During the early chapters of the book, the children are involved in the stories and adventures they make up around Boo Radley. They are afraid of his reputation, and so childish fears need to be overcome by courage, for example walking instead of running past the Radley place and Jem returning to find his trousers. These are examples of physical courage and are important in showing the development of children, because, at first, they think this is what true courage means. It is also important to show the contrast between the physical courage and the moral courage shown in the book.

Atticus surprises the children with his physical courage when he shoots the rabid dog. They have always thought of him as old and not as strong as other fathers and so are surprised and very proud when he performs such a feat. Jem, however, understands better than Scout as to why th

Mrs. Dubose is according to Atticus "the bravest person" he has ever met. She was addicted to morphine, but determined to break the habit before she died, even though she knew her last hours would be spent in terrible pain. Knowing this, Atticus sent his children to read to her every afternoon. This helped extend the time that she was away from the drug. She is courageous because she knows that she will die anyway and it will cause her significant pain and distress. Through Atticus Harper Lee showed me that courage is difficult and takes strength of will as well. I thought that this was a very important lesson for people these days to learn.

Atticus is a man who lives out his beliefs and he hopes that his children will too. To Scout especially he teaches that you must stick to your beliefs even though others may not share them and you stand alone. When Scout starts to fight people who call her father a nigger lover, he tries to show her that courage is to stand firm in your beliefs and not let others affect you.

In Maycomb where there is racial prejudice, many citizens express doubt Atticus because he is going to mount a defense (even with

Some common words found in the essay are:
Harper Lee, Radley Jem, Negroes Maycomb, Bob Ewell, Knowing Atticus, Boo Radley, Robinson Duboses, Tom Robinson, Scout Jem, moral courage, carry gun, courage shown, physical courage, Atticus Dubose, harper lee, refusing carry gun, refusing carry, tom robinson, atticus tells, gun protect, stand firm, carry gun protect, stand firm beliefs,
Approximate Word count = 777
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)