  ppl, i'd greatly appreciate it if u took a look at my essay on to kill a mockingbird and mayb correct it.
its due tuesday (my bday). jest email miss_purple89@yahoo.com with the essay copied and pasted in it. thanx!!! here it is: Essay Topic #1 Rekha Arulanantham December 15, 2002 Period 6 Courage A theme of the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee is courage. Throughout the narrative, Scout, the main character, encounters several kinds of courage. Three major types shown in Harper Lees novel are the courage to stand up for what a person knows and believes in, the courage to stay calm in a tough situation, and the courage to always do the right thing.
Sticking up for something one knows and believes in is a key form of courage. Two people showed this quality in To Kill a Mockingbird. One of these people was Tom Robinson during the trial. Even though he said things people did not want to hear, he always told the story how it happened. During one part of the trial, Tom admitted something that the white community thought was ghastly.
He admitted that he felt sorry for a white person, Mayella Ewell. It was atrocious for a black person to pity a white person, no matter how rich or poor either of them were. Even though people did not want to hear this, Tom told what he knew. The other person who also possessed this type of courage was the Cunningham who was a juror for the trial.
This man helped stall the verdict by standing up for Tom and what he believed in. Although this Cunninghams opinion was only one persons belief and there were eleven other jurors with differing ideas, he did not let the prejudices of a small southern town interfere with his judgment. Another type of courage is the ability to stay calm. In the book, Miss Maudie and Scout showed this quality. In chapter eight, Miss Maudies house burns down and all of her belongings were destroyed. She had nothing left. She responded to this event with optimism. Instead of worrying about her possessions and home, she seemed pleased. Miss Maudie looked around, and the shadow of her old grin crossed her face. Always wanted a smaller house, Jem Finch. Gives me more yard. Just think, Ill have more room for my azaleas now! (72-73) Scout showed bravery similar to Miss Maudies. In one of the most important scenes in the book, Scout and Jem are attacked by an unknown assailant.
Fortunately, she was wearing a costume that protected her from the man trying to murder her. However, she was stuck in the costume and could not get out to protect herself, much less find out what was going on. Unlike most nine-year-olds, she stayed calm, mostly out of confusion, and made enough observations to later determine who the aggressor was and how she and her brother were saved. The most important kind of courage in the book was to always know and do the right thing. Its when you know youre licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.
(112) This is what Atticus said after the death of Mrs. Dubose. Mrs. Dubose knew she was dying, but she wanted to get rid of her addiction to morphine before she passed on. Atticus also showed this characteristic. Because of discrimination against blacks during the time, Atticus knew that he could not win the case; the jury would side with a white witness as opposed to a black one no matter what the circumstances were. He also knew that all people deserve a lawyer who believed they were innocent until proven guilty, even if the person was black.
The ideas of the courage to follow ones knowledge and beliefs, the courage to stay calm in the most dreadful circumstances, and the courage to do the right thing no matter what, made the theme clear in the book To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson, the juror, Miss Maudie, Jem, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus are examples of courageous people who showed these qualities. These three types of bravery are universal beliefs for storybook characters and people of the real world. 
