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How Does Courage Influence Decision Making In To Kill A Mockingbird

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How Courage Influences Decision-Making Merriam-Webster defines courage as “the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” Many people use courage to follow their moral values to help them make decisions that follow his creeds. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee suggests that decision-making can be significantly altered by the courageous actions one makes. This is evidenced by Atticus Finch, Scout, and Mrs. Dubose. First, Atticus Finch has the courage to decide to defend Tom Robinson in court even though it goes against the norm. Atticus is appointed to take on Tom’s trial by Judge Taylor. Taylor informs him that he can say no. However, Atticus says he will do it. Because of Atticus’ decision, …show more content…

Dubose has the courage to fight her morphine addiction. When Mrs. Dubose was ill and the doctors made her take morphine to recover. That was until she gets addicted. Mrs. Dubose made a promise to leave nothing to nobody, especially her addiction. Atticus tells Scout and Jem this, “She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody” (Lee 111). Jem acts inappropriately toward Mrs. Dubose and destroys her camellia flowers. So she picks him to help her battle her morphine addiction. Although he ultimately did not know he was helping her for that reason until she dies. Jem let Scout tag along as he reads to Mrs. Dubose every day for two hours. Jem questions Mrs. Dubose if she’s okay, “[ – ] Jem said, ‘Mrs. Dubose, are you all right?’ (Lee 107). Mrs. Dubose ignores him to focus on overcoming her addiction. She finally defeats her morphine addiction before she dies peacefully. Atticus tells Jem and Scout what real courage means, “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. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but begin anyway and see it through no matter what” (Lee 112). Mrs. Dubose’s decision on beating her morphine addiction helps teach Jem and Scout what real courage is. Jem and Scout reflect on Mrs. Dubose’s actions and realize she had fought her morphine addiction with what was left of

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683 Words | 3 Pages

Dubose and her morphine addiction. Mrs. Dubose had been fighting a terrible disease for most of her life that caused her great pain. Morphine was the only way they knew to ease the pain, but morphine is highly addictive and Mrs. Dubose didn’t want to die an addict. For a while before her death she tried her absolute hardest to become addiction-free and she did free from her addiction, and died in pain. This is one of the smaller examples of courage in the book, but it still serves a very good lesson in courage.

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Throughout the novel, Atticus shows his intelligence through his own children. After Miss Dubose's passing Atticus shares with both Jem and Scout about her morphine addiction. He follows this with, “I wanted you to see something about her—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. It’s when you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway

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Dubose’s unseen patience in fighting morphine addiction and her astonishing strength in extending time between doses of morphine, Lee uses Mrs. Dubose’s true intentions to show things are not always as they seem as the theme of the novel. “‘Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict,’ said Atticus. ‘She took it as a pain-killer for years’” (Lee 147). Atticus explains to his children that Mrs. Dubose used to yell at them because she was fighting morphine addiction and needed some way to get her anger out.

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708 Words | 3 Pages

She said she meant to break herself from it before she died, and that’s what she did” (148). Mrs. Dubose pushed through the pain; she could have made it easy on herself, continued on the path she was on, and just let go, but she didn’t. Because she wanted her dignity – she wanted to like herself – she kept fighting all the way through when many would have given up long before. Atticus also told Jem and Scout, to explain the courage of Mrs. Dubose after her passing, that he “wanted [them] to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin

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Jem was stunned, but even more so when he received a parting gift from Mrs.Dubose. It was a camelia from her garden. His initial reaction was negative, but Scout later sees him holding it with care. Jem learned through this experience that showing regardless kindness to everyone is important because every person is fighting a battle of their

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That lead to Jem overcoming their fear of Boo and even become friends with him. Boo later begins to leave them little trinkets in a tree, returns Jem’s pants, and puts a blanket over Scout’s shoulders at the fire. Later in the story, Atticus holds up Mrs. Dubose as the ultimate definition of bravery, she shows us bravery throughout the book as she battles her addiction to morphine. As mentioned in the story, "Her head moved slowly from side to side. From time to time she would open her mouth wide, and I could see her tongue undulate faintly.

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991 Words | 4 Pages

Dubose shows courage by fighting her morphine addiction before her death. She knew that she did not have much longer to live and had beheld nothing but she still wanted to win one last battle. Mrs. Dubose had fits of rage about Atticus defending a black man, this causes Jem to rage and destroy her property. Atticus eventually found out and punished Jem and Scout by reading to her after school every day.

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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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Jem had the conception that courage was a “manly man”, a man that was tough and could fight. However, using Ms. Dubose as an example, she explained a new type of courage to Jem. Ms. Dubose knew that her struggle was close to impossible to win, as many people failed to break addictions, yet she still tried to fight it, and winning at the end. The courage to do so was considered, by Atticus, real courage. This was also demonstrated by Liu Xiaobo.

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Dubose was in the presence of mental courage. She stopped taking her pain killers because she did not want to die addicted. Later in the book, Scout asks Atticus why he is defending Tom Robinson and Atticus says, “Scout, simply by the nature of the work, every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess” (101). What one can learn from this quotation is that the theme of mental courage is present in Atticus as he takes on Tom Robinson’s case, by risking the opinions of others about him and if he will win or not.

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Dubose displays bravery and courage when she is determined to die free of her addiction to morphine. When Scout and Jem are at Mrs. Dubose’s house , Scout observes, “From time to time she would open her mouth wide, and I could see her tongue undulate faintly. Cords of saliva would collect on her lips; she would draw them in, then open her mouth again. Her mouth seemed to have a private existence of its own.

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809 Words | 4 Pages

In To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem was asking why Atticus thought Mrs. Dubose was a great lady, and he said, “I wanted you to see something about her--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. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (128). Atticus said this because Mrs. Dubose was not taking her pain pills, even though she was in a lot of pain, so even though she knew she had a small chance of winning, she continued. Later in the novel, Atticus took the case to defend Tom Robinson, and even though he knew he would not win because the jury was racist, he still tried his best. Additionally, the poem, “If”, writes, “If you can make one heap of all you winnings/

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647 Words | 3 Pages

In chapter eleven, page 148, ¨She said she was going to leave this world beholding to nothing and nobody... she said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that is what she did.¨ Mrs. Dubose is elderly, ill, and addicted to morphine, however, she still has courage both mentally and physically. She uses these traits to leave the Earth on her terms, and stop her addiction, in order to die happily. On page 149 Atticus says, ¨... She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe...

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1317 Words | 6 Pages

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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893 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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