Obstacles In To Kill A Mockingbird

Helen Keller once said that “the highest result of education is tolerance. Indeed,ignorant people are often intolerant of other people’s ways of life. However the intolerant can come to at least understand, and hopefully also accept, different ways of life that other may lead.” In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill Mockingbird the leading protagonist is a nine year old girl, Scout Finch. Although it comes early in Scout’s life,this is one lesson about understanding people;that helps transform her later in the novel,To Kill A Mockingbird. Throughout the book Harper Lee writes about Scout Finch,a young girl who is growing up in Maycomb,Alabama, in the 1930s. Over the course of several summers she,along with her brother Jem and friend Dill,face obstacles
Dubose. In the book Miss. Dubose reveals herself as a nasty old lady,but in reality she showed real signs of courage leading up to her death. When she died Atticus sits down and explains what happened to Miss. Dubose to Scout and Jem. “She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. I wanted to show you what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hands”( 148). Atticus reveals to both Scout and Jem that Miss. Dubose showed real courage because even though she was addicted to morphine she wanted to live the rest of her life clean. Miss. Dubose wanted to not let the addiction of morphine have a hold on her entire life;this showed Jem and Scout what the true meaning of courage is. In addition, Atticus is a living example of courage not only through his work with the Tom Robinson case,but also his reaction to Bob Ewell’s threats. During the trial Atticus had been encountered by Mr. Ewell and was harassed by him. When Mr. Ewell accosts Atticus in the street and spits on him Atticus simply responds,“ I wish Bob Ewell wouldn’t chew tobacco”(217) He again demonstrates to Scout that it is not proper to act in the same manner as Bob Ewell. He does something much more courageous by walking away from Bob’s threats. Though his understanding of which battles to fight and always doing the right thing no matter what it costs
Atticus played a huge role in showing Scout and Jem the true meaning of courage. A lot of times we see courage displayed in our everyday lives,but never fully understand it. Atticus gave them insight on how Miss. Dubose showed real courage. At first, Scout and Jem were given the sense that Miss. Dubose was a mean old lady, but their thoughts changed after seeing how at the end of her life she was courageous. Some people fight intolerance with weapons and others with violence; Harper Lee fought with intolerance by teaching the true understanding and courage-a most effective