Essay about To Kill a Mockingbird

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To Kill a Mockingbird

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear”- Mark Twain. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird a southern drama novel by Harper Lee, Scout the main character lives in Maycomb Alabama with her brother Jem and father Atticus, with a main conflict of Scout’s father,Atticus, having to defend a black man in court during a time period filled with racism. People in Maycomb, Alabama fall on hard times during the story and many people with courage arise. All of those who arose showed their courage in order to protect what they love, whether it’s Maycomb itself or their own family. Throughout the dark times in Maycomb, courage is shown by the youth, adults, and even the elders of the town.
In the story of To Kill a Mockingbird the youth of Maycomb have shown exceptional courage throughout the book to defend what they know and love. Scout for example defends Atticus on the night he goes to defend Tom Robinson from the people of Maycomb. By defending Atticus from an angry mob of large adults, Scout shows tremendous courage. She shows that she has enough courage to put herself in danger to protect who she loves. Even Atticus acknowledges her courage when he says “So it took an eight-year-old child to bring 'em to their senses.... That proves something - that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they're still human. Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children... you children last night made Walter Cunningham stand in my shoes for a minute. That was enough.”(Lee 210) Jem, Scouts brother, also shows vast amounts of courage throughout the book by defending Scout from danger. In the book, Scout, after a play walks home with Jem, and Scout gets attacked by Bob Ewell. Jem shows that he has courage by trying to defend Scout and so he tries to tackle Bob Ewell, which shows thats Jem has enough courage to risk his own life for who he loves. Finally Jem shows he has a massive amount of generosity and discipline by reading to Mrs. Dubose. By reading to Mrs. Dubose, a person Jem fears and despises with a passion, he shows courage. Jem also shows courage in a way he doesn’t understand until Mrs. Dubose died, and that is that he is acting as relief for Mrs. Dubose as she battles morphine addiction. In To Kill a Mockingbird as you can see the youth of Maycomb are really courageous and they defend what they love. Along with the youth of Maycomb the adults have also shown impressive courage. For example when Mrs. Maudie’s house burns down she should be completely devastated. However Miss Maudie does not act as if she is devastated. Instead with courage she pulls through and acts as if everything will be ok. Her courage allows her to see the brightest side of a dark situation. After the fire she even says “Soon as I get my hands clean and when Stephanie Crawford's not looking, I'll make him a Lane cake. That Stephanie’s been after my recipe for thirty years, and if she thinks I’ll give it to her just because I’m staying with her she has another thing coming.” (Lee 98) Calpurnia also shows how courageous she is by bringing Jem and Scout to her all black church. She shows courage by doing this because in Maycomb the black and white people separate and usually discriminate and exclude themselves from each other. Finally Atticus, possibly one the most courageous adults in Maycomb shows his courage by defending Mr. Robinson. Mr. Robinson is black and defending a black man in Maycomb is not tolerated. However Atticus stands up for what he believes in. Atticus also does not give up as he told Jem not to as Jem was to reading to Mrs. Dubose. When she died, Atticus explained to Jem about her morphine addiction, he told Jem “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting an 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 begin anyway and see it through.”(Lee 149) . It's apparent that in
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