How Does Atticus Show Courage

Courage is a powerfully portrayed theme throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. First of all, courage is shown through multiple characters' actions throughout the novel. Tom Robinson is on trial for raping a white woman and is very hated throughout Maycomb. Not just any white man would stand up and defend a black man in this time period. Atticus gets plenty of backlash from people throughout the community for defending Tom Robinson in this trial. Atticus stands his ground and stands up for what he believes is right. Next, courage is displayed when Scout stands up to the mob outside the jailhouse, showing courage can come from unexpected sources. Courage is also displayed through Atticus’s parenting techniques and his trying to teach his

Atticus chooses to defend Tom who is an african american man he believes is innocent. In the novel, Atticus is courageous in the sense that he doesn’t care what others think of him. “True courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” (Lee, 116). This quote displays that Atticus knows the odds are against him in the trial, but he is still the doing right thing even though it is very unlikely to turn in his defendant's favor. This is true courage because even though most people are against Atticus he still prevails and stands up to his haters. I think they use the words “True courage” because some people may claim to be courageous but only show it when the odds are in their favor. Atticus is sort of the opposite, when everyone is against him he is sort of the black sheep and shows that true courage is doing what's right when everyone is against

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.” (Lee, 116). Atticus is a good father who wants to teach Scout about courage. Mrs. Dubose was addicted to painkillers but was determined to overcome her addiction before dying and Atticus made Jem read to her to distract her from her pain. This was a good lesson to teach Scout because it teaches her that being courageous isn’t just having a gun but doing something that you are not familiar with like Mrs. Dubose not taking painkillers and getting clean even though she didn’t have much time left. This valuable lesson helped Atticus later in the story because she stood up to a lynch mob to protect Jem and Tom Robinson from being hurt. If Scout didn’t know what real courage was, she may not have stood up for Tom and he could have been killed right there by the mob. This was a very valuable lesson that helped shape Scout into the courageous young girl she was later in the