Minor Characters In To Kill A Mockingbird

Amy Schultz To Kill a Mockingbird Many characters and events in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, are not what they seem. Mrs. Dubose appears to be a rude old women who found fault in everyone and yelled cruel things at anyone who walked past her house. Your perception of Mrs. Dubose is changed when Atticus tells Scout and Jem, “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

In the community of Maycomb Atticus is criticized by the way he talks to people and how responsible he could be. When Atticus had called Mayela ma'am and Ms. Mayella got offended. She became offended because she thought atticus was mocking her, she had criticized him for the way he talked to her. The way he was talking to her he was trying to show respect and was trying to be respectful to Mayella. "I got somethin' to say an' then I ain't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin' cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don't come to nothin'—your ma'amin' and Miss Mayellerin' don't come to nothin', Mr. Finch-" This quote shows that Mayella is somewhat offended by Atticus calling her ma'am and that she doesn't expect much of him.

Matt Berman from Common Sense Media commented, “This richly textured novel, woven from the strands of small-town life, lets readers walk in the shoes of one fully realized character after another.” To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the major messages is identity. Harper Lee lets the people look into the perspectives and identity of some of the characters that make it seem very life-like. In the novel, many characters possess both admirable and dislikable qualities which are shown through their actions. With the nurturing of her father, Scout contains the charming qualities of being courage and mature for her age. The father that instilled these characteristics in Scout, is Atticus Finch. While dealing with the stressful case of Tom Robinson, Atticus maintains to keep the likable aspects of sympathy and strong will. The antagonist in this novel fighting against Tom Robinson is Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell has instilled, in him, the terrible qualities of cruelty and racism. These life-like characters that Harper Lee illustrates gives people a clear vision of who the characters portray.

Dubose insults atticus ruthlessly but he finds a way to have empathy for her. Ms. Dubose says that Atticus is ruining the Finch family name and is a disgrace. In ch 11 Ms. Dubose brings her insults to an extreme as she tells Scout “[her] father’s no better than the… trash he works for”(134). Ms. Dubose’s insult highlights how terrible of a person she is and how hard it is for Atticus to empathize with her. Atticus knows Ms. Dubose is ill but many people taking this extremity of an insult in Atticus’s place would retaliate and not empathize with Ms. Dubose. However, Atticus still does not hate her, and by not hating her Atticus is able to empathize with her and find out how courageous she really is, which shows Scout that she can empathize with even the most racist people in the world. Atticus praises Ms. Dubose and says: “ I wanted you to see something about her - 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”(Lee 149). Atticus’s quote on how Ms. Dubose displayed real courage is very significant. The quote is extremely ironic as Ms. Dubose is portrayed as a racist and someone who is not very courageous. Atticus not hating Ms. Dubose is a very important demonstration for Scout, who again is forced to empathize with people she does not like. Overall, Atticus shows that by not hating people, you can find much more about them and even empathize with

Dubose through the author’s use of Conflict, Irony, and Imagery. Jem’s coming of age experience develops when he gets furious with Mrs. Dubose’s attitude towards him and his family, but then realizes why she’s always been a rude, old lady through Atticus’s explanation. It also develops when Jem is asked to read to Mrs. Dubose which is something that was very unexpected. His coming of age experience develops when Jem and Scout are with Mrs. Dubose closer than they ever have been with her. The point, though is Jem and Scout think of Mrs. Dubose as an old, horrible lady and they don’t really like her for what she has done to them and their family. After they discover an explanation from Atticus saying that the things she does is all because of her morphine addiction, they start to understand why does so. If people knew about Mrs. Dubose’s problem and her addiction, then maybe they wouldn’t think of her as the old lady they think of

Dubose, an old woman, confined to her bed in sickness, addicted to morphine to help her pain. In her last months she displayed her courage. Her devotion to become free of her addiction is what made this old woman so notable. Before her death Jem and Scout thought she was a old woman who had gone mad over the years. Until Atticus showed them what Mrs. Dubose's real identity was. He explained to his children that she was one of the bravest people to live in that town. “‘ 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). This woman died without a care in the world, her mind was free, and because of that so was she. As she died she was happy. Eventually, the children realized what a wonder Mrs. Dubose was “‘Did she die free?’ asked Jem ‘As the mountain air,’ said Atticus”(110).In the end Mrs. Dubose won her war as courageously as she could.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a beloved American classic set in 1930’s Alabama. The novel follows the lives of two children, Jem and Scout, as they grow up. However, the theme of this story is cultivated by two secondary characters-- Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. From them, we find out that things are not always as they seem to be.

