Dubose was strong and unmoving in things she believed in, which is a trait that future generations need to learn. Atticus tells his children that Mrs. Dubose is a great role model: “‘I wanted you to see something about her - I wanted you to see what real courage is’” (Lee 149). Mrs. Dubose’s confidence, strength and courage are traits that are important for people to have, and she will be remembered by the FInches’, along with many others, for her…
Mrs. Dubose’s judgmental and bitter nature gives insight to Lee’s theme that the follies of one’s human nature can lead people to only see the worst in them. As Jem and Scout Finch simply walk past the house of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, she starts persecuting them on their appearance, actions, and the “wrongs” of their father. She automatically expects the worst of them, speculating that they must be up to no good. Mrs. Dubose even insults their father saying, “Your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”(Lee 102). The spiteful behavior of Mrs. Dubose only offends those who encounter her. Her thoughts are unfiltered; letting her harsh judgements be known whenever she pleases. Mrs. Dubose fails to see the damage her…
Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, is identified to the Finch children as the cranky old lady down the street who yells insults at the children. She torments them on everything they say and do; one day…
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee showed the hardships of growing up in the 30's. The characters Jem and Scout are thrown in the middle of difficult times when their father, Atticus, chooses to represent a black man. From this choice of their father, Jem and Scout come to understand that the world isn't fair and they learn how to deal with it. Through the interactions of the childhood world and the adult world, Jem and Scout's personalities and learning change. Jem starts to feel the effects of Atticus's choice to represent a black man when he has an encounter with an old lady, Mrs. Dubose. When Mrs. Dubose was rude to Jem, he got angry and ruined her flowers. Jm was young and didn't understand the effects of his actions. Atticus told Jem that he needs to just hold his head high "and be a gentleman"(133). Jem was just a boy and wasn't used tp dealing with cruelness, especially coming from an adult. His father made it clear…
When Mrs. Dubose, the mean old woman who lives down the street from the Finch family yells insults at Jem and Scout on her way to town, Jem reacts by returning and cutting up all the flowers in her front yard. His punishment is to read to Mrs. Dubose for a specified time period every day. He complains to Atticus that she is an awful woman, but Atticus tells Jem and Scout to try to understand Mrs. Dubose's point of view. She is an old woman, very set her in ways, and she is entirely alone in the world. Jem and Scout agree to visit her. After Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus reveals that by reading to her each day, the children were helping her break her morphine addiction. Atticus explains that Mrs. Dubose was fighting to regain sobriety, even as she stood on the brink of death. Because of this, to Atticus, she is the bravest person he has ever known. He explains this to the children to try to make them understand the terrible pain she was experiencing, and how their presence helped her through the process. Although she might have said some…
Scout learns to know people before judging them. When Jem, Scout's older brother, hit the tops of all of Mrs. Dubose's camellias his punishment was to read to Mrs. Dubose, this is Scout's description of her. “She was horrible. Her face was the color of a dirty pillowcase... Old-age liver spots dotted her cheeks... pale eyes with black pinpoint pupils...”(Lee 142). In the beginning Scout though that Mrs. Dubose was a “mean, ugly creature.” It tuned out that Mrs. Dubose was dealing with a morphine addiction and had no control of her looks. Over the time the Jem was there it was to help her cope with the less and less morphine. Dubose died with no addiction and all, and Scout…
He wanted Jem to get to know Mrs. Dubose not as an angry old lady but as a human being who has had a very tough life. Atticus is always polite to Mrs. Dubose, despite her rudeness. He is polite to everyone. The encounter Jem has with Mrs. Dubose’s flowers gives Atticus an opportunity to teach his children responsibility, but after her death he also lets them know why he considers her such a courageous person. After Jem destroys her flowers, Atticus has him go to read to her. He later explains that he wanted his children to see what real courage is. Sometimes courage is mental as well as physical. Mrs. Dubose was addicted to painkillers, and she wanted to wean herself off of them before she died. She was having Jem read to her so that she could have a distraction. Jem did not know any of this until later, but Atticus knew that he could explain it and Jem would understand. “You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” (112). Mrs. Dubose was an underdog. She was addicted to morphine, but she kicked the habit. What she did took immense courage. Atticus wanted his children to see that sometimes you can win an unwinnable fight, and sometimes just trying to win when it seems impossible is courageous. Atticus himself was facing an uphill battle that would require courage…
Jem Finch lives in quaint small town called, Maycomb, Alabama, with his father, Atticus, and tomboy little sister, Scout. Lizabeth also lives in the Deep South with her mother, father, and little brother Joey. Lizabeth, a known troublemaker, destroys her neighbor’s, Miss Lottie, pride and joy, her marigolds, out of pure frustration when she sees her father crying. Mrs. Dubose lives down the street from the Finches, who also loves her Camilla bushes, and is crushed, due to Jem cutting the tops of each bud, when she lashes out comments on his father defending a black man. Due to the many similarities in the two books, both characters loose their innocence and it impacts both stories and how the characters act from then on.…
