Courage is a difficult thing for people to do in real life. What is courage? Some people may say courage is people who have strong bodies and hearts. The others would say it is someone who tells the truth instead of avoiding it. In To Kill a Mockingbird courage is standing up for innocent people even if it means taking a risk. Atticus helps innocent people. He did lots of things to show his courage. It started when Atticus took Tom Robinson's case. He went against the town which is prejudice to help an innocent man. He tries his best to defend Tom Robinson, but failed. That really hurts him. Especially after Tom Robinson was killed in the prison. When Aunt Alexandra showed her disagreement with Atticus and told him he would ruin the family name, Atticus still refused to change his mind. He still fights for what he believes in. He told Jem that "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash" (page 233). When Calpurnia called Atticus and told him about the mad dog running to their house, Atticus got home right away. He grabbed the gun and shot the dog. He was the bravest man in the world as Scout and Jem saw. After he talked about why he didn't use a gun in front of them. "I 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. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." (page ) At the end of the novel, Atticus had to make a tough decision. A just man just likes he is hates to lie,however, he decided to cover up the real story to save Boo Radley in the end. Boo Radley shows his courage to Jem and Scout. During all these years, Boo gave Jem