Mrs Dubose Conflict

Ms. Dubose assumes the worst about Scout from the clothes she wears. For Scout, the sexism of every other woman around her could have made her become a girl who just followed other people’s ideas, instead of thinking for herself. Along with being sexist, Ms. Dubose is racist. She even says ‘Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for n*****!’ (Lee, 101). Everyone else in the town seems to have the same opinion about Atticus defending an African-American and doesn’t hesitate to use the same offensive words to express their opinion. Ms. Dubose could have offended both women and African-Americans with one simple statement that showed both of her prejudices. She certainly offended one person, Jem, one of the few people in the town who isn’t racist. The way that their opinions clashed was also a factor of how they were raised. Both Jem and Scout were raised by their father, pretty much the only person who was raised in his generation that didn’t have biases against African-Americans. Ms. Dubose was one of the many in this generation who felt like she had a prerogative to think that African-Americans were less than her, and because of her insult, Jem destroyed her flowers, causing even more

Racism is represented to strengthen Harper Lee’s theme of prejudice. Mrs. Dubose yells at Jem and Scout across the street, “‘Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”’ (Lee 117). Mrs. Dubose showed quite the character of racism. She is upset and angry that Atticus is helping Tom in

One theme in To KIll a Mockingbird is people are not what they seem. Mrs. Dubose seems like a mean person. She picks on kids like Jem and Scout. She is racist. She is nosey and sticks her nose in other peoples’ business. Under all of that, she is actually struggling. She is addicted to morphine. She resists her addiction in a stubborn, courageous way. Before she dies, she gives Jem a flower as a thank you. To the children, Atticus is quiet and peaceful. He is scholarly and dislikes confrontation. They later found out he is known as the town’s best shot. He also took the Robinson case against the town’s wishes. Later, Atticus delt with the mob calmly to save the man he was defending. This shows that people are not always what they seem.

Atticus makes Jem think about how he would feel if he was in Mrs. Dubose place, and what he would do. Mrs. Dubose really did no damage and because of her illness, Atticus makes it clear to Jem that she represents bravery, and that she was tougher than anyone he knew. Day after day, as Jem kept reading to Mrs. Dubose, he felt empathy towards her and matured as a person.

Dubose. Jem and Scout hated Mrs. Dubose, she was always disrespectful when they passed by her house. She would yell at them about many different things like their behavior, their father, what they would be when they grew up, them walking to town, and them not having their mother around anymore. Most of her comments were about how Atticus was defending a man of color in court. One day Jem went mad, he grabbed Scout’s baton and ran into the front yard and cut the tops off every camellia bush in sight, he didn't begin to calm down until the ground has green buds and leaves everywhere. Once he was finished trashing Mrs. Dubose’ yard he snapped the baton in half, threw it down, when Scout saw she started screaming. Jem pulled her hair, and kicked her down. When Atticus got home he was disappointed that Jem would do something like that, he told him to go to Mrs. Dubose’ house and talk to her. When Jem came back he said he cleaned for her, said sorry, and said that he would help them grow back. Mrs. Dubose told Jem to come to her house everyday after school and on Saturdays and read to her out loud for two hours for a whole month. On the first day they weren't there for a long time because about half way through it was time for Mrs. Dubose’s medicine, Jessie kicked them out because she had to get the

Atticus' chooses to tolerate Bob Ewell's immaturity, because he thinks for his citizens, he believes to help people who do not have the say, even if they do, it is not considered in a matter of seriousness. Atticus finch is the character who steps out of his stereotypical class, where he gets all the freedom as a white man; when he goes out of his way to help the black people, who don't get enough say. His own race tries to backfire and understand why is his mentality different, why is he not acting the way they do. One of the characters in the novel always had something negative to say towards Atticus or even his children, "Your father is no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" (Lee 135) Miss. Dubose speaks with such hatred in her words towards Atticus, when speaking to the kids. Jem and Scouts father is still choosing to consider her well being first and her words from a different perspective. He tries to let his kids see from his point of view and that Miss.Dubose is a strong woman, who is going through so much, but this also builds up the kids tolerance level; teaching them how to cope and to hold your head high when negativity

