Eleanor Roosevelt once said “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.” Whether it’s talking in front of the class, going on a rollercoaster or any other things that make you scared or uncomfortable doing takes courage to get through it.
By accomplishing things that you didn’t have the courage to do before helps you in the future when you have to face another fear because after you do something once the next time will get easier. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird is a perfect example of what it means to have true courage. The book takes place in Maycomb Alabama in the 1930s when segregation was still a big issue and when everyone was racist towards colored folks, well not really everyone there was that one family that treated colored folks the same they were the finches.
Tom Robinson A colored male was accused of raping a white woman and even though everyone told Atticus Finch to not go with the case and they gave him and his family crap for doing so. By taking the case Atticus showed true courage because it was a racist community and he was defending a black person and he put himself and his family in danger.
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The three attributes to have true courage are standing up to what is right, feeling fear yet choosing to act, and Persevering in the face of adversity. these are the main attributes of true courage because the definition of true courage: Is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery, the attributes combined make up the definition of true courage.
Standing up to do what is right is part of true courage because when you stand up to something that is right there will be people that disagree with you and will try to hurt you or do other things to you. In TKAM it said “you know what we want another man said get aside from the door Mr. Finch, You can turn around and get home again, Walter, Atticus said pleasantly.” (202) This is when Walter Cunningham and other men got to the jailhouse to get Tom Robinson so they can kill him but Atticus is there when they arrived and stands up to them by telling them to go home. He was doing the right thing by standing up and he showed true courage because he was outnumbered and things could have escalated to where he could have gotten hurt but he did it anyway.
Also in TKAM, it says “There’s been some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn’t do much about defending this man… If you shouldn’t be defending him then why are you doing it… The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature.” Atticus is telling Scout that even though the people in their community don’t want him to defend Tom but Atticus is still going to defend him because it’s his job to defend anyone no matter their race and if he doesn’t he can’t be know as a real lawyer, this shows that he has true courage. Doing the right thing is part of true courage because standing up to something thing that is right may lead to bad things happening so that’s why standing up to what is right is part of true courage.
Feeling fear but choosing to act anyway is part of true courage because doing something that makes you scared is courageous. In TKAM says “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house slapped it with his palm and ran back past us not waiting to see if his foray was successful.” (18) Jem was showing true courage because they are all scared of going to the Radley house because of all the rumors about them but jem touches the house anyway, showing that he has courage.
Also in TKAM while Mr. cunningham and other men are trying to get passed Atticus to get to Tom and kill him Scout steps up “Hey Mr. Cunningham… Don’t you remember me Mr. Cunningham I’m Jean Louise Finch… I go to school with Walter he’s your boy ain’t he ain’t her sir, Mr. Cunningham was moved to a faint nod… Tell him hey for me won’t you?” After that Mr. Cunningham and the other men left the jail house, Scout was scared of what the men could do to her or her father because they wanted to kill Tom and no one could get in their way but Scout showed true courage by standing up to them.
After Scout finished talking to Mr. Cunningham he and the other men left. According to a Fox News article, a football coach uses his body as a shield to protect students from getting shot, and also in the same article, it says that 15-year-old Anthony Borges was running with other students to a classroom and he was shot while locking the door, despite being shot he used his body to secure the door and to shield the other student’s. This is a perfect example of feeling fear but choosing to act because the coach knew that he could die if he used his body as a shield and Anthony knew the risk of waiting to lock the door but he still did it. This is why feeling fear and choosing to act is part of true courage because when you are afraid of something and you still do it shows that you have courage.
Persevering in the face of adversity is another main part of true courage because going through something that is difficult gives you the courage to whatever you are going to face next. In TKAM it says “By the time I reached the corner the man was crossing or yard. Light from our front door framed Atticus for an instant; He ran down the steps and together, he and the man took Jem inside”. This is after Boo (Arthur) saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell who was trying to kill them, he was showing courage because Bob Ewell was trying to kill the kids and he could have killed Boo, and Boo never goes outside but he did to save the kids from dying this shows persevering in the face of adversity.
