The ability to do something that frightens one, that is the definition of courage. The definition in my own words is someone doing something out of their comfort zones that will benefit them or someone close to them. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird the author Harper Lee talks about how her view of courage changes as she matures throughout the book. At the beginning of the book she thinks jem is courageous for rolling a tire into the Radley house and scout shows courage when she walks away from a fight with Cecil Jacobs.

Atticus Finch is a father of two, a lawyer, and he is defending Tom Robinson in court. Atticus shows mental and personal courage when he defends black man Tom Robinson who was being accused of something he didn’t do and this displays mental and personal courage because he knew his name would get ruined across maycomb county, yet he still defended Tom. Atticus showed physical courage when he came face to face with the rabid dog. This displays physical courage because wasn’t afraid of his physical body being hurt by the crazy dog. Atticus is coming out of his comfort zone to support Tom and shoot the dog. This benefits him because the case will make him wiser and it also benefits others because he keeps the dog from hurting anyone else.

Jem Finch is Atticus Finch’s son and he supports his father in the case. son Jem showed personal and physical courage when he went back to get his pants from the Radley place. This displayed personal and physical courage because even though Mr.Radley said he would shoot the next person that steps foot on his yard he still went back to get it. The personal courage in this is the reason he went back to get the pants, because he went back because he didn't want to disappoint his father and its a point in the book where we notice he is becoming more mature also. Jem showed mental courage when he goes back and fixes Ms. Dubose’s flowers