Jake Kazan

Mr. McConnell

English 9

December 1, 2017

Courage

The novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is told by a little girl who is growing

up in a racial, sexist, and financially broke time in a small county called Maycomb. Throughout

the first part of the novel there are many problems that are destroying their community. Although

there are many struggles, there are a few who have the courage to stick-up for what is right. They

show their courage differently through their age or even gender, but they are all for the better.

Throughout part one of the novel Scout, Jem, and Atticus show their courage in many ways.

Of course, Scout is the main character and the youngest, so she will show her courage

differently from the other characters. In many cases, she will show her courage through fighting

and arguing. For example, Scout punches her cousin for calling her father names (Lee 112). She

is also extremely smart for her age, so she can step up to say something that needs to be said.

One way she did this was when she was explaining to the teacher Walter Cunningham’s family

situation meaning that they will not take something they cannot pay back (Lee 26). She showed

courage there because she was the only one to say something about the issue (Lee 26). For as

young as she is she is very courageous and has a mature thought process, except for her urge to

fight.
 Like Scout, Jem is showing his courage differently because of his age. He is becoming, if not

already, a teenager and will do stupid things, but show courage in the process. For instance, he

went to run after his pants that are at the Radley place after being shot at already, all so he did

not get in trouble (Lee 77). Jem is slowly turning into a young adult and he is getting more

mature in his actions. As shown it the novel, he took responsibility for his actions and read to

Mrs. Dubose as punishment for his vandalism to her property (Lee 141). For him to own up to

his misbehavior and go to the person he resents the most and read to her takes a lot courage to

do.

Finally, Atticus is arguably the most courageous out of the whole novel for many reasons. For

starters, he is a very humble person and does not show off in his abilities or belongings. Atticus

was the only one to step out to shoot the “mad” dog when no one else would even go on the

street (Lee 127). He never took pride in his ability as the best marksman in Maycomb, but he had

to do what no one else would do. He is also the only one except for Miss. Maudie to think it is

the right thing to defend Tom Robinson, and Atticus is very patient about defending (Lee 100).

He thinks if he does not do this he will not doing it for the rest of his life (Lee 100). He does not

care what people say about him and what they think because he knows it is the right thing, and

that shows how courageous he is to not care what people will think.

These reasons show that throughout part one of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird Scout, Jem,

and Atticus show courage in many ways. Each show courage in their own way do to their own

situations. They do what they think is right, take responsibility, and stick-up for another person.