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How Does Atticus Show Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird - Courage "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 '. The evidence boils down to you-did-I-didn 't. The jury couldn 't possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson 's word against the Ewells, '" Atticus solemnly explains this to his brother. First of all, Atticus demonstrates courage when he undertakes the task of defending Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of rape. Atticus knows he won 't win the case and like Mrs. Dubose in her battle against morphine, he is "licked" before he begins. Nevertheless, Atticus knows that Tom is innocent and that he must fight for him, since no one else will. Atticus 's strong sense of morality and justice motivates him to defend Tom with vigor and determination, giving it all he 's got with one mission in mind. He wants the people of …show more content…

In addition, Atticus went against his moral code and principles he had always upheld before, especially in the Tom Robinson trial. Now, Atticus is faced with the decision of abiding by the law or breaking it in order to do the right thing. He knew that incarcerating a man, as withdrawn and solitary as Arthur would have been unforgivable. Especially, after Arthur had performed a great deed by saving his children 's life. He knew that exposing him would be an awful way of repaying him; it would have been like "shooting a mockingbird." So, Atticus chose to protect Boo from the public eye rather than abide by the law and his "honest" ways he was so accustomed to follow.

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987 Words | 4 Pages

He looked out for jem and scout when they were going home and when he saw them being attacked he went and defended them, which lead to him killing Bob Ewell with a kitchen knife. “Thank you for my children, Arthur,” [Atticus] this shows that atticus was thanking boo for his bravery to protect over the children that weren’t even his but he looked at them as his children. Boo showed courage from like behind the scene by looking out for Scout and Jem without anybody

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362 Words | 2 Pages

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus tells Scout that courage is “when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” Atticus has shown a lot of courage to his kids. Atticus showed courage by accepting the Tom Robinson case, by standing his ground at the jailhouse, and by standing up to Aunt Alexandra about Calpurnia. He even tries to get his kids to follow in his footsteps.     What Atticus meant when he told Scout what courage was, was that even if you know that you're going to lose something it doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

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918 Words | 4 Pages

Another thing Atticus presumes is that the courts are unreliable and completely based on whether the people like the person or not. Not whether they are innocent or guilty, but rather beliefs that are discriminate. “I’m not idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system- that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality.

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534 Words | 3 Pages

Courage in To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee’s very definition, “Real courage is when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Courage comes up so many times in this story throughout almost every single character. The characters that I will be proving the acts of courage in in this essay are Mr. Heck Tate, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, Aunt Alexandra, and Miss Maudie. Theses characters may not show quite as much courage as some of the others but they do help prove what real courage is. Heck Tate is the sheriff of Maycomb County, which means his job is to protect and serve the people of his jurisdiction.

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514 Words | 3 Pages

In the jury during the case¨’Atticus was showing the jury that Tome had nothing to hide¨(Lee 225). This supports the claim because Atticus is truly fighting for Tom. He was doing everything possible to prove that Tom did nothing wrong. Throughout this paragraph Atticus proved to the people in the jury that he was not scared of what they though of him. Atticus is being courageous with being a stong and brave person to defend poor insist Tom

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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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1021 Words | 5 Pages

Atticus also takes on defending an African American. Not many people would do this back then people they were racist and rude. When Atticus took on this case he knew that they didn’t have a shot at winning, but he took it on anyway because he knew it was the right thing to do. The town was rude and disrespectful to Atticus, but Atticus never backed down. Atticus also did his best to defend Tom and overall with all the evidence Tom should not have been guilty.

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825 Words | 4 Pages

Austin Crim Russell Honors English 15 March 2023 Courage When people think of the word courage they usually think of a knight or a king, they do not consider themselves courageous. When courage is needed some people can step up when no one else will, that is courage. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the main characters Atticus Finch shows great courage to his children and his town when he does the stuff no one else can or will do.

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Though people are fond of Atticus himself, his decision to aim for Tom Robinson’s justice causes discomfort, “ ‘Lemme tell you somethin’ now, Billy’ a third said, ‘you know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.’ ‘Yeah, but Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it” (186). The quote exposes that everyone understand the fact that he is assigned to the case but do not understand as to why he is so intent on proving a black man’s innocence. Since Atticus exceedingly expresses his thought on Tim’s innocence and involves so much of himself in the case with a black person, he obtains negative feedback and gets called a nigger-lover.

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194 Words | 1 Pages

In To Kill A Mockingbird novel, Scout learns what does courage mean. When Atticus signs to speak for Tom Robinson, both Scout and Jem acted peacefully with racial invectives and offensive slurs by the townspeople. As mentioned before, Atticus teaches Scout that doing the right thing does not always mean going along with everyone else. Furthermore, Atticus tries to teach Scout how important it is to look at things from the other person's perspective . As the novel starts to end , Scout is able put herself in Boo Radley's shoes, the person she is scared of the most throughout the novel.

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708 Words | 3 Pages

Atticus knows that “there’s been some high talk around town to the effect that [he] shouldn’t do much about defending [Tom Robinson]” (100). However, even though his family and friends my disagree, may even think less of him, Atticus’ interaction with this case gives his cause to think greater of himself because he is fighting for what he believes in. This kind of situation is difficult when you’re opposing you’re enemies, but even harder when you are up against your friends. Even so, Atticus on the path he knows is right, risking his popularity and status among the town. Atticus tells Scout, “you just hold your head high and keep your fists down.

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669 Words | 3 Pages

“Who beat you up? Tom Robinson or your father. No answer. ’’(251) Even though Atticus knew right when he accepted the case he knew it was going to be trouble but he didn’t want it to be an unfair trial.

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429 Words | 2 Pages

Atticus was a great man. He was kind, caring, respectful, well thought of, level headed, and anything and everything that a good lawyer and father should be. He is one too just wants what 's right, which is why he did his best to defend Tom, when the case shouldn 't have been given to him but a low man who just finished the bar Judge taylor gave him the case because he knew he would give it his all to bring out the truth. He also sees everyone as equals and does not believe that the whites are any better than the blacks. Attics makes points toward the jury that in any other place or time would have been ruled in Toms being not guilty but because of the segregation in the deep south of maycomb the jury had their mind made up before tom even

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1449 Words | 6 Pages

He is a kind man that doesn’t believe in using violence and believes that everyone should be treated equally. That is another reason why he chose to defend Tom Robinson. Atticus thought that Tom deserved a fair trial, and even though he knew that they probably weren’t going to win the case, he wanted to try for the sake of Tom and his family. “‘If you shouldn’t be defendin’ him, then why are you doin’ it?’ ‘For a number of reasons,’ said Atticus.

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822 Words | 4 Pages

In addition, Atticus went against his moral code and principles he had always upheld before, especially in the Tom Robinson trial. Now, Atticus is faced with the decision of abiding by the law or breaking it in order to do the right thing. He knew that incarcerating a man, as withdrawn and solitary as Arthur would have been unforgivable. Especially, after Arthur had performed a great deed by saving his children 's life. He knew that exposing him would be an awful way of repaying him; it would have been like "shooting a mockingbird."

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