How Is Courage Shown In To Kill A Mockingbird

The famous words of Martin Luther King still echo into our society today, "I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls". The basic lesson that Martin was trying to teach is the same that the author Harper Lee is trying to get across in To Kill a Mockingbird, that all men and women of every skin color are equal. Harper Lee shows this by depicting a white family that lives in a white town in the early 1930s in southern Alabama. Atticus, the father, is defending an African American man named Tom Robinson. He is accused of raping a white woman, and the town is against Tom because of racism, even though there is no evidence against him. Because Tom is African American, Atticus and his family are tormented by the town. Even through all the racism in To Kill a Mockingbird, un-prejudice acts of courage are shown throughout the book. Like how Martin Luther King peacefully started the movement to end segregation, characters Walter Cunningham, who

and Atticus are examples of courage in To Kill a Mockingbird, demonstrated by their benevolent acts of kindness and equality, and how they didn’t let what the status quo at the time dictate their opinions. In the beginning, Walter Cunningham did conform to racist beliefs of the town and ignored the evidence that proved Tom's innocence, but he realizes he is wrong, and preaches that Tom be acquitted while he sits on the jury. Atticus is one of the people to sway Walter Cunningham to believe in equality. Atticus convinces him, and other people, to believe in the evidence that all proved Tom's innocence, and through him and Walter a small racist town begins to change little by little. The movement of equality has been going on since before the civil war in the 1860s, today, people would like to say we are equal, but with court cases like Trayvon Martin attracting so much controversy, it shows that society still has a long way to