Question

What are some examples of how Scout Finch is courageous in To Kill a Mockingbird? Please include quotes and chapters.

Accepted Answer

Scout Finch is courageous throughout the book. Being pegged a tom-boy from the beginning, readers see this in her willingness to fight any boy that comes along or even any adult that questions her. Part of her courage though comes from the naivety of being a child. She doesn't always know or understand the danger around her.
In chapter 2, Scout represents the voice of reason from the children to their new teacher Miss Caroline. She speaks on their behalf, which  took courage since she ultimately gets in trouble for most everything she says to Miss Caroline:

Impatience crept into Miss Caroline’s voice: “Here Walter, come get it.”
Walter shook his head again.
When Walter shook his head a third time someone whispered, “Go on and tell her, Scout.”
I turned around and saw most of the town people and the entire bus delegation looking at me. Miss Caroline and I had conferred twice already, and they were looking at me in the innocent assurance that familiarity breeds understanding.
I rose graciously on Walter’s behalf: “Ah—Miss Caroline?”
“What is it, Jean Louise?”
“Miss Caroline, he’s a Cunningham.”
I sat back down.

In chapter 15, Scout bursts into a mob of men potentially about to hurt Atticus:

This was the second time I heard Atticus ask that question in two days, and it meant somebody's man would get jumped. This was too good to miss. I broke away from Jem and ran as fast as I could to Atticus.
Jem shrieked and tried to catch me, but I had a lead on him and Dill. I pushed my way through dark smelly bodies and burst into the circle of light.
"H-ey, Atticus!"
I thought he would have a fine surprise, but his face killed my joy. A flash of plain fear was going out of his eyes...

Here Scout demonstrates her courage as she runs to Atticus, and reveals the danger within as she narrates Atticus' reaction to her presence.
In chapter 31, Scout meets Boo face-to-face. She treats this man like a child. She acts like a parent leading a child throughout their exchange. Courage is modeled in this scenario because she has feared Boo for so long, and now, her fear is a real friend:

Boo had drifted to a corner of the room, where he stood with his chin up, peering from a distance at Jem. I took him by the hand, a hand surprisingly warm for its whiteness. I tugged him a little, and he allowed me to lead him to Jem’s bed.

Answer

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, there are several examples illustrating that Scout Finch is courageous even though, at times, she appears impetuous, as well. Many of the scenes involve Boo Radley or an attempt to get a glimpse of him. For instance, early on in the novel, there is a scene in which Scout, Jem, and Dill are debating whether to approach the Radley house to leave a note for Boo in chapter 5. Scout even tells the two boys that "anybody who’s brave enough to go up and touch the house hadn’t oughta use a fishin' pole." She asks, “Why don’t you just knock the front door down?” Scout, who is younger than Jem and Dill, watches lookout for them.
Shortly after this, in chapter 6, in another attempt to get a peek at Boo, Scout gets dragged along with the two boys even though she does not want to join them. Jem tells her:

“Scout, I’m tellin' you for the last time, shut your trap or go home—I declare to the Lord you’re gettin' more like a girl every day!”
With that, I had no option but to join them …Then I saw the shadow. It was the shadow of a man with a hat on. At first I thought it was a tree, but there was no wind blowing, and tree-trunks never walked…Halfway through the collards I tripped; as I tripped the roar of a shotgun shattered the neighborhood. Dill and Jem dived beside me. Jem’s breath came in sobs:
“Fence by the schoolyard!—hurry, Scout!”
Jem held the bottom wire; Dill and I rolled through and were halfway to the shelter of the schoolyard’s solitary oak when we sensed that Jem was not with us. We ran back and found him struggling in the fence, kicking his pants off to get loose. He ran to the oak tree in his shorts. Safely behind it, we gave way to numbness…

Another example of her bravery involves Boo Radley and comes at the end of the book in chapter 31. It is after Boo rescues Jem and brings him home. The doctor has been to see him, and Boo knows that Jem will be okay, so he wants to return to his home but he is afraid to go by himself. He asks Scout to take him home.

His hand tightened on mine and he indicated that he wanted to leave. I led him to the front porch, where his uneasy steps halted. He was still holding my hand and he gave no sign of letting me go.
“Will you take me home?”
He almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark.
I put my foot on the top step and stopped. I would lead him through our house, but I would never lead him home.
“Mr. Arthur, bend your arm down here, like that. That’s right, sir.”
I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm. He had to stoop a little to accommodate me, but if Miss Stephanie Crawford was watching from her upstairs window, she would see Arthur Radley escorting me down the sidewalk, as any gentleman would do.

