Theme Of Atticus Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

Throughout the book, readers are shown Atticus’ high morals and values and the events in chapter 15 only explore that further. In this chapter, Atticus chooses to put himself in harm’s way in order to do what is right, hence displaying moral courage. After the fellow townsfolk warn him of a lynch mob, the lawyer takes it upon himself to protect his client – Tom Robinson – from the racist mob. He goes out of his way to travel to the town late at night and unarmed, leaving himself very vulnerable. He is a lawyer by profession, not an officer. It is, in theory, not his job at all to protect Tom Robinson outside of the court. However, his belief in justice is so strong that he is willing to face dangers if that means Tom Robinson will get a fair trial.
Though he wants to protect Tom, we get the sense that he does not want to do it in a rash, violent way – that is why he chooses not to take aid of a weapon, despite the fact that lynch mobs are made of dangerous and hostile people who just want to achieve their goal. As Scout later notices, “there was a smell of stale whiskey” (203), referring to the mob being drunk and therefore, even more likely to act on impulses and make irrational decisions. However, Atticus sticks with his decision to stand up for a man who cannot protect himself and he does not back down, even when his children get