How Does Lee Present Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird

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In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents the idea of overcoming the boundaries of courage and innocence. Courage is one of the main themes in the novel. At first Scout saw and confused courage with strength. She thought that courage is the ability to use strength to get your way but in ‘’To Kill a Mockingbird’’ courage is actually about thinking about what’s right instead of depending on their gut reaction, Scout crosses the boundary when it says on page 102‘’I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away, “Scout’s a cow—ward!” ringing in my ears. It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight. Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and …show more content…
Another time is when Atticus shot the rabid dog ‘’With movements so swift they seemed simultaneous, Atticus’s hand yanked a balltipped lever as he brought the gun to his shoulder. The rifle cracked. Tim Johnson leaped, flopped over and crumpled on the sidewalk in a brown-and-white heap. He didn’t know what hit him’’(pg127). At first, Jem thought of Atticus as feeble and old man and that he couldn't do anything, they were ashamed of him but when they saw his courage when he shot the rabid dog(Tim johnson), they learned that Atticus was actually the deadest shot in Maycomb and he was humble about it and didn't take pride in his talent like what Miss Maudie had said “People in their right minds never take pride in their talents,”(pg130). Atticus never boasted about it and he doesn't use his talent of shooting unless he has