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How Is Courage Shown In To Kill A Mockingbird

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John Wayne said that courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. This is true, and it is evident that many characters in To Kill a Mockingbird follow this. To Kill a Mockingbird, a realistic fiction novel by Harper Lee, tells a story from the perspective of a six-year-old Scout about the conflict between a black man who is falsely convicted of rape and a very racist and prejudiced town in the 1930s. Atticus Finch is chosen to prove that Tom Robinson, the falsely convicted man, is not guilty. Atticus teaches his children, Jem and Scout, to not be prejudiced, and the children face backlash from their classmates and, for Scout, their cousin because of their father standing up for a black man. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem shows courage when he disobeys Atticus and stands up for him at the jail when he …show more content…

Jem’s bravery is shown when, shortly after the fight, he rolls up against Scout and attempts to carry her to the end of the road despite his possible injuries from fighting with Ewell (Lee 300-301). The reader can infer that this act is an example of Jem reflecting bravery because Jem is aware of his current situation and that he is in danger, and even knowing this, he still chose to try to get Scout away from Bob Ewell because of his brotherly instincts to protect his sister. Even though Jem’s Courage is displayed multiple times throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, another side of Jem is shown. In chapter 22 after the events of the Tom Robinson trial, Jem shows his empathetic side. During the trial, Jem is confident that Atticus would win the case because of all of the contradictions in Mayella’s testimony and because he thought that the people of Maycomb County were above prejudice. After the trial is over, he learns that the jury voted him guilty. When he learns this, Jem gets very upset. His compassion is shown when the novel states that Jem’s face is covered with angry

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem, or Jeremy Atticus Finch, is Scout's brother, and throughout the story he changes and matures a lot through a series of stages. First, you have the event that caused this, the trial, then you have the influence that it put upon Jem ,and lastly, how he had overall changed from the experience. After Tom's Trial, when Tom is deemed guilty and goes to jail, Jem is mad because he feels it's unfair. Jem realizes that his outlook on law was rather naive and that there's much more to it, and that his ways of thinking were childish as shown when he is speaking to Atticus, “How could they do it, how could they?’’

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When Dill dares Jem to touch the Radleys door he does it. The Radleys are creepy people so to go and touch there door was brave. Also, another time Jem was brave was when he beat Mrs. Dubose flowers with a baton. As a punishment he had to read to her. Hes brave to go read to a person that he ruined her flowers and she's also addicted to morphine.

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Throughout the story, Jem (taken from the word gem meaning a cherished and prized person) is used by Harper Lee as a representation of courage. In the beginning, Jem’s first act of courage occurs when Jem accepts Dill’s provocation to go and touch the Radley house. In the story, Scout says, “In all his life, Jem has never declined a dare” (Lee 16). This quote shows how Jem would never demur any sort of challenge, even if it involved stupid or childish acts like going to a forbidden place. Scout also shows how Jem even accepted a dare from her to jump off the roof of the house as a kid.

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When he was ten years old, bravery to him was touching the side of Boo Radley’s house. As the story advances, many people teach Jem what bravery really is. As an example being, when Atticus shot the rabid dog, and Scout confronting the lynching mob at the

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The First World War brought across many pros and cons. It created the increased use of technology due to countries competing with each other. One of the large negative side effects from WW1 would be that it quickly put civilians directly in the crosshairs for the very first time. The German invention of the Zeppelins; these large mammoths of the sky, Britain was extremely ill-prepared for these attacks, not expecting this at all causing their guard to be off and they weren’t able to counterattack these Zeppelins. The campaign to raid England with these Zeppelins started in January of 1915.

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Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout 's perception of courage drastically changes their behavior as they mature. They learn a lot about courage throughout the novel from their father Atticus and what they learn from him influences their choices and opinions. Although Jem is older than Scout, they both experience change in their behavior. At the beginning of the novel, Jem is still a young boy. He is defiant towards Atticus, he plays all the usual childhood games with Scout and Dill, and he engages in the younger children’s obsession with Boo Radley.

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Atticus is showing Jem how to be courageous by basically being the definition of courage, which is doing something that frightens one. This is a very severely scary circumstance because they are threatening Atticus and Tom’s life. But, Atticus remains courageous anyway. Moreover, Jem and Scout were at a school event and they started walking home in the dark by themselves. They heard something around them but did not know what or where it was so they kept going home.

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Up until this trial, Scout and Jem have only partially understood what true courage is. They have not fully understood it until their father Atticus takes on a trial to defend a black man. Atticus tells Scout why he takes on the trial when he explains, “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. You might hear some ugly talk about it at school, but do one thing for me if you will: you just hold your head high and keep those fists down” (Lee 86-87).

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Throughout the novel, Jem shows courageous behaviours and the courage definition changes over time, as Jem ages from 10 to 13 throughout the novel . At the beginning of the novel, Jem was 10 years old only , and his idea of courage is as simple as touching the side of the Radley house, and then only because "In all his life, Jem had never said no to a dare.”(pg.14). But as the story progresses, Jem learns more about courage and bravery from Atticus facing a mad dog (a literal scene of a dog with rabies that has to be put down) ,also from Mrs. Dubose's fight with addiction and her willingness to face her illness head-on although she knows that it's going to take her life. One of the most courageous act for Jem is when the mob confronts Atticus

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592 Words | 3 Pages

“Its when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”(149). Atticus also defends Tom Robinson in the trial even though he knows the outcome which leads to Jem further understanding what Atticus said about true courage. “It ain't right Atticus, said Jem. No son, its not right.” Over all, it is clear that Atticus makes a huge impact on Jem's life by teaching him courage through a series of different events.

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822 Words | 4 Pages

Jem, a young and smart boy develops and matures through many unique situations in the novel. Jem is exposed to the harsh belief, judgement and circumstances of the court at a very young age. Following his father, Jem involves himself in the trial between Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell yet takes Tom’s side due to his father's involvement. Jem slowly loses faith in the justice system and is faced with a loss of innocence as explained by Scout“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd.

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949 Words | 4 Pages

“I want you to understand that courage isn’t a man with a gun in his hand,” (Lee 112). This is a quote spoken from a courageous man who put himself in other people’s positions and did not believe he was superior to African Americans like many in that time period. Atticus Finch is a lawyer, and also the father of Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The finches live in a small town called Maycomb during 1933, also known as the Great Depression era. Throughout the book, the town faces many racial discrimination issues, especially when an African American man named Tom Robinson is falsely accused of rape of a white female.

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1051 Words | 5 Pages

Harper Lee’s use of hyperbole in Jem’s reaction leads Scout to believe that Atticus’s actions are very admirable and made her want to brag about it at school. Having received daily influences like that, not only Scout, but Jem has been hugely influenced by what people in Maycomb believe is courageous. Ideas spread easily and eventually got to Scout seeing “Jem, with his chest heaving and a look of sheer relief flooded over his face,

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1317 Words | 6 Pages

Harper Lee wants to tell us that it takes courage NOT to kill a mockingbird Courage and the symbol of the mockingbird are two of the most important, or in fact in my opinion the most important themes, which are addressed and displayed in the highly praised, but also controversial novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee. I will try to interpret these two motives and show how they are strongly connected to each other. There are many different types of courage and many people who all show it in their own personal way. If people talk about bravery and courage, they mostly think of the physical kind of courage. But there are also other kinds, which are often forgotten or cast aside by their big brother: moral and emotional courage.

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Jem knows that this action is putting his life in danger, but he chooses to defend his father in this huge courageous act. Through Jems actions, and an enormous amount of courage is

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