How Does Lee Present Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

Twenty burly men stealthily encroached upon a man. Soon, the outnumbered man was surrounded and encircled by these men, and due to his courage and bravery, he battled every single one of his assailants and knocked them out. In our complex and technology-based world today, the above scenario depicts our typical understanding of courage, a word we all know are familiar with. But, what is the more unfathomable meaning of courage? Is it just simply a man with a gun…? In To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel describing a Southern town of Maycomb, Harper Lee, the author, illustrates a picturesque image of courage, through numerous characters, their dialogue, and, of course, their actions, much different to our very superficial glimpse and understanding of courage. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee exemplifies courage through the character of Atticus, the father of Scout and Jem and the defense attorney in the Ewell vs. Robinson case. The first instance courage is displayed occurs when Atticus faces a mad dog named Tim Johnson. As seen in the instance, both Mr. Heck Tate, the sheriff of Maycomb

Now, although he may be better remembered as the leader of the lynch mob who wanted to kill Tom Robinson, we see a truly remarkable side to him as well when he serves on the jury for the Ewell vs. Robinson case. Atticus describes it as the following: “You might like to know that there was one fellow who took considerable wearing down - in the beginning he [Mr. Cunningham] was rarin’ for outright acquittal.” [Page 222] As this quote models, Mr. Cunningham stepped up and really made the jury rethink. Although the “inevitable” [Page 222] verdict was still guilty, the fact that the jury took several hours to reach a consensus proves that Mr. Cunningham played a crucial role in at least trying to get other white males to favor a black man, something in Southern society that would be