To Kill A Mockingbird Courage Essay Example

đź“ŚCategory: Books, To Kill a Mockingbird
đź“ŚWords: 762
đź“ŚPages: 3
đź“ŚPublished: 02 April 2022

In the beginning of the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem, one of the main characters, thinks that being manly and showing courage had everything to do with being tough. Later on he learns the valuable lesson of  what courage really is by the model his dad sets. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee gives the perfect example of what real courage is. Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, takes place in a small racist town. With Jem as one of the main characters, who lives with his dad and young sister. Jem’s dad, Atticus, is elected to a case about a black man who was accused of rape. Atticus knows that he won’t win, but he can use this case as an example of what courage is. Jem is taught a valuable lesson of what bravery is and uses this to be a better person. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee depicts a perfect example of a son who is shown true courage and uses it to stand up for what is right even when it seems impossible. 

Throughout most of the story Jem micro-aggressively bullies his sister. He uses his masculinity to attack her and have her do things that she doesn't want to do. “Next morning when I awakened I found Jem and Dill in the backyard deep in  conversation. When I joined them, as usual they said go away. ‘Will not. This yard’s as much mine as it is yours, Jem Finch. I got just as much  right to play in it as you have.’” (46)  Jem was growing up and he was trying to leave his sister behind. He always used to play with her; but now he didn’t want her bugging around in his affairs. Scout was annoyed by the fact that Jem was trying to make her leave. Not only did Jem hate her presence but when she did finally get to play with him, he would try to boss her around; and tell her to start acting like a girl. “Jem was twelve. He was difficult to live with, inconsistent, moody… He told me so many times to stop pestering him…This change had come about in a matter of weeks… Overnight it seemed Jem had acquired an alien set of values and was trying to impose them on me: several times he went so far as to tell me what to do. After one altercation when Jem hollered ‘It’s time you started bein’ a girl and acting right’ I burst into tears and fled to Calpurnia.” Jem told Scout to start acting like a girl because he didn’t want her around, and he had created his own values that had nothing to do with Scout. Jem’s masculinity had started to take over his principles, and the way he viewed his sister had changed. As the story progresses Jem’s patience and love for his sister fades away as his “manliness” and toxic masculine characteristics take over. 

Later in the book as Jem continues to develop as a young man, Atticus, his father, shows him what true courage is. Jem slowly becomes more and more toxic to his sister, and so his dad puts a stop to it. He shows Jem what a man should do, and how to act even when life gets tough. “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you even begin and you see it through no matter what.” (112) Atticus believed that true courage wasn’t when a man had the supplies to win a fight; but when you go into battle knowing you are going to lose and persevering through the trials. Atticus was faced with a court case that he knew he was going to lose. He used this example to show his children that even when you know you won’t win you go through the tough times. “Scout,” said Atticus, “when summer comes you’ll have to keep your head about far worse things…. it’s not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down.” (104) As the case involving Tom Robinson develops, Atticus realizes that his children will have to pay the price in school, church, and life in general for being related to Atticus. The racist town didn’t support the case, and the family in turn was ridiculed for this. Further and further into the story we see Jem is learning the lesson of what true courage is by the example that his father sets. 

The day before the trial for Tom Robinson, Jem shows that he has learned what courage is, and stands up for his father knowing that he isn’t doing much.

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