Courage means the ability to do something that frightens one. Everyone has had a tough time in thier live when they needed to have courage. Scout and Jem are in the middle of a rough time in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee where they live in Maycomb with their father, Atticus. Maycomb is a place that suffers from a lot of prejudice and racism. Jem changed throughout the story as he learned that it’s important to have courage especially when it gets hard. First, Jem learns about the basics of courage through the teachings of Atticus. Jem had just got done reading to Mrs. Dubose after he destroyed her flowers. Mrs. Dubose died about a month after and Atticus is explaining what the importance of him reading to her was. Atticus explained, …show more content…
Atticus had mysteriously escaped in the night so Scout and Jem went out and searched for him. They found him at the jail and they hid nearby and watched as a gang of men approached Atticus. Mr. Cunningham ordered, “You know what we want, get out of the way Mr. Finch” (Lee 202). Atticus is not letting up or moving from the door even though it is frightening. He is doing this because he knows it is not right to kill Tom Robinson just because he is black and he was accused of a crime. 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. Then they got attacked by someone. Luckily for them, another mysterious person saved them and brought them home to Atticus who called the doctor and the sheriff. Scout explained, “ Then all the sudden something grabbed me an’ mashed my costume… think I ducked on the ground… heard a tusslin’ under the tree sort of… they were bammin’ against the trunk sounded like. Jem found me and started pullin’ me towards the road. Mr. Ewell