Whats worng with me essay?

True Courage


In glossaries, courage is defined as "the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear." According to Atticus Finch, a major character in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, "Courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what." (112) Harper Lee definitely shows the theme of courage in this book. It is one of the most principal themes and is shown in many of the characters, but majority in Atticus. Harper Lee exposes the true meaning of courage.


For a youngster character, like Scout, courage is most often related with a physical act that is usually dangerous. It is difficult for young children like Scout to realize that greater courage is shown in other aspects of life. Scout sees an example of courage in her father when he shoots the mad dog. Although Atticus did not think of it as very courageous, Jem and Scout were proud of their father of the courage he showed in the situation. He was not trying to prove anything, yet they were still impressed. Presently in the story, Jem and Scout encounter the spiteful Mrs. Dubose. "Your father's no better than the [negroes] and trash he works for!" (102). When she cusses Atticus like that, Jem decided to ruin Mrs. Dubose's camellias for insulting his father . After Atticus heard about this stunt, Jem was made to read to her every afternoon for a month as a punishment. Mrs. Dubose was a very ill lady, and had morphine to ease her pain. It was not until after she died that Atticus explained to Jem and Scout how courageous the lady was because she knew she was dying but was still determined to die free of the morphine. She fought against great odds, even though she knew that she would certainly die. That was really courageous of Mrs. Dubose.


"Real courage" is when you fight for what is right regardless of whether you win or lose. Atticus Finch defines "real courage" and demonstrates it several times throughout the novel, in addition to the lessons that he teaches his children. He shows them mainly in the long period of time during Tom Robinson's case. It first started when Atticus took the case. He went against Maycomb, a generally prejudice town, in order to defend Tom. He understood that taking the case would make him an object of ridicule and that no one would forgive him for believing in a black man's word rather than a white man's. Even his own sister expresses disapproval of his decision, practically telling him he was bringing disgrace on the family. But, no matter how much his reputation suffered, he kept one doing what he believes what’s right. Standing up for his morals and ethics was more important then what people thought about him. Atticus knows he will not win the case and like Mrs. Dubose in her battle against morphine, he is "licked" before he begins. Atticus's strong sense of morality and justice motivates him to defend Tom Robinson with determination, and giving it all he has got. He shows this when he says, "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try and won." He wants the people of Maycomb to hear the truth about Tom, "That boy may go to the chair, but he's not going till the truth's told." (145). Atticus later shows bravery when he went to the jailhouse to protect Tom from a mob. Without thinking twice he rushed to Tom's aid. He went willingly; knowing that if a mob did form he would be greatly outnumbered and would easily be beaten. Still, he put Tom's well being after his own benefit.


While discussing the death of Bob Ewell, Atticus also shows great courage. He did not go along with Heck Tate as Heck tries to explain that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife. Atticus appreciates what Heck is trying to do, but he doesn’t want anyone to cover for Jem. “I don’t want him growing up with a whisper about him, ‘Jem Finch…his daddy paid mint to get out of that (273). Atticus put his life and career in the line. He knew, as an officer of the court, that withholding information from an investigation could have gotten him thrown in jail. Nonetheless, like many times before, doing what was right and fair prevailed in Atticus's way of thinking. In addition, Atticus went against his moral code and principles he had always upheld before, when Atticus is faced with the decision of abiding by the law or breaking it in order to do the right thing. He knows that imprisoning a man like Arthur would have been unforgivable. Especially after that Arthur had performed a great deed by saving his children's lives. He knows that exposing him would be an awful way of repaying him; it would have been like "shooting a mockingbird." So, Atticus chose to protect Boo from the public eye rather than abide by the law and his "honest" ways he was so accustomed to follow. Sometimes it takes even more courage to set a new level of morals then to stay in your comfort zone.


