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Courage

What we learn?

This story tries to teach us the true meaning of courage. A person who has courage is not one who necessarily fights battles against other people but more who fights the battle within themselves and has the courage to fight battles that are almost impossible to win. Courage is also learning and accepting things that aren't right but having the want to change them.

·        Atticus is trying an impossible case

Atticus doing everything in his ability to defend Tom Robinson even though he knows what it will mean for his family and he knows he cannot win.

·        Eg. Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose – wants to beat her morphine addiction before she dies so she is “beholden to nothing and nobody”. She wants to be free of the negative hold over her

·        Eg. After he has told Scout that he is going to defend Tom Robinson, he tells Scout to start fighting with her mind instead of her fists.

“Try fighting with your head for a change”

Atticus tries to teach Jem by telling him -

“ I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.  It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you do it anyway and you see it through not matter what.  You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” – This could refer to Atticus just as much as Mrs Dubose.

As the novel moves on we see that courage is in the hearts of men and women.

Atticus also has courage. He is trying an impossible case but he knows that he must do it because if he does not then he will not be able to hold his head high in Maycomb or tell his children to obey him again.

1.  When he sits outside of the prison to keep watch over Tom Robinson, this shows incredible courage. He was essentially putting his life in jeopardy. He knew this but his want for fairness and equality led him to sit outside the jailhouse that night.

2.  Atticus has courage to stand up and put himself on 'trial' for airing his beliefs. The community doesn't agree with him, in fact they criticise him for it but he believes that the truth needs to be known.

3. Atticus exposes Bob Ewell as a violent, abusive, negligent father. This took courage knowing what Bob Ewell is like. This comes back to haunt Atticus.

Boo Radley shows great courage fighting for the children in the schoolyard and killing Bob Ewell. Not only could he have been killed but in a way it meant that he had to make himself known to people, which he had not done before. If Heck tate had not decided to keep Boo's actions secret then Boo risked becoming a 'celebrity' in the town and that would have been too much for Boo.

As the novel moves on we see that courage is in the hearts of men and women. At the end of the novel we hope that 'courage' will allow something in society to change. If people had the courage to have their own views then maybe the racial prejudice would not be so much of an issue.

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