Courage “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (76). Courage is something we all have inside us, it depends on what event shows your courage, even if it’s small. The motifs of courage in this novel show that the people that you least expected, have enormous amounts of courage on what they believe is right. With the discrimination happening in Maycomb, Alabama there are numerous characters that show the important theme is courage. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird demonstrates that while there is discrimination and prejudice in society, it lights a spark of courage that is seen in unlikely people.
Boo Radley is discriminated by the Maycomb Society as a scary monster or phantom, …show more content…
Tom shows courage when he walks into the Ewell house-which was the most dangerous thing a Negro could do back in that time without permission of the white family- to help Mayella with her chiffarobe, and he was kind to her even though it wasn’t safe for him to act like a human to another fellow human at any circumstance. His moral courage is evident when he is accused of rape from the Ewell family and tells the truth in a white courtroom with an all-white jury. Tom knows that “In our courts, when it 's a white man 's word against a black man 's, the white man always wins. They 're ugly, but those are the facts of life” (220). He knows that whatever he says in a white court room it will never win against a white man or woman, because he is a Negro. However he doesn’t hesitate to respond with the truth against Mayella’s testimony. Like what Atticus said about Mrs. Dubose "when you know you 're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do” (112). Tom was licked before he began, but he had courage to see the whole truth. His courage was most evident during the trial because he is one of the most unlikely characters to have courage and stand up for what he believes and what he has to do, like Boo …show more content…
"In the name of God, believe him" (205).
He says this since no white man would believe the word of a black man. Atticus is surrounded by discrimination, and yet he has moral courage inside of him to do the right thing, like Boo and Tom.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the motifs show that courage is a major theme throughout the novel. Demonstrating a lesson on how everyone has courage inside of them, and it all depends on what event brings out that courage. An importance that when the society is engulfed in discrimination, there is a spark of courage in every single person to do what they think is right, even when that person is the last person you would expect to have
Boo Radley is discriminated by the Maycomb Society as a scary monster or phantom, …show more content…
Tom shows courage when he walks into the Ewell house-which was the most dangerous thing a Negro could do back in that time without permission of the white family- to help Mayella with her chiffarobe, and he was kind to her even though it wasn’t safe for him to act like a human to another fellow human at any circumstance. His moral courage is evident when he is accused of rape from the Ewell family and tells the truth in a white courtroom with an all-white jury. Tom knows that “In our courts, when it 's a white man 's word against a black man 's, the white man always wins. They 're ugly, but those are the facts of life” (220). He knows that whatever he says in a white court room it will never win against a white man or woman, because he is a Negro. However he doesn’t hesitate to respond with the truth against Mayella’s testimony. Like what Atticus said about Mrs. Dubose "when you know you 're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do” (112). Tom was licked before he began, but he had courage to see the whole truth. His courage was most evident during the trial because he is one of the most unlikely characters to have courage and stand up for what he believes and what he has to do, like Boo …show more content…
"In the name of God, believe him" (205).
He says this since no white man would believe the word of a black man. Atticus is surrounded by discrimination, and yet he has moral courage inside of him to do the right thing, like Boo and Tom.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the motifs show that courage is a major theme throughout the novel. Demonstrating a lesson on how everyone has courage inside of them, and it all depends on what event brings out that courage. An importance that when the society is engulfed in discrimination, there is a spark of courage in every single person to do what they think is right, even when that person is the last person you would expect to have