In conclusion, Atticus shows admirable courage and behavior, in many instances, throughout the story. Not by fighting or killing, but by standing up for what he believed in a civilized and determined way. His strongest motivation, however, were his kids. He wanted to be a good role model to his kids and inspire in them a strong sense of moral values. One time he was asked by Scout why he had taken a case he knew he wasn't going to win and he responded by saying, "For a number of reasons. The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this county in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again." ( 75). In other words, he would not have been able to preach to his kids about justice and standing up for what one believes when he himself had not stood for what he believed in. Harper Lee uses Atticus as the true meaning of courage.

Whats worng with me essay?
I would help, dude honestly but that is too much reading. I'm sure it's a pretty good easay....only guessing but maybe it was grammatical errors. keep your head up.
Reply:Okay sugar, this is a good essay, but it is very redundant. Your sentence structure and diction is also very simple. And every essay needs a thesis in the intriductory paragraph. By reading yours, you can eventually see that the essay is about courage, and acts of courage, but this needs to be stated. You can keep the glossary meaning, but then add...Courage is displayed in the novel, 'to kill a mockingbird,' several times by acts that various characters display. I do not know what grade you are in, so therefore I do not know what is expected from you. But I would have given you a C+, maybe a B-. Because, like I said it is a good essay. Dude, holy crap, I can help you english. English is not the most difficult thing. There is no reason to fail or give up.





Okay babe, if you are a freshman, then you should definetly be writing at a higher level than you are. Maybe you have just never been properly shown how to write an essay. I'm a college sophomore now, and I didn't learn how to write an A+ essay until my junior year of high school. Do you know anybody that is good at english that would be willing to go over this with you? You should try to find somebody.
Reply:Ok let me tell you what i would write for my 1st paragraph.





1st sentence should be a general idea.


Dont go into detail about the book. Keep the first paragraph general





In your 2nd paragraph 1st sentence is awkwardly worded and a bit long.





"For a youngster character, like Scout, courage is most often related with a physical act that is usually dangerous"





I would have said





At young ages courage is usually associated with physical acts.





Conclusion paragraph. Do not use "in conlusion" You go into too much detail about the book. The conclusion does not include concrete detail. It does not repeat key words from your paper.





Your paragraphs should be like this


Intro


A: Entice your reader with a hook


B Do not discuss what goes on in the book instead generalize the theme


C. connect the hook with your thesis statement


D include the title and the authoe of the novel in your thesis





Body


1. topic sent(TS).-main idea of paragraph with relation to thesis.


2. concrete detail(CD)-specific example from book. In your own words, no quotes.


3. Direct Quote(DQ)- quote that supports concrete detail


4.Commentary-(CM)your analysis, explanation of the concrete detail and direct quote. Basically explain how your CD and DQ support the topic sent.





conclusion


Sum up Ideas


Link back to hook


re phrase thesis





Things to avoid


Contractions (don't, won"t) just write out do not.


Try not to use I, me, my, you, i think, he seems like


Avoid using Maybe, probably.





I think you do deserve a high D. If your in freshman year like me these guide lines help alot.
Reply:Although I don't know what grade level you're writing this essay for (junior, senior, etc.), as a former English teacher I'd have to agree with your teacher. The first big problem is the lack of a thesis statement--what point are you trying to argue? You might want to read some of the criticism of TKAM to see how other writers have approached the novel's themes. The second big problem is organization. I had to keep rereading some sections, as I'd get lost in your prose style. Keep the paragraphs shorter--see if you can divide the paper into an introductory paragraph, followed by a few paragraphs of examples of different characters showing courage (one per character), then a solid concluding paragraph. Finally, check your spelling and grammar, especially the latter. However, I think improving your organization, with leading sentences in each paragraph followed by examples would help the most. I'd suggest sitting down with the teacher and having him point out some of the flaws as he sees them.
Reply:You've received some great suggestions here. I had problems writing essays at first too. People would tell me to write a thesis statement or topic sentence but I didn't really know how to do that. But here's a little good news for you. Writing is a learned skill and once you get the hang of it, you'll do great. Check out this web site. It gives you the steps to writing an essay in outline form and explains in good detail each step. If you print this out and refer to it as you write your paragraphs, your essays will come together much easier. Don't skip any steps. Do the outline, notes, etc. I think if you keep this where you can refer to it as you work on your paper, you'll do fine. Good luck to you, and please give this a try.





http://www.english.bham.ac.uk/staff/tom/...
Reply:Over all it seems reasonably well thought out and wrtten. I am not an expert on writing. Here are a few things that come to my mind.





