...Courage Ever since I was young, the character in a film with whom I most strongly related would surely be 'the cowardly lion', from The Wizard of Oz. This was not because I was entertained by his cowardliness, as his name would make you think, but because I really liked his relentless quest for courage. When speaking of courage, the cowardly lion compares it's magnitude to these sentiments: “what makes a king out of a slave?...what makes the flag on the mast wave?...what makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk?” the answer to all of those questions, is of course, courage. There are, however, many different elements that make up the word, making it difficult to accurately capture the true meaning in a single sentence. It's not simply being momentarily brave and jumping from a cliff, or latching on to a group of vagabonds on a hunt for wizards and adventure. While the definition states that 'courage is the ability to do something that frightens one', in this essay I'd like to explore the different dimensions of the word, involving not only the conquering of courageous, physical feats, but also by acknowledging where courage comes from and how, once displayed, it can change your life on many different levels. In modern culture, displaying courage often becomes defined by the danger one displays through death-defying physical feats. An example of this would be taking a ride on a rollercoaster that you have always too scared to ride. When...
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...Sue Hadfield once said, “It takes courage to examine your life and to decide that there are things you would like to change, and it takes even more courage to do something about it.” Both Harrington and Wilcox show that you should gain courage and always stay courageous.There are a number of differences and similarities in the book, Courage for Beginners and in the poem, Courage. The novel, “Courage for Beginners”, uses a third person point of view, which shows the reader how Mysti feels. When Mysti feels hurt by Anibal’s insults, the author uses a third person point of view. For example,“Here is a girl with the shaky sensation of having a foot on two boats. She must quickly decide which way to jump before the expanding water makes a decision...
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...Enoch Olutayo Dr Kristin Rajan Engl 1102-222 6th September 2013 Courage is a virtue As a kid, I watched a lot of cartoons. Some were memorable and had an impact on my life, while some were not. One of the most memorable was a cartoon called ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’. You can probably see from the title that this cartoon was very interesting. It has had a big impact on my philosophy as I have learnt life facts from watching it. I believe that I wouldn’t be the same person that I am today if I never came across it. I think it’s safe to say that as a kid, I did not know and understand a lot of things. The world to me was in black and white. You were either the good guy or the bad guy and when I watched TV, I always liked the good guys. This was how I felt when watching ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’ but all that started to change as I grew up. This cartoon was about a dog named Courage that was adopted by a woman named Muriel. She found him abandoned on a trash can hungry and needing a diaper change. Her and her husband, Eustace, were on their way home when she saw him and immediately fell in love with him. Courage loved Muriel for being nice and loving, almost like a mother to him, so he always took care of her. As you can probably see from the title of the show, Courage’s name is a contradiction of his actual personality. He got frightened by almost anything and was always suspicious of people and activities that happened around him. They lived in the middle of nowhere, which...
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...man who ever lived.’ (Chapter 11, p 111) ------------------------------------------------- Discuss the various ways in which Harper Lee explores the concept of courage in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. One of the central issues in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird is the idea of courage and the very different ways it can be displayed. As each character face their own journeys with courage, not only does the reader learn that even the smallest, most subtle acts of courage make a difference, but Scout and Jem’s idea of true courage is challenged as their minds mature and develop. Atticus and Mrs Dubose play a large part in this for Jem, as he distinguishes the difference between physical courage and emotional courage; while the court case of Tom Robinson teaches Scout how moral courage is sometimes hard to find in Maycomb, however it is the most important type of courage to have. Firstly, during the orientation of the novel Scout and Jem both have an attitude that the only form of courage is physical; as in being able to use a gun or win a fight. Jem believes that Atticus is less of other fathers as ‘He did not do the things our schoolmates’ fathers did: he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish or drink or smoke. He sat in the livingroom and read’ – in short, believing Atticus was lacking courage. Atticus somewhat reaches his son’s expectations when he shoots a feral dog, which is shocking to the children who are left in awe of their father’s hidden talent...
