Atticus values mental and emotional courage over physical courage. After the death of Mrs. Dubose, Atticus reflects on her final weeks with the children, he explains how she was a recovering morphine addict, and how he would have made Jem and Scout read to her even if Jem hadn’t cut the flowers. Atticus wanted them to learn a lesson from her. While concluding his discussion on Mrs. Dubose, Atticus says: “I wanted you to see something about her- 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. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” (Lee 149). After the incident with the mad dog, Jem was under the impression that his father was amazing and courageous because he was ‘One-shot-Finch’. While deciding whether to shoot the dog or not, Atticus was very reluctant. In the end, he only did it because he thought it was necessary for the well being and safety of the community. In his mind, he was not being courageous, he was just doing what was needed. Knowing that he had made the wrong impression on Jem, Atticus tried to find a way to show his son what his definition of true courage was. Atticus showed Jem that true courage is not shooting well or going head first into a fight, that courage is fighting a battle within yourself, even if you know that you are not going to win.
I definitely agree with what you said, I think that to Atticus physical courage is much easier to achieve than mental courage. To Atticus, its easier to shoot birds or get into fight than to quite a drug that you have been on for decades. He thinks that physical courage is something that you show to the world, like how good your shot is. But mental courage is something that is inside your own head, and to have the bravery to change something like inside your own mind is far greater than your physical skills.
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