Ms.Dubose was an old lady down the block from Jem and Scout, that would shout out malicious things to them about themselves and their family. One example of Jem being childish and acting immature is, that when Ms.Dubose said Atticus was “lawing for a n******” he teared up her precious camellias. This shows how he was immature and couldn't control his actions and made a rash decision when faced with rude comments. Following this destruction, Jem’s punishment is to read every day, including Saturdays, for two hours at Mrs. Dubose’s house. Which he loathes doing because she is a senile old women, who makes rude remarks every time he comes over. At the end of the chapter, Atticus reveals to Jem that she was addicted to morphine and that the reading was part of her effort to wean off of her addiction. Jem receives a gift from Ms.Dubose which is a single camellia. This revels Jem feels surprised, guilty, and saddened when he sees her gift. The camellia was a reminder for the reasons he spent time with Mrs. Dubose, but it was also was a sign for him to remember her by. Atticus teaches Jem a very important lesson that not all heroes use guns and weapons, but have the real courage and strength to fight for what they want to get. “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 see it through no matter what. We finally see when Jem starts to grow up and give things thought when “He picked up the camellia…I saw him fingering the white petals” This shows how Jem has empathy for Ms.Dubose and realizes that she was fighting and had admiration for her. Jem matures and shows how he can be understanding about

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay There are a number of things that make the book To Kill a Mockingbird a great book. Likewise, there are a bunch of things that make any book great. One of those things that is very important to have it in a great book is foreshadowing. Sometimes foreshadowing is something very subtle and other times it's quite obvious.

Minor characters are often more important than they initially seem, and can be just as engaging and complicated as major characters. Furthermore, protagonists are isolated without the people that surround and influence them subliminally. This applies to the intriguing minor characters one has the privilege of discovering in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Specifically, Lee uses minor characters to effectively disprove stereotypes and establishing setting. Not only do they influence the direction of the plot, but also Scout and her development as a character. Lee carefully selects minor characters to send important messages and reinforce themes by using characters as symbols. Fundamentally, the minor characters in “To Kill a

In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, many minor themes are present such as gender and age. However, the largest and therefore major theme of the book is racism. All of the events and themes in the book had only one purpose, to support the theme of racism.

Mrs. Dubose displays acts of personal courage in her honesty and strength. When Jem and Scout walk past her house to go meet Atticus on his way home,

Almost every single book on the planet contains minor characters. But in every book, do minor characters serve importance? They certainly do in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird! The minor characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird play an important role in the lives of the children because it is they who teach the children important lessons about what it means to be human.

She said that Tom forced himself on her. When the real story was that she forced herself on him. While she was forcing herself on him, her dad noticed a yelled at her calling her a whore and accusing Tom. Bob Ewell said that Tom forced himself on her because he didn't want the town knowing what his daughter did. "I got somethin' to say an' then I ain't gonna say no more. That nigger yonder took advantage of me an' if you fine fancy gentlemen don't wanta do nothin' about it then you're all yellow stinkin' cowards, stinkin' cowards, the lot of you. Your fancy airs don't come to nothin'—your ma'amin' and Miss Mayellerin' don't come to nothin', Mr. Finch-" (MayElla). She did not want to confess what she did. She has no compassion for what was going to happen to Tom as long as she was the

The audacious actions executed by Mrs. Dubose are used to illustrate how she is a fundamental character when it comes to demonstrating true courage. Throughout the years Mrs. Dubose was alive she was unafraid to speak her mind knowing that others had their own views and opinions they would later express. The readers are made aware of this during the time when Mrs. Dubose was speaking to Scout and Jem saying,