Over a couple of weeks Jem had been harassed by an old woman called Mrs. Dubose. Jem had remained calm and had proceeded for weeks to ignore her, however, on one day she insulted his father Atticus for defending in court a negro man named Tom Robinson. This insult outraged Jem, and on that day he returned to Mrs. Dubose’s house and cut the heads of her roses.…
27) After visiting Mrs. Dubose for a month and learning that she passed away right after, Atticus touch Jem the values of courage. Atticus tells Jem that you have to see it all the way through no matter what and that you may not win at all but sometimes you do when just as Mrs. Dubose did. Jem saw Mrs. Dubose's conflict against addiction and it helped him become the gentleman who protects his younger sibling, Atticus my half touch on this lesson to help him get through the upcoming events. This lesson helped…
Dubose’s flowers. Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose lives two houses up the street from the Finch family. There are several rumors about her, including that she keeps a “CSA pistol concealed among her numerous shawls and wraps” (132). Jem and Scout hate her because she is rude to them, and scolds and insults them every time they go by her house. One time, Mrs. Dubose calls Atticus a ‘n-lover’. Jem gets furious and in retaliation, snatches Scout’s baton, running “flailing wildly up the steps into Mrs. Dubose’s front yard. … He [Jem] … cuts the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered” (137). When Atticus gets home that evening, he steps one foot in the door and yells to Jem to see if he was responsible for Mrs. Dubose’s yard. When Jem responds that he is, Atticus berates him and says he has to go over to her house and read to her for two hours everyday for a month. Atticus wants to make sure his kids have a consequence for when they do something not scrupulous/unethical, so they will learn from it and not do it again. As Jem reads to Mrs. Dubose, he and Scout witness the old, dying woman’s battle against her morphine addiction and learn the true meaning of courage. “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what”, Atticus tells them (149). Even if Jem did not cut her flowers, Atticus would have still made Jem and Scout go read to her because Atticus vicariously wanted them to see the true meaning of courage from the bravest person he knew before she…
Mrs. Dubose is not as brave as Atticus says. While Jem and Scout are walking into town, Mrs. Dubose says, “Your father’s no better than the n****** and the trash he works for!” Mrs. Dubose says this to hurt the children's feelings. Later Atticus refers to Mrs. Dubose as brave, but I would consider this anything but brave. She is going out of her way to hurt the feelings of defenseless children.…
Aunt Alexandra tells Jem and Scout they have to act like Finches. Initially, Atticus agrees with her, but says differently while he puts his children to bed, that “I don’t want you to remember it. Forget it.” (178). Atticus doesn’t want himself or his kids to act like the rest of their family. He likes everyone to think for themselves and be their own person. Again, Atticus is genuine when Heck is telling Atticus that Jem did not kill Bob Ewell, but in his shock, Atticus doesn’t believe him and thinks Tate is trying to cover up what Jem did. Atticus tells Mr. Tate that, “I don’t live that way.” (365). Atticus is an honest person, and he always tries to be honest and outright. He doesn’t act different around certain people or in certain social settings. As the Finches’ neighbor Miss Maudie Atkinson says, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.” (61).…
She especially does not like Atticus because he supports Tom Robinson in the trial. For example, “ if I said as sunnily as I could, “ hey Mrs, Dubose”. I would receive for an answer “ don’t you say hey to me you ugly girl you say good afternoon, Mrs, Dubose” ( Lee 133). When Jem and Scout walked by Mrs, Dubose house, she said some bad words but Jem and Scout do not realize that she is going through a very hard time because of her disease and is having a rough couple of days. Furthermore, “ Where are you going at this time of day?” she shouted “ playing hooky, I suppose. I’ll just call up the principal and tell him” ( Lee 134). Mrs, Dubose thinks that Jem and Scout are really bad people from her perspective. When she grew up everything was different then it was during this time period so she thinks Jem and Scout are doing things wrong. Lastly, “ your father’s no better than the ------- and trash he works for” ( Lee 135). Mrs, Dubose is going through a tough time and she might think it sounds good but to Jem and Scout it is very hurtful. Mrs, Dubose does not have much things to look forward to so, to she is also making other people’s life miserable. As you can see Mrs, Dubose has come to her conclusions about Jem and Scout. Mrs, Dubose thinks that Jem and Scout are bad influences and for this reason she treats them poorly.…
With Jem destroying her flowers he reads to her and so does Scout. Seeing Mrs. Dubose lying in bed, looking unhealthy, Scout states that she feels sorry to Mrs.Dubose. Feeling sympathetic, but this is related to empathy:”In the corner of the room was a brass bed, and in the bed was Mrs. Dubose. I wondered if Jem’s activities had put her there, and for a moment I felt sorry for her”(141). In the first impression of Mrs.Dubose Jem and Scout view her as woman with no boundaries to her words and is the most racist woman. But once Scout sees Mrs.Dubose to the brink of death she starts to feel sorry for her. Later long in the story Scout and Jem learn that Mrs.Dubose was a mouthing addict and was battling her addiction with Jem reading to her. This shows how Scout moral education changed over time and how she is now starting to see racism and ignorance in Maycomb…