The True Meaning of Courage

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The True Meaning of Courage Courage can be interpreted in many ways. It could be simply acting brave, facing your fears, defeating your enemy, or pretty much anything else. Most people think that anyone can have courage; it's such an easy characteristic to master. But, do you have real courage? Can you stand up for yourself and what you think is right, even if you are mocked, or your views go against the flow of society? That's what real courage is. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many of the characters show real courage in many different situations. During Huck's time period, going against what was socially acceptable could prove absolutely disastrous. When Huck, Jim, and the others automatically choose what they think is right, without running through the consequences, they demonstrate the bravest, purely real type of courage possible. The ability to be their own person in a world filled with too many rules and guidelines for a proper life, and too many people trying to follow those "rules." In Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses the idea of courage often. For example, Huck's pa is a drunk, with no work or money. He doesn't quite fit with St. Petersburg's requirements for acceptability in their community. When the Widow Douglas takes in Huck as an attempt to civilize him; she braves the gossip and obviously disapproving community. Even when Huck would run away, she would just "cry and cry again," but would always take him back (3). There was always a place for him back at the Widow's. She demonstrated real courage while standing against her community by sheltering a "hopeless cause" (21). Circumstances for black people were very risky during this era. If a slave was caught trying to escape slavery, they were beaten, and sent back to where they had run from. After returning they would be given harder, more difficult and time consuming work to make

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