he does. “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”(Atticus). Miss Maudie shows courage when she refuses to be pressured by the “footwashin” Baptist who try to shame her, again just standing up for yourself is showing courage.

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401 Words | 2 Pages

Atticus’s definition of courage is going through with something you believe in even when you know it might go wrong. In the book, there are many courageous acts that happen but Atticus Finch shows the most courage all around. Atticus willingly takes on the Tom Robinson case knowing many risks and threats could come from his decision. Atticus is a honest lawyer that

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491 Words | 2 Pages

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines courage as the ability to do something that frightens one. Many characters in Harper Lee’s mid 20th century novel To Kill a Mockingbird display courage in numerous ways. One character however, jumps out. When first reading the book, most people would say that courage is displayed by those like Jem, Scout, Tom, or Atticus.

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193 Words | 1 Pages

Jem showed courage because telling Scout that school was always be bad he did the right thing and told her what she needed to hear. Later in summer Jem and Dill want to talk to Boo

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963 Words | 4 Pages

People have in mind that courage is about being able to save other peoples’ lives and risking your own, or to climb Mount Everest, or to jump from the top of a high building. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, real courage is demonstrated in a different and encouraging way. Real courage is shown as fighting for what is believed in and what is most important, regardless of whether you win or lose. Atticus and Scout are two characters who define courage perfectly. The reasons why Atticus shows courage is that he argued the best he could to defend the innocent man from going to jail since he knew that no one else would.

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

‘I ain’t going,’ was his steady answer to Atticus’s threats, requests, and finally, ‘Please Jem, take them home,’” (204). Atticus communicates the dangers of the situation to his son as he begs Jem to bring Scout and Dill home, but Jem understands the risks and believes that they are outweighed by the need to protect Atticus. Jem’s integrity in protecting his father reveals how courageous he is becoming as he gets

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471 Words | 2 Pages

Jem’s bravery is revealed when the narrator states, “In all his life, Jem had never declined a dare” implying that no matter how risky or scary the dare, he would eventually follow through (16). Unlike Jem, Dill is a coward. This is revealed when he dares Jem to touch the Radley’s house in chapter one

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896 Words | 4 Pages

You are not born with courage, it 's something that’s created over time. Being courageous is never a lucid decision, it determines the quality of a person 's mind as it 's faced with difficulty, danger, pain, and a test of bravery. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee develops the theme concerning courage to show the difficulty and the necessity of acting boldly. The characters Atticus, Scout, Arthur Radley and Mrs.Dubose display an act of courage as they are faced with feasible but difficult situations.

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691 Words | 3 Pages

Courage is shown through Atticus many times in the book. A time in the book where Atticus showed courage was when he had had to shoot the rabid dog. He did not want to do it but he had to or the dog might have hurt someone badly. Another time where

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According to Atticus, this is the ability to face adversity and go through with something honourable, even though you realize that it is impossible to win. There are quite a few characters in the book, which show some kind of courage, but there is one in particular, Atticus. Harper Lee made Atticus the hero of moral and a symbol of courage in her novel. He is the figurehead for all three kinds of courage I mentioned. For one he confronts a rabid dog, which displays physical courage.

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566 Words | 3 Pages

One person that shows courage is Atticus. Atticus is jem and scouts father and is one of the nicest and caring person in Macomb,Alabama. He also shows courage throughout the book. “The rifle cracked. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk and brown and white heat didn't know what hit him”(127).

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965 Words | 4 Pages

Most of them, if not all, showed true courage by standing up for what they believe in and keeping their heads up high. Harper Lee uses many scenes and key characters to develop the theme of real courage for instance, Jem, Atticus, and Miss Maudie go through a journey to discover, understand and to show that real courage is mental courage in the face of physical and emotional torment. Particularly, Harper Lee uses Jem Atticus Finch to show that courage means pushing through even though you know have already lost. In Chapter 11, Jem and Scout had many encounters with Mrs. Dubose.

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822 Words | 4 Pages

"Courage is when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what" According to Atticus Finch, an honest lawyer in Harper Lee 's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. "Real courage" is when you fight for what is right regardless of whether you win or lose. Atticus fits into this definition of what "real courage" is and demonstrates it several times throughout the novel. "The only thing we 've got is a black man 's word against the Ewells '.

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740 Words | 3 Pages

In the first few chapters of the book where Jem and Scout were young children, he accepted a dare to touch the wall of Boo Radley’s house because he thought that was what real courage was, accepting dares. Although he had heard the stories told of Boo Radley and was terrified by them, it did not stop him from going ahead to accept the dare because he thought that it would determine how much courage he had. Also, he knew the rumours of how if one touched anything near Boo Radley 's house, one would die. However, Jem seemed

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