In the prior chapter, chapter 30, which describes Boo's rescue of the children, Mr. Tate says to Atticus that “Scout is eight years old” and that "she was too scared to know exactly what went on.” To this, Atticus responds, "You'd be surprised."
This is both a commentary on her courage and her powers of observation. Other instances of her bravery are shown when she is defending either her father or her brother. For example, at the key scene in front of the jail when Atticus is guarding the jail and the mob of men comes for Tom Robinson, one of the men roughhouses Jem. Scout will not stand for that. In chapter 15, the narrator writes:

…a burly man said, and grabbed Jem roughly by the collar. He yanked Jem nearly off his feet.
“Don’t you touch him!” I kicked the man swiftly. Barefooted, I was surprised to see him fall back in real pain. I intended to kick his shin, but aimed too high.
“That’ll do, Scout.” Atticus put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t kick folks. No—” he said, as I was pleading justification.
“Ain’t nobody gonna do Jem that way,” I said.

That she is both brave and impetuous is seen in something that her father says to her. When Jem cuts the flowers in Mrs. Dubose’s flower garden in retaliation for her speech against Atticus, Atticus says to Scout in chapter 11, "I never thought Jem’d be the one to lose his head over this—thought I’d have more trouble with you." This shows that Atticus views her as someone who will stand up for those she loves even if it means doing something foolish or dangerous.
In punishment for Jem’s defiant action, Mrs. Dubose asks Jem to come to her home to read to her. Even though Jem describes the house as "all dark and creepy" with "shadows and things on the ceiling," Scout accompanies him every day. In fact, after the first visit to Mrs. Dubose, Atticus asks whether she frightened the children. Jem responds that she did not frighten him, but Scout says that she was frightened:

“She scared me,” I said. Atticus looked at me over his glasses. “You don’t have to go with Jem, you know.”

Nevertheless, the narrator says that she went again the next day and the day after and presumably throughout Jem’s entire punishment.

Answer

Several times in To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout displays courage when faced with fear.
Early in the narrative, Scout speaks of a "malevolent spirit" that dwells in a house down the street from her. She lives in fear of this purportedly restless spirit. But, when Dill Harris arrives in the neighborhood to stay at his Aunt Rachel's for the summer, he is intrigued with this spirit called Boo Radley. So, he designs a small drama around Boo. Jem agrees to role play with Dill and suggests that Scout pretend to be Mrs. Radley. Scout contradicts Jem, "I declare if I will. I don't think—" Interrupting, Dill taunts her, "'S'matter?....Still scared?" Scout argues, "He can get out at night when we're all asleep..." With no sympathy for her, Dill turns to Jem and tells him, "You and me can play, and Scout can watch if she's scared." Despite her fear, Scout bravely plays the role of Mrs. Radley. To her relief, "all [she] had to do was come out and sweep the porch" (Ch. 4).
Another courageous act of Scout's occurs when she, Jem, and Dill approach the jailhouse where Atticus is accosted by a mob. When Scout hears her father tell Jem to go home, a "burly man" grabs her brother and shakes him roughly, saying, "I'll send him home." Scout courageously intervenes for her brother by kicking the man swiftly and telling him, "Don't you touch him!" Then, Scout sees Mr. Cunningham. Unafraid of the other men, she speaks to him. "Hey, Mr. Cunningham. How's your entailment gettin' along?" Discomfited by this direct address to him by Scout, who has singled him out from the mob, Mr. Cunningham becomes uneasy with the situation. Scout bravely continues to talk to Cunningham despite "the sweat gathering at the edges of [her] hair" (Ch. 15).
After this uncomfortable situation, Mr. Cunningham feels shame that he has accosted Mr. Finch, who has always treated him fairly and has graciously accepted food as payment for his services. Bending down and taking Scout by the shoulders, Mr. Cunningham addresses her as "little lady." Then he tells the other men, "Let's clear out." The men return to their cars and depart. Scout's courage has diffused a dangerous situation.

To Kill a Mockingbird

What are some examples of how Scout Finch is courageous in To Kill a Mockingbird? Please include quotes and chapters.

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