Courage
Courage is mental or moral strength to withstand danger, fear or difficulty. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird shows many examples about courage. Two very important characters Jem and Mrs. Dubose show courage throughout the novel.
The first character to show courage is Jem. His courage changes as he matures throughout the book form childish courage to being mature. In the beginning of the book, Scout says that Jem had “never declined a dare” in his entire life, which shows childish courage because it is not bravery it is accepting to do things without looking at the outcome. Later on Jems courage led him to do things such as run to the Radley’s place, touch the house and run back because he “wanted Dill to know once and for all that he wasn’t scared of anything”. Another incident when Jem shows courage is when he goes back to the Radley house after looking through the shutter to collect his pants that got caught on the fence and he kicked them off to free himself. As Jem grows matures throughout the story he starts to show acts of moral courage. An example of moral courage is when he destroyed Mrs. Dubose's camellias even though it was a well-known rumor that she was armed with a Confederate pistol at all times, but apologizes and agrees to read to her for his punishment.
Mrs. Dubose is a great model of courage because she has a problem and she wants to fix it. She is addicted to Morphine and makes a goal to “leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody”, this shows her determination to live and to achieve her goal of breaking her addiction. Atticus wanted Jem to read to her as a punishment but as well to “see what real courage really is”. When she dies Atticus tells the child that real courage “is not a man with gun in his hand. It is when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”. This quote applies to Mrs. Dubose because it shows how she had moral courage because it’s a mental choice.
The first character to show courage is Jem. His courage changes as he matures throughout the book form childish courage to being mature. In the beginning of the book, Scout says that Jem had “never declined a dare” in his entire life, which shows childish courage because it is not bravery it is accepting to do things without looking at the outcome. Later on Jems courage led him to do things such as run to the Radley’s place, touch the house and run back because he “wanted Dill to know once and for all that he wasn’t scared of anything”. Another incident when Jem shows courage is when he goes back to the Radley house after looking through the shutter to collect his pants that got caught on the fence and he kicked them off to free himself. As Jem grows matures throughout the story he starts to show acts of moral courage. An example of moral courage is when he destroyed Mrs. Dubose's camellias even though it was a well-known rumor that she was armed with a Confederate pistol at all times, but apologizes and agrees to read to her for his punishment.
Mrs. Dubose is a great model of courage because she has a problem and she wants to fix it. She is addicted to Morphine and makes a goal to “leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody”, this shows her determination to live and to achieve her goal of breaking her addiction. Atticus wanted Jem to read to her as a punishment but as well to “see what real courage really is”. When she dies Atticus tells the child that real courage “is not a man with gun in his hand. It is when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”. This quote applies to Mrs. Dubose because it shows how she had moral courage because it’s a mental choice.