To Kill A Mockingbird: Courage Essay, Research Paper

To Kill A Mockingbird: Courage

In the novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, we were presented with several

displays of courage. Some of the courage in the novel were displays of physical

courage. However, physical courage was not the only type displayed, we also saw

examples of moral courage.

I saw several examples of physical courage in this excellent novel. One

example of courage however insignificant to me or you is Jem’s courage to run up

to the Radley’s house, now to me or you that is nothing but to a young child

that has grown up not knowing this person it was a physical challenge to

overcome. Also another display of courage was the courage shown by the men in

the Finch neighborhood when Miss Maudie’s house caught fire, they cared not that

they might get hurt when they ran into her house to retrieve her belongings.

Another example of physical courage was that of Atticus standing up against a

mob. The last example of courage was Arthur Radley fighting Bob Ewell and

saving the children.

In the novel we saw several example of moral courage. In my opinion

this is the best type of courage because it shows the character of person. The

first display of this courage was Mr. Cunnigham’s constant payment of his debt

to Atticus; he had the courage to take something into this neighborhood. The

next display of moral courage was when Jem despite his misgivings constantly

went to Ms. Dubose’s house and read to her. The next display of moral courage

was Atticus’s decision to defend Tom Robinson in court and instead of just

walking in and walking out he tried his best to help him get out. There was

also Heck Tate’s moral courage at the end of the book, his courage to keep

Arthur Radley from being a spectacle.

In short this book has many different displays of immense courage both

in the physical sense and in the moral sense. I also feel that had it not been

for these shows of courage this book would not have won the Pulitzer Prize it

did win.