Why Does Lee Show Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

“How does Lee demonstrate the theme of courage in To kill a mockingbird?”

Harper Lee makes the theme of courage clear and strong in the book “To kill a mockingbird”. Throughout the story there are many demonstrations of courage. Some of these are firstly masked to later be uncovered and at first they may not seem obvious. Some moments of the courage portrayed aren’t physical courage but rather mental and psychological. The story is narrated to us by Scout who is growing up in a small town known as “Maycomb” which is situated in the Southern part of The United States. At the time the novel takes place, racism and segregation was very common in the south and Harper Lee makes this very clear as Maycomb is a stereotypical early twentieth century,
southern town.
As Jem and Scout grow up in the Maycomb community, they begin to learn and understand people’s views in the community and how they contradict their father Atticus’s views. The largest part of the courage is presented in Atticus as he is fighting a lost battle. Characters that appear later also present courage such as Boo Radley and Mrs. Dubose. Jem demonstrated acts of courage in many ways throughout the novel. A good example would be when Dill made a bet with Jem for him to touch the Radley house. Jem showed courage here as he took on the bet although he was frightened but decided to go along with it to show that he was courageous. Later in chapter 6, Jem (accompanied by Dill) got close enough to the Radley house to actually look inside the window. This shows courage as Jem and Dill know that theres a chance of getting caught. (Which they did). Later in the same chapter Jem Returned to the Radley Place to get back his pants which is yet another act of courage. This was fuelled by the possible disappointment of Atticus once Jem would have had to explain to him what happened. To not disappoint and face up to Atticus, Jem had no choice but to return to the Radley house being fully aware of the dangers once again. Five
chapters later Jem performs yet another act of courage. Jem had enough on Mrs. Dubose’s negative commenting on Atticus, so he decided to damage her garden/yard. At this time he was fully aware of the consequences and the rumours that Mrs. Dubose had a weapon in her possession. Regardless of these things Jem carried out his actions anyway. His actions define Atticus’s view on what courage is. “It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”. Scout and Jem decided to dis-obey Atticus’s orders and went to the Jailhouse when Atticus had intentions of protecting Tom Robinson. Not fully aware of the events they decided to be courageous and go to jailhouse as they might of had a hint that their father was in danger.

Harper Lee portrays the more powerful courage in the adults or the older characters. Atticus was is the core of courage in the novel. He faces the whole of the Maycomb community and sees past them to do what he thinks is morally right. The whole town is against Atticus for choosing to defend a black man who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell. The racism here is laid out clearly as Maycomb has already made a judgement despite the evidence. Atticus demonstrates courage here as he knows that it’s a lost battle and he is the handicap. Despite all of these things, he just ignores all comments and the disapproving of the people and carries on. Atticus shows that he is courageous in more parts of the story. For example, in chapter 10 Atticus decided to face the dog. Although Atticus didn’t define that as being courageous, Jem and Scout did as they were impressed by his actions. Another example would be when Atticus uses Mrs. Dubose as an example Jem of what true courage is. He uses another of his famous quotes: “Courage isn't a man with a gun, but someone who fights for what's right whether he or she wins or not”. As mentioned before, Atticus went to the jailhouse to try and protect Tom Robinson from the angry mob that wanted to harm him.He was expecting the worse to happen to him but he stuck to his plans. (Untill his children showed up which meant he couldnt do what he wanted to). In chapter 26, Atticus refused to fight or arm himself against Bob Ewell as he thought that once he had shamed Atticus in public, that he would be satisfied and wouldnt have the need to fight Atticus privately.This is yet another show of courage by Atticus as he managed he keep his temper and remained from confronting Bob Ewell by force.
Harper Lee portrays a different kind of courage in Mrs. Dubose than the rest.This courage is about self control. Mrs. Dubose is ill and she is addicted to morphine. Mrs. Dubose wanted to have an adiction free death and for this she needed to be strong and have courage to not fall into the addictonce more. She didnt want to reliant on something before she died. Shes knows the consequences of not being exposed to morphine and she knows that it wil be painful both physically and mentally and she suffers from withdrawrel sypthoms, yet she goes along with it. That is a strong presentation of courage. As mentioned before, Atticus uses Mrs. Dubose as an example to Jem even after all the bad-mouthing of her. “She finishes her goal before she dies, although she dies almost right after she becomes free. It takes a great amount of self-confidence to be able to recognize that one has a flaw and even more to do something about it”.
Boo Radley was scared to come out of his house because he was scared of other peoples opinions of him. Despite that, he had did come out of his house. He progressed his courage by saving Scout’s life and remains there although he is still scared. Although he is scared and frightened of others in society, he manages to gather up courage when it matters most. “His lips parted into a timid smile, and our neighbor's image blurred with my sudden tears”
To summarise and conclude this essay i will answer the original question. Harper Lee Portrays courage in “To kill a mockingbird” in many forms. She uses Atticus to present moral courage, the children for a sort off unconscious courage and bravery and Mrs.Dubose is used for courage over the human mind or ones self. All of them involve conquering fear and Harper Lee used most of the characters to express courage in different ways.