Mrs. Dubose is an old lady who lives two doors up the street from the Finch's house. Atticus' son, Jem destroyed Mrs. Dubose's flowers because she had said disrespectful things about Atticus which brought out Jem's anger. Even though Atticus was very upset, he does not believe violence is the appropriate way to approach any situation considering it does not teach you valuable lessons. Instead, Jem's punishment was to read to Mrs. Dubose every day for the month and in the end taught him the true meaning of courage. Atticus demonstrates that holding your head up and fists down will save you from more complicated situations. Another example would be when disrespectful Bob Ewell spat on Atticus' face because Atticus made Bob look like a fool during his testimony. Atticus stayed calm during the whole situation. He held his head high and walked away during the scene. Following this further, Atticus sets honorable examples for his children. He believes all people have goodness in their hearts no matter how cruel or heartless they act, even if their status was low, they would have generosity and kindness inside. The first impression of Mrs. Dubose was described as a rude lady. She says to Scout, “Don't you say hey to me, you ugly girl! You say good afternoon, Mrs. Dubose!” (Lee 133). However, Mrs. Dubose is really a kind lady who causes no harm once you get the kindness out of her. In addition, Atticus compliments her and treats her as he would treat any

Jem learns from visiting Mrs. Dubose that not everything is how it seems at first glance. He also learns the value of courage and how it will later affect him as he matures into an adult. From what is described, the readers can draw a conclusion that Mrs. Dubose is impolite and bitter towards the children and is not afraid to speak her thoughts about Atticus defending Tom Robinson. As a result, Jem carries out his anger by destroying her flowers. He is later punished by Atticus by having to read to Mrs. Dubose certain days of the week for a period of time and work on her flowers. Through this process Jem is able to control his impulses and show kindness to those around him even if he does necessarily want to. This shows that Jem is becoming more of a young adult rather than a child. He also realizes that Mrs. Dubose is actually a woman of

As the predominant idol to Jem and Scout over the course of the novel, Atticus demonstrates that the ambitions people achieve deserve commemoration, even if their activities and stances are contentious. After vandalizing the entirety of Mrs. Dubose’s camellia bush garden, Jem attempts to justify his stunt to Atticus. Citing Mrs. Dubose’s appalling insults directed towards his father, Jem firmly believes that he is vindicated from any form of punishment. Consequently, Atticus makes it mandatory for Jem to read for Mrs. Dubose for over a month. After Jem finished his exercise, Atticus informs his children of Mrs. Dubose’s death roughly one month later. Revealing that Mrs. Dubose had an addiction to morphine, Atticus highlights that she retained

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters Jem and Scout are were walking to town when they walk by Mrs. Dubose's house. Mrs. Dubose says some very hurtful things towards them, which prompts Jem to cut out her flowers. This situation is misleading because it shows that Mrs Dubose was a bad person, but in actuality she was a thoughtful lady.

Dubose to show that people are essentially good. “You know, she was a great lady….She was the bravest person I ever knew” (Lee, 115-116). Despite her ugly and outspoken racism Mrs. Dubose is a courageous and strong woman. She forgave Jem for ruining her flowers even though the flowers were very meaningful and special to her. “She was a lady. She had her own view about things, a lot different from mine, maybe...son, I wanted you to read to her because I wanted you to learn something from 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. 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. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. She broke her addiction to morphine, which was a very hard thing to do. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” (Lee, 149). She could’ve taken the easy way out and died pain free, but she decided that she was going to reach her goal no matter what. Atticus showed his integrity by not responding back with hateful comments back to Mrs. Dubose whenever she insulted him. Despite Mrs. Dubose’s racist comments towards the Finch family, she was a forgiving and kind lady till the

Bird. People cannot be judged on first impressions; if we scratch the surface we’ll find that they are better or worse than first thought. They may have redeeming qualities or skeletons in their closets. Mrs. Dubose was first seen as a grouchy, sharp tongued racist who was steeped in traditionalism. As the story progresses she transforms into a resilient fighter, full of courage.

However, he is still willing to do so out of his love. Moral education wise, Atticus passes on knowledge of many critical and beneficial ideals to Scout. For example, Atticus makes Scout and Jem read to Ms. Dubose as "punishment" for Jem smashing her flowers. During this period, the children learn a lot about Mrs. Dubose's situation, as well as her underlying character/persona; they realize she is a compassionate, brave, and tenacious woman. (In the end she give Jem the single White Camellia as token of her gratitude.) Afterwards, Atticus tells them "I wanted you to see something about her - I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that it’s a man with a gun in his hand." (Chapter 11, Page 112) Here, and throughout the whole experience he put them through, Atticus is teaching his children about the ideal of courage; it is not simply the use of violence, rather, it is the determination and persistence to succeed even against seemingly insurmountable odds. This is how Atticus shows his love for Scout by educating her in a variety of fields. (And through various methods)

The most important theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is the Coexistence of good and evil. The novel approaches this theme in many ways throughout the book. An example is Mrs.Dubose in general. She was a rude old women who was hated by the neighbourhood for her attitude. “Neighbourhood opinion was unanimous that Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old woman who ever lived”(Lee 35). She never was

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,