Pearce 1

Kira Pearce

Mrs. Casady

IB HL English Y2

17 May 2019

Scholarship Essay

Original Prompt

In Part One of Harper Lee’s, how do characters exemplify courage?

Revised Essay

Characters Who Show Courage

In part one of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird readers are introduced to

Maycomb County, Alabama in the early 1930’s through the eyes of Scout Finch, a six

year old girl. In Maycomb, Scout encounters many different characters who are

courageous in distinct ways. Throughout the first part of her novel, Lee characterizes

the characters of Mrs. Dubose, Miss Maudie and Atticus Finch as all being courageous,

with all of them expressing either physical, social, emotional, or moral courage.

Lee characterizes the character of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose as having both

physical and social courage. Mrs. Dubose is a dying old woman who lives on the

Finch’s street. Dubose demonstrates physical courage as she is dying, as she is taking

herself off of morphine. When Scout and her brother ask why she does not want to die

comfortable and medicated, she said she wanted to die clean and “beholden to nothing

and nobody”(p.115). Mrs. Dubose knew that she could have died a painless death by

continuing to use the morphine. But, instead she demonstrates physical courage by

setting a goal to die clean of the drug, even if it was going to be a difficult process.
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Dubose shows bravery when faced with pain, hardship, and death. Again when

speaking to the Finch children, Mrs. Dubose expresses the quality of courage. However,

now she is demonstrating that she has social courage. She says something she knows

would offend Jem and Scout: "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he

works for!" (p.102). When Lee writes about Mrs. Dubose, it is often emphasized that she

is an outspoken woman. Although being as direct and offensive as Mrs. Dubose is

being characterized in this scene is not often seen as courageous. Instead, she is

expressing a social courage, by sharing her true thoughts although she knows that the

her comments will offend the children. It takes courage to say what you believe

especially when you know that you will face social disapproval.

Harper Lee shows Miss Maudie, the Finch neighbor, to have social and

emotional courage. Like Mrs. Dubose, Miss Maudie expresses social courage by

choosing not to conform to the socially acceptable expectations of others. She does not

succumb to the pressure of the judgmental baptists of Maycomb when they tell the her

and her “flowers were going to hell”. Maudie showed courage by ignoring comments

she did not believe to be true, and kept tending to her flowers. She chooses to continue

to act as she pleases, even if that means risking social disapproval. Miss Maudie also

shows emotional courage when her house caught fire. She was not worried or afraid

about her house, and chooses not to pity herself, saying, “I’ve always wanted a smaller

house”. Miss Maudie expresses an emotional courage by refusing to get distressed over

something she could not control, and instead she is optimistic and thankful for her

neighbors and the men trying to help to put the fire out.
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Atticus Finch is a character who famously exhibits moral courage. When Atticus

takes on the Tom Robinson case, a case that he is destin to lose, he demonstrates to

the town, and more importantly to his children, his moral courage. When Scout asks her

father why he is taking the case, he responds, "simply because we were licked a

hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win" (p.101). Atticus

knows that racism is deeply seeded in Maycomb County, and that there is virtually no

chance for him to win the case when it is a black man’s word against a white man’s.

However, he takes the case anyway and gives it his best effort despite the town’s

criticism, because it is the right thing to do. This is an example of moral courage, as

Atticus is taking moral action even when there may be adverse consequences. Again,

when Atticus is explaining his rationale for taking the case, he states “ if I didn't, I

couldn't hold up my head in town... I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something

again." (p. 75) He would not be able to live with himself if he didn’t uphold his moral

character, which in this case, required a lot of courage. Atticus is concerned with his

own integrity, but it is more important to him to ensure that he is always setting a good

example for his children.

In To Kill a Mockingbird Lee creates realistic and memorable characters that help

to teach the importance of courage. Through these characters, it is revealed to readers

that courageous acts can be big, impactful choices or small actions that all demonstrate

a different aspect of courage.