To Kill A Mockingbird Quotes That Show Courage

Maycomb, Alabama is a motionless community where life is still, those who were there, lived there for generations, rarely did anyone move into or out of this paralyzed town. The town follows the 1930s stereotypical lifestyle where racial discrimination is clearly visible, as proven in the Tom Robinson court case. In this quiet town, the only thing that seems out of the ordinary is the Radley Place, from the outside, the house appeared almost vacant with rarely any sound. The neighborhood children made horror stories about Boo Radley who never left his house, in fact, only Mr.Radley, Boo’s brother, occasionally came out of the deserted house. In To Kill a Mockingbird, various events happened that showed the courage of the community. Courage

For example, when Jem displaced his pants in a hurry to escape the Radley Place, he went back to retrieve it that night, as he did not want to disappoint Atticus. He said: “Atticus ain’t ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way”(Lee75), this shows Jem’s perseverance to perform actions that will benefit him in a positive aspect. Scout later explained: “Jem stayed moody and silent for a week. As Atticus had once advised me to do, I tried to climb into Jem’s skin and walk around in it: if I had gone alone to the Radley Place at two in the morning, my funeral would have been held the next afternoon” (Lee 77). This showed the children’s perception of the Radley Place, a horrifying haunted house. Since it already seemed terrifying in the day, for Jem to visit during the night, it showed his courage, as many children in the neighborhood would not commit such and act. Another form of courage shown by Jem is when he and Scout took items from the Radley’s tree, as explained by Harper Lee: “From then on, we considered everything we found in the knot-hole our property” (Lee 79). This reveals Jem’s courage as he proceeds to the Radley Place when other children would not dare to go near the house, and accepted the items that Boo gave them as a gift. Lastly, the most courageous act Jem has done in To Kill a Mockingbird must be saving Scout from the

This act acknowledged Scout’s courage, as the next day when Cecil Jacobs taunted Scout’s father for defending and African American, she followed her father’s advice and walked off without a fight. Another example of courage is during the trial when Scout explained: “We acquire no traumas from watching our father win or lose” (Lee 229), while other lawyer’s children “Get the wrong idea, they think opposing counsel to be the personal enemies of their parents” (Lee 229). It takes extreme courage for Scout to not take the opposing counsel to an offense and understand that her father’s fight for equality was correct despite contradiction from others. To Scout, courage means to do the correct thing, although it may be difficult during certain situations. For instance, after Boo Radley saved Jem and brought him home, he asked Scout: “Will you take me home” (Lee 372), although Scout did not want to she still brought Boo to his destination. This proved Scout’s courage as she did the right thing despite the rumors that she had heard about the Radley Place and the bad experience that she had when she was younger.