Mark Twain once said “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Lee clearly portrays the theme of courage in her novel. It is one of the most predominant themes and is shown in many of the characters because, what is a hero if they are not courageous? One likes to think of a hero, as strong, brave, meeting all challenges head on. All of the characters have a different view as to what courage is, and they all show it a different way; however, they do show courage in their everyday lives. Younger characters, like Jem and Scout, see the physical aspect of it, whereas Atticus believes this to be an extremely weak form of courage. He believes in the mental quality of courage.
When Mrs. Dubose bad-mouthed Atticus by saying "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" (Lee page 113), Jem decided that the best way to settle things was to ruin Mrs. Dubose's camellias. After Atticus learned of this stunt, Jem was made to read to her every afternoon, for a month. Mrs. Dubose was a very sick lady, and had morphine to ease her pain. It wasn't until after Mrs. Dubose passed away that Atticus explained to Jem and Scout how courageous the lady was because she knew that she was dying but was still determined to die free of the morphine. She fought against great odds, even though she knew that she would most certainly die.
I believe that courage definitely plays a major role as a theme in scenes throughout this novel. For a younger child though, like Scout, courage is most often associated with some type of physical act, which involves danger. Atticus explains to his children that courage is more than just doing something that other people admire. After Mrs. Dubose dies Jem wants an explanation as to why he had to read to Mrs. Dubose for so long and Atticus tells him: "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man...