An individual virtue, yet the amalgamation of all others

C.S. Lewis said that “courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” Courage is required for the attainment and performance of other virtues. According to an ancient Chinese philosophical saying, “man is born evil,” a sensation of depravity is rather existent even in the purest and most youthful minds. What propels the achievement of virtues is the courage to make a contrasting and influential change to bring goodness to humanity. It takes absolute courage for a person to defeat the innate tendency of sinful mindsets in order to carry out the virtues such as chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. All these help acquire the needed mercies, generosity and abstinence, which are not rooted in human mentalities before the courageous change in sensibilities.

Fear, maturation, and life

The theme of courage can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird. Courage is connected to the theme of fear, since courage is the mastery over and resistance to fear. Courage is not the absence of fear, as it is eventually learned and cultivated by the presence of fear and the obligation to move on. Mrs. Dubose illustrates the intimacy between fear and courage in that she holds the fear of her futility deep inside her mentality but still manages to illuminate her decision to live on courage, as depicted when she is unwavering in her decision to break away from her morphine addiction. The theme of courage is also intertwined with the theme of maturation.

The theme of growing up is most prevalent in Scout. What assists and propels her maturation process is what she learns over time— the actual definition of courage. Her understanding of courage, in which “courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what,” marks her progress in her ending of childishness and polishes her understanding of life. Life is mirrored by the themes of To Kill a Mockingbird, which again link back to courage. Life shrinks and expands in proportion to the dimensions that courage inhabits.

Vices and humanity

The inherent vice of humans is like a door that blocks all virtues deep behind it. Courage is the very act of stepping ahead to turn the doorknob to enter, disclosing and pouring the virtues into an endeavor of improvements in humaneness. Courage is what accentuates virtues in all terms and is involved in the fulfillment of virtues.