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...exhibits countless examples of characteristics of a hero including, but not limited to, courage, loyalty, and strength. Beowulf illustrates courage in several different parts of the story. Courage is portrayed when Beowulf arrives to fight Grendel in the beginning all the way to the end of the poem when Beowulf fights his final battle with the dragon. Beowulf would have never agreed to try and save the Danes and Geats from these vicious monsters if he lacked courage. Beowulf shows a lot of courage throughout different parts of the poem, especially when he states, “...my hands / Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life / Against the monster” (Beowulf 172-174). Perhaps a king or another soldier would have tried...
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...Matthew Breske Professor McIntire English 1213-MW1 01 December 2012 The True Definition of Courage After reading the poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, I realized, based on my own personal combat experiences and the combat experiences of Owen, the only word that could possibly describe the poem was courage. Throughout my time in the military, I have been instructed that courage is one of the fourteen leadership traits. Traits are qualities of thoughts and actions, which, if demonstrated in daily activities, help warriors earn the respect, confidence, and loyal cooperation of fellow warriors. There are two different kinds of courage. Moral courage is having the inner strength to stand up for what is right and to accept blame when something is your fault. The second is physical courage, which means that you can continue to function effectively when there is physical danger present. No matter the specific type of courage, both allow the warrior to remain calm and continue with the mission while recognizing fear, which is precisely what the young infantryman demonstrated in the poem and what Owen, personally demonstrated in combat during World War I. Growing up in the country as I did, I tend to think I was pretty much the same as other young boys that spent their lives in the country. I went hunting, fishing, watched war movies, listened to stories of World War II and Vietnam from my grandfather and father, ran through the woods while playing war with the neighborhood...
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...Standing by ones morals and acting against ones fears represents true courage. In To Kill a Mockingbird, true courage can be shown through moral courage, mental courage, and physical courage. In To Kill a Mockingbird, standing up for what one believes in shows moral courage. Firstly, Atticus defending Tom Robinson even when he knew he would lose shows moral courage. Atticus is a well-known and respected figure in Maycomb. Choosing to defend a...
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...Courage of the American Soldier Courage of the American Soldier What comes to mind when you hear the word courage? Bravery, fear, or may be…nothing at all. To me when I hear the word courage or even courageous I think of the American Soldier. Courage can often be hard to define and or even harder to demonstrate. As an American Soldier of the United States Army we live by seven Army Values, which I believe are all equally important. The seven values that I am speaking of are Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity and the seventh value "Personal Courage". Personal Courage as defined by the Army is to face fear, danger or adversity which I believe is the same as being courageous. In my 24 years of service, I have encountered numerous situations that have required me and other Soldiers to be courageous on several occasions. To be courageous does not mean you have to be heroic or do something grand, it can be small things. Examples I retain are having to leave home and face an unknown enemy and not even know if you will return. This is what makes the American Soldier a person of great courage. Every Soldier has been raised by their parents with a different set of moral values and beliefs which can affect what they find "courageous". But to me, being courageous professionally is to know what your duty is in relation to yourself, the Army and the people you...
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...Courage essay: The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear. In the book Speak Melinda is not very outspoken about what happened at the party, but when she sees her ex best friend dating the guy, she wanted to make sure that it never happened again. Why is courage important, and is it just about being brave? Webster dictionary defines courage as, “The ability to do something that frightens one.” Many times in the book Speak this is shone, some events being more courageous than others. “David takes a seat in the front row and sets a tape recorder on his desk. As Mr. Neck opens his mouth to speak, David presses the Play and Record buttons at the same time, like a pianist hitting...
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...What is courage? Courage is not afraid of failure. Courage is admitting mistakes, learn from failure. Courage is stay away from fear, and dare to challenges. The most important of courage is have the courage to give up what you already have because only when you have the courage of letting go then you get the second chance of having it again. In both literature novel, courage effect all character choice in their life. In Percy Jackson, the lightning thief by Rick Riordan, young teenager must be facing the monster and trying to stop the war also save their friends mom life. They need courage to face all the life and death choice and they are all teenager, the pressure they have and the courage they need to fight to live or death. Also in Dracula...
