To Kill a Mockinbird - Atticus Showing Courage Essay

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important.” (Johnson, Samuel) Courage is something that lives in all of us; however, many don’t use the virtue. Many let the aspect of fear interfere with being brave and courageous. Often enough, people overlook the main objective of pursuing something because they are scared of the minor problems which may or may not occur based on the situation. When people are put in these situations, they believe that these fears are more important and a reason to not pursue something at all or in a less effective way. Courage is having the ability to pursue a minor or major problem, without letting fear have an effect on the way you go about it. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch shows the virtue of courage multiple times throughout the story. This is clearly understood when Atticus takes on the Tom Robinson case, protects Tom from the mob in front of the jail and going along with Heck Tate’s lie about Bob Ewell’s death. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in Maycomb and was appointed to defend a black man, named Tom Robinson, convicted for rape of a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. The town of Maycomb is very prejudice against coloured people. Usually when cases such as these were brought up in court, the coloured man was easily assumed guilty among the jury, and any discussion or contemplation was very short and considered unnecessary. Although Atticus was put up against all odds, he took on the case to fight for what was morally right of the innocent and wrongly accused, Tom Robinson. When Atticus’s daughter, Jean Louise, asks her father why he’s fighting for Tom even though he knows he’s going to lose the case, Atticus says, “For a number of reasons. The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in this town… I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again…simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” (75-76) Atticus is a very courageous man because even though the case is “licked” before it begins, he is still going to fight for what he knows is ethical. He is aware of the complications that will occur, which causes him to be fearful for himself, his family and his career, but knows he has to do this or else he couldn’t “hold his head up” because he would regret letting the fear keep him from doing the right thing. Atticus clearly shows courage in this scenario because he isn’t allowing the fears he has of the case effect the big picture, which is to do all he can to protect an innocent man’s life. Atticus was approached at home by a group of men warning him about Tom Robinson’s safety while staying in jail, so he stayed at the jail for the night. He sat just outside and read the newspaper to protect Tom from the lynch mob, who was supposedly expected to show up to harm Tom. Jem, Dill and Scout sneak out to find Atticus to ensure he’s alright and not in danger. They see him at the jail, and after the mob has spoken to Atticus for a bit, Scout runs towards her father in fear of his safety. Scout’s view of seeing Atticus at the jail was,

“Atticus was sitting propped against the front door in one of his office chairs, and he was reading, oblivious of the nightbugs dancing over his head…he looked up from his newspaper, closed it, folded it…he seemed to be expecting them…shapes moving toward the jail door. Atticus remained…”You can turn around and go home,” Atticus said… his lingering fingers were trembling a little.” (152)
Atticus goes to the jail at night to protect Tom from the mob that Atticus “seemed to be expecting” to show up, and he has clearly planned to stay there until he knows that Tom is safe. The fears that Atticus has towards the case are largely based on how the case will affect the safety and well-being of his children, since when they show up, his fingers “trembled a little”. Atticus did not show any fear he had until the children came. Atticus showed courage, however, since he didn’t let the fears distract him from what was most important, protecting Tom. Atticus went to the jail knowing that if a mob did arrive, he would be badly harmed because he would be greatly outnumbered. He basically used himself as a shield to protect Tom from the mob by staying at the jail, which was completely not expected of him, but he did it because he knew it was the ethical thing to do. Atticus and the sheriff, Heck Tate are discussing Bob Ewell’s death on the porch. Boo Radley and Scout are sitting on the porch listening to their discussion. Mr. Tate insists that Bob killed himself by falling on his knife while attacking Jem and Scout. Atticus is giving the impression that Jem is responsible for the death of Bob. Atticus and Heck both know Boo Radley is responsible for the death of Mr. Ewell, however, they have come to the conclusion that Heck will say Bob fell on his knife to keep the very shy Mr. Radley out of the whole scenario. “”I never heard tell that it’s against the law for a citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did.”…”It’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird.”…Before he went inside the house, he stopped in front of Boo Radley, “Thank you for my children, Arthur,” he said.” (276) Scout tells her dad that if Atticus admitted that Boo Radley was responsible for killing Bob, it would be “like shootin’ a mockingbird”. She used this phrase to express how Boo was just an innocent man who didn’t want to cause any harm. Boo was just saving Jem and Scout, two young children, from a man who would have killed them. All Boo did was his “utmost to prevent a crime”. Atticus shows courage when he decides to follow along with Heck’s lie about Bob’s death because he is putting his career and life on the line to break the law for Boo. Atticus knows that if he confined Boo to the crime he’s committed, it would be an unforgiveable act because Boo put his own life on the line to save Atticus’s children. It takes a lot of courage for Atticus to go against his moral code which he is so accustomed to follow. It is now clearly understood how Atticus Finch shows the cardinal virtue of courage frequently throughout the story. This was pointed out when Atticus took on the Tom Robinson case, protected Tom from the mob at the jail and when he went along with Heck Tate’s lie about Bob Ewell’s death. Courage is having the ability to pursue a minor or major problem without letting fear have an effect on the way you go about it. It’s when you can stay focused on the main issue without letting the minor complications, such as fear, interfere with how you deal with the problem. “Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.” (Johnson, Samuel)

The samuel johnson page. (2010, January 18). Retrieved from http://www.samueljohnson.com/courage.html