Courage in it’s purest form is defined by one’s actions and intentions. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is full of innocence and bravery, displayed by characters throughout the story. Over the course of the story, the readers see development in the characters. Each character develops in their own way but it essentially becomes that each character understands more about the controversial issues in this book. Scout eventually becomes more aware of the constant racism and misogyny in Maycomb County, while Jem became closer with his sister and also became for socially aware of the segregation and constant racism towards colored people and the colored community. Scout displays courage by being able to control her impulses and walk away from a fight, and risk her reputation. For her, this is a difficult task, as she is shown to be much more comfortable confronting her issues with physical fighting than walking away. Throughout the story, Scout is asked to hold her tongue and not pick fights with anyone on multiple occasions. This is considered courageous to her because she says it takes effort not to defend her father. Scout lets someone call her a coward, because she “would not let Atticus down,” (Lee 102) She also says that it is the first time she has ever walked away …show more content…
In many cases, the readers see Jem becoming protective of whoever he is with, whether it be Scout of Dill or even Atticus at some points. The little things such as putting himself in front of Scout while they’re walking home, or telling her he’s not scared so she wouldn’t be, shows that protecting others his priority. He tells Scout to run but doesn’t run away himself. This shows how he values her safety over his own. Jem ended up getting hurt trying to get Bob Ewell away from his sister, attacking an unknown grown man to save his sibling, knowing he was likely to get hurt in the