To Kill A Mockingbird Quotes To Show Courage

Napoleon Bonaparte, a former emperor, once said, “Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength.” Similarly, courage is a central theme shown through the characters in the historical fiction novel To Kill A Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee. The novel tells a story about a young girl, Scout, living in the 1930s, in Maycomb, Alabama. She tells the story of how her father, Atticus Finch, defends a wrongly accused black man, Tom Robinson. Atticus is courageous for defending his client during the Jim Crow South. Tom Robinson also is courageous throughout the trial. It takes courage to share the truth with a room full of people doubting its honesty. Tom takes courage in his hands and speaks up about

He has to face the challenge of changing the racist mindset of the jury to rule in favor of his wrongly accused client, of raping a white woman. During Atticus’s closing statement, he defends his client and how the jury was unfair during his trial. His speech includes, “I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and in the jury system—that is no ideal to me, it is a living, working reality. Gentlemen, a court is no better than each man of you sitting before me on this jury. A court is only as sound as its jury, and a jury is only as sound as the men who make it up” (234) Even though he knows the verdict won’t be in his favor he continues to defend his client who was wrongly accused. He stands up for the fact that he didn’t receive a fair trial. He knows the jury was racist and won’t believe Tom. Atticus persists to push through despite that it won’t end fairly. Not only did the town decide how they view Tom they also changed how they view his lawyer. A group of drunk men gathered outside the jail where Tom was held. Atticus sat in a chair outside the jail knowing what would happen. The men speak to him, “He in there, Mr. Finch?” a man said. “He is,” we heard Atticus answer, “and he’s asleep. Don’t wake him up.” . . . “You know what we want,” another man said. “Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch.” (Lee 172-173) Atticus shows courage when defending a man that he knows may not

Dubose displays bravery and courage when she is determined to die free of her addiction to morphine. When Scout and Jem are at Mrs. Dubose’s house, Scout observes, “From time to time she would open her mouth wide, and I could see her tongue undulate faintly. Cords of saliva would collect on her lips; she would draw them in, then open her mouth again. Her mouth seemed to have a private existence of its own. It worked separate and apart from the rest of her, out and in, like a clam hole at low tide” (123). Her physical description indicates her addiction and how she is suffering. Easing herself of the drug clearly is difficult because of how she is when taking it. Mrs. Dubose didn’t need to take herself off of the drug, she made a promise to die free of Morphine. Due to her description, it takes courage to remove herself from an overpowering drug that has her on hold. Mrs. Dubose was sick for a long time and was taking medication. Throughout her sickness, she became addicted to Morphine. Each time Jem read to her she put the timer between taking her medication longer to slowly ease her off the drug. Once she passes away, Atticus explains to his son, “Jem, when you’re sick as she was, it’s all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn’t all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that’s what she did” (Lee 127). Mrs. Dubose kept her promise to herself to die free from her addiction.