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...I found the definition of courage has various meanings, and there are three main themes or descriptions that show or prove courage. Mostly it is physical courage, emotional courage, and moral courage. The literature of English 421 taught me that it may take a little or a lot of courage to stand up for yourself in order to reach your goal, and you may find courage you never knew you had. I will describe situations of courage that I think were important in the three novels we read, beginning with the novel displaying the least courageous characters and finishing with the novel displaying the most courageous characters. A Midsummer Night’s Dream It is my opinion this novel did not have the type of characters I would think of as courageous. So, when I was trying to come up with examples of courage from this novel, I thought of Hermia, and the courage she showed when standing up to her parents about Lysander. She loved Lysander, but was supposed to marry Demetrius. There were many conflicts in the novel, mostly about who loved who, and the confusion around why things were happening, not necessarily acts of courage. Hermia stuck to what her heart wanted and that took courage no matter what the Royal parents thought. It takes courage for Hermia to stand up to her father. This is a pretty good example of emotional courage. (Shakespeare, 64) Lord of the Flies Ralph is the main character in Lord of the Flies. He wants to be leader of the boy’s tribe because the boys voted...
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...Brave Did you know that courage is evoked when something frightens someone? Atticus shows courage throughout the novel in the midst of his fears. Thus being, a single father, a lawyer for a black man, and keeping everyone safe. In fact, Atticus wasn’t the only person who displayed courage. Despite the courageous events made by the other characters in the novel, Atticus still exhibits the most types of courage. Atticus demonstrates moral courage when defending Tom Robinson’s case. In chapter nine, Atticus explains to Scout why he is defending Tom, “For a number of reasons,’ said Atticus. ‘The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again… Scout simply by the nature of work every lawyer gets at least one case in his lifetime that affects him personally. This one’s mine, I guess.” Atticus was appointed by the judge to defend Tom Robinson. Although Atticus did not want to do it, he gave Tom Robinson the fairest trail he could. Atticus is one of the best effort to defend Tom. He shows moral courage with this example...
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...A Story of Love and Courage Love is a very powerful emotion. It provides people with courage and causes them to act bravely. To have someone to love, and therefore someone to act bravely for, makes one capable of more than expected. Love leads to bravery and can get people through terrible times. In the movie Life is Beautiful, director Roberto Benigni shows the quality of bravery through the experiences of the main characters as they attempt to survive a concentration camp during World War II. When Guido Orefice, an Italian Jew, arrives in Arezzo, he meets Dora, who comes from a wealthy Italian family. Even though she is engaged, she falls in love with Guido, and they marry and have a son, Giosue. At Giosue’s fifth birthday, Guido and Giosue are taken by Nazis to a concentration camp, and Dora insists on voluntarily going with them. At the camp, Guido convinces Giosue that everything is just a game, and he will earn points towards winning a tank. Unfortunately, when Guido goes looking for Dora, he is caught and shot to death by a Nazi soldier, but Giosue and Dora survive. Love is a powerful emotion which leads to acts of bravery, that people perform, even when they are scared. This is shown by Dora’s love for Guido and Giosue, by Guido’s love for Giosue, and by Guido’s love for Dora. Undoubtedly, Dora loves her husband and her son with all her heart; she shows courage when she runs away with Guido, and later again when she volunteers to join Guido and Giosue at the concentration...
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...Beowulf’s final act of courage is when he faces the dragon that wages war on the Geat nation he rules. After fifty years into Beowulf’s reign a dragon is awoken by an intruder who steals a gem goblet while the dragon was asleep in his cave. The furious dragon “sourch[es] the ground…hunt[ing] for the trespasser” (2295-2296) creating a path of destruction burning the Geat nation and delivering “brutal assaults” (2318) from “virulent hate”(2319). Beowulf learns of this dangerous threat that has took monstrous amounts of innocent fatalities. Beowulf bravely admits “he was destined to face the end of his days in this mortal world; as was the dragon” (2342-2343). Beowulf wishes to fight the dragon as he did in his younger years against Grendel hand-to-hand....
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...Avigdor Kahalani’s “The Heights of Courage” gives a gritty, chaotic, and heroic first person account of the Yom Kippur War from the eyes of a Centurion Tank Battalion Commander at the tactical level of war and the complexities that lie their in. From his viewpoint, we are invited to witness the convergence of complex factors under difficult conditions in the pursuit of achieving victory. Ultimately, his actions and those of countless others, was more than just a fight for retention of land but a fight for survival of the Jewish Nation as Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a coordinated attack against Israel on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Displayed throughout “The Heights of Courage” there is one key element that drives at the...
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