“To Kill a Mockingbird”
The Golden Rule states, “Treat others as you would have them treat you”. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, a boy named Jem failed to apply this rule to his own circumstances.
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.
Everyone agrees that Mrs. Dubose did bluntly disgrace Jem’s father, however they disagree upon the subject of whether jem should have rudely retaliated upon her. Jem should not have cut Mrs. Dubose’s roses for three reasons: Mrs. Dubose’s circumstances, Jem’s foolish actions, and the results of kinder actions. …show more content…
The first reason Jem should not have cut Mrs.
Dubose’s roses is because of Mrs. Dubose’s circumstances. Mrs. Dubose was equally as old as she was sick. When a person is ill they tend to be irritable, or they try to make other people’s situations harder to make themselves feel better about their own situations. This most likely was the case with Mrs. Dubose, not only was she ill and elderly, she was lonely. While harassing young children does not sound like a productive way to make friends, being lonely as she was, perhaps Mrs. Dubose simply did not know how to make
friends.
The second reason Jem should not have cut Mrs. Dubose’s roses is because of his foolish actions. Childishly cutting Mrs. Dubose’s flowers would only cause trouble for himself. Primarily he would be forced to face his father’s disappointment, however he would also suffer the humiliation of having apologize to Mrs. Dubose, and submit himself under her will of appropriate punishment.
The final reason Jem should not have cut Mrs. Dubose’s roses is because of the results of kinder actions. If he would have sacrificed his pride and simply forgiven Mrs. Dubose he would not have had to deal with Mrs. Dubose’s punishment. He should have followed his father’s divine example of forgiveness, for turning his cheek would certainly have paid off.
Some people believe Jem should have cut Mrs. Dubose’s flowers. They reason that Mrs.Dubose was a callous woman without proper etiquette. She contemptuously insulted Jem’s father for defending a man in court solely off the basis that the man was black. However while this proof errs to the side of justice, God is the giver of justice. And despite the fact that Mrs. Dubose was in the wrong in this situation, Jem had many times in his life, like all other humans, failed to meet God’s standards.
People also believe Jem should have cut Mrs. Dubose’s flowers because flowers are unimportant. Mrs. Dubose could no longer tend her flowers, and thus they would die anyways. Moreover, her roses were not special, they were common and could not bring her anymore joy then looking across the street to see other people’s gardens. This proof however is also inadequate, the roses did bring Mrs. Dubose much joy for she would sit on her porch every day and enjoy their beauty.
Neither of these reasons would give Jem any good inclination or excuse to cut Mrs. Dubose’s roses.
In conclusion, Jem should not have cut Mrs. Dubose’s roses because of Mrs. Dubose’s circumstances, Jem’s foolish actions, and the results of kinder actions. This issue matters to Jem because there was no greater punishment to him then his father’s disappointment.