First are some general readability issues.





Your paragraphs are WAY too long.





Confine a paragraph to a single train of thought. Make your opening and closing paragraphs a single sentance or at most two sentances. This is also true if you are making an important point which you will then explain in the next few sentances. On the other hand, when you draw a conclusion, keep it in the same paragraph as any information directly preceding it





There is no science to spacing paragraphs. Lay them out in a way that you feel makes your writing easiest to read, and helps best emphasize your points. In your final draft, you may want to add a line of white space between paragraphs, as this helps readability depending on the format. Also, interspacing long and short paragraphs (in a meaningful way), helps to add a "sense of rythm."





My personal opinion is that you should not use phrases like "true courage", "great courage", or "real meaning of courage". To me, it seems to imply that when you and I say simply "courage", we may mean two different things. Only use that sort of wording once; either in the title, or at the "climax" of the essay. otherwise just say "courage." There is such a thing as being too specific.





Brevity is also an issue. You may wish to condense many of your sentances, and delete others that are not absolutely necessary.(depending on the parameters you were given) This is just good editing. Most people can think much faster than they can read, so words and sentences that can be easily removed are annoying otherwise.Don't try to use elaborate speech just to sound sophisticated.





Go back over and try to think of alternate ways of phrasing, untill you feel you have made the best use of space. If you feel you have made your point simply and elegantly, do not try to make it any longer.(no matter what your teacher says)





There are also a few nit picking grammar and wording issues. Those would take too much time to go into. The best thing to do would be to print out a double spaced draft, and have somone experienced make some editing notes in the margins.





Overall your grammar and comprehension as well as your critical thinking seem to be excellent. Keep reading good books, and your grasp of the art and craft of writing are sure to improve even more.





Good luck!


~Donkey Hotei





P.S.


Don't give up! Your teacher sounds like the kind thats willing to give you a D without giving you a lot of specific advice. You should have a sit down talk with him. Don't let him off the hook untill you understand exactly what you need to do to get an A!
Reply:In your first paragraph say something like "although courage can be defined as . . . . . Harper Lee can show us it could be a defining charatistic in any decent persons life."
Reply:" Whats worng with me essay?"





Popeye? Is that you?
Reply:Well, I hate to tell you, but your teacher is right - you don't have a thesis. You have an implicit (unstated) thesis, but that's not good enough for a formal essay - you need to come out and in your own words explain what it is you're trying to prove.





In your case, try something like "In _To Kill A Mockingbird_, Atticus shows the true meaning of courage by A, B and C."





Note that this has a thesis - something you can defend - and it also ties into your three major points, which is part of good essay-writing. To make your thesis even stronger, make it controversial - try "Although the book suggests that courage is X, the character Atticus shows us that in reality, Harper Lee believes that courage is Y."





I aso can't help but notice that sometimes your grammar has some trouble; try getting someone else to proof your essay before handing it in; parents are great that way.





Another point: try to avoid terms like "in conclusion" or "secondly" or "So" to start a sentence - all of these sound like space-fillers to a teacher when there are much more elegant ways to write.





Don't add new information or quotes in your conclusion. That's not what a conclusion is. Your conclusion should be a summary of your arguments, never introducing new ideas.





You also need to connect your paragraphs better - read it out loud and you'll realize it sounds a bit disconnected. It's supposed to be a clear, logical flow from one point to the next - and it should all be summarized in your thesis AND your conclusion.





A proper essay should look like this:





Thesis: "X is true because A, B and C."


Point 1: A is true because a, b and c, which relates to B.


Point 2: B is true because d, e, and f, which relates to C.


Point 3: C is true because g, h, and i. And by the way, the arguments against C is D, but D is untrue because of j, k, and l.


Conclusion: A, B and C clearly show that X is true.





I'm summarizing terribly, but you get the general idea, I hope.