To Kill a Mockingbird Theme Analysis

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Ben Hernandez Ms. Mayer English 1 Pre- AP 03.05.2013 To Kill A Mockingbird "I [Atticus] wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what… According to her views, she [Ms. Dubose] died beholding nothing to nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew (pg. 149).” In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses many such lines to help weave a story about the dramatic events that take place inside the small, quiet town of Maycomb County. Not only does this quote show the skill of Harper Lee to create a captivating story, but it also shows how she was able to incorporate many themes into her novel as well. Throughout her novel, Harper Lee uses her characters and settings to represent many aspects of it, like the theme of bravery through Ms. Dubose, or the theme of summertime through Dill. She also employs the use of her settings to represent a form of irony or falsehood throughout her story, like the broken law of the courthouse, and the false safety of the Finch’s Street. Presently, Harper Lee uses her characters to represent many major and minor themes throughout her novel. A great example of this would be how Harper Lee expresses several themes through the use of Ms. Dubose. The most easily inferred theme expressed by Ms. Dubose is the theme of bravery. In her novel, Harper Lee creates the situation of having Ms. Dubose to be a dying morphine addict, whose final wish is to break her own addiction. And according to the definition of bravery given to us in the novel, this event translate into Ms. Dubose displaying a strong sign of bravery because she was able to see her recovery through to the very end. And as described by Atticus to Jem, “She died as free
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