Perception Of Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Children yearn to grow up faster to reach the level of maturity, to gain the same amount of freedom as their older peers and also, to gain respect from them. They do not realize how much they leave behind as a child when they start developing into a teenager, such as enthusiasm, dreams and expectations. When people grow up, they tend to change their excitement, ambitions and attitudes. As these things change, so do the perceptions of the world, especially as adults. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee utilizes various adolescent illusions to advise Scout the reality of adulthood. First and foremost, Scout’s perception of courage had been altered tremendously when she finally registered the accurate meaning of courage. …show more content…
It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” (Lee 149). At this time, Atticus is speaking to Jem and Scout about his youth. Earlier in the novel, the children had found out that their father was the ‘Sharpest Shot’ in Maycomb. Even so, Atticus did not want his kids to know about his past hobbies because of the fact he did not want them to have the perception that in order to have courage, they needed to prove it through violence. For example, if one had a gun, they would need to have the nerve to shoot it. What Atticus had wanted to reveal to Scout and Jem was that real courage was to stand up and fight for what one believes in, even if the outcome fails. He shows that he truly believes in this philosophy when Atticus had agreed to represent Tom Robinson in court, although the trial’s outcome was basically determined that Tom would be convicted as guilty at the start …show more content…
The folks in her hometown, especially Ms. Stephanie Crawford, had gossiped about Boo Radley. The rumors spread abound that Boo was a dangerous man who crept around the city of Maycomb and spied on the citizens.Additionally, Boo had not been spotted coming out of his home for a long period of time either. For this reason, it had become a goal for Scout, Jem and Dill to lure him out of his home. After several attempts, the children come to the conclusion that maybe Boo chooses the lifestyle he lives, and likes to stay inside the comfort of his own home. By the end of the novel, the readers of this novel and the children featured in the novel learn that Boo Radley truly is an innocent and kind hearted man. These characteristics slowly show and Scout realizes this when he puts the items in the tree showed in the excerpt, “Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we had taken out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad. (Lee 373). The part in the novel where his true characteristics shines through the most is when he saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell. Another Misconception in the novel is towards the African Americans. In the story, Scout was always surrounded by all whites, regardless of her maid Calpurnia, and
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