Misunderstood Characters In To Kill A Mockingbird

Dubose. She represents racism which is the main point in the book To Kill a Mockingbird, “‘ Your fathers no better than the niggers and trash he works for!’” (135). Here Mrs. Dubose officially describes her ways of thinking. She believes that black