Fear and Courage.

By over coming fear one shows true courage. Someone strong and brave usually demonstrates fear & courage. However, in To Kill a Mockingbird all types of characters in the story were demonstrating fear and courage. In the first chapter we see fear & courage coming from the children. While still young Jem, Scout, and Dill were scared of Boo Radley from very beginning but one of them had the courage to challenge their fear of the Radley House:

“Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his
palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful. Dill and
I followed on his heels. Safely on our porch, panting and out of breath, we looked
back.
The old house was the same, droopy and sick, but as we stared down the street we
thought we saw an inside shutter move. Flick. A tiny, almost invisible movement,
and the house was still.”
(Page 18-19. Chapter 1)

This was one of the first instances of courage shown to counter the fear of the Radley House. Jem would have been seen as courageous in the minds of his sister Scout, and Dill because they themselves think they could not have done the same.
In my opinion there is two types of courageousness. One type would be to just impress others and just prove you don’t have fear to do something regardless if he benefits others of not. The second type is be courageous for others forget your fears because you know you need to help another person or your action would be of benefit for someone. By Jem slapping to Radley House to show to his friends that he was brave was not of any good to anyone else. This type of courageousness is less regarded in the world by scholars today as it does not hold much value mentioning to everyone. That is why Jem’s action of touching the House does not hold much value throughout the story and it is forgotten quickly.
Atticus who is much wiser showed much more true courageousness by not caring for what others thought him while he fought for Tom Robinson’s safety and justice. Atticus is a man who stands by what he believes in and he shows courageousness for people regardless of their color, which shows very good character. His courage was further tested when he got notice of Tom Robinson being moved to a country jail which meant his safety at night could be at risk from Mr. Ewell who could bring a lynch mob.

“You know what we want,” another man said. “Get aside from the door, Mr.
Finch.”
“You can turn around and go home again, Walter,” Atticus said pleasantly. “Heck
Tate’s around somewhere.”
(Page 202. Chapter 15 )

Regarding the quote above one clearly see Atticus’s bravery in standing in the way of a lynch mob to protect Tom Robinson. He bravely stands in the way of the mob because he knows if he steps aside a innocent man would die at the hands of his fears. Atticus however not only shows courage but also tries to teach his children about what true courage is. This was an especially important quote because by being able to teach others to have courage is beyond courage in truth. The following quote reads:

“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.”
(Page149. Chapter 11)

Atticus again shows how real courage is not overcoming the fear to shoot a gun but to go through with life even you know you’re against odds anyway. He teaches him a very important lesson about courage with really defined the amount of bravery Atticus had as a man due to his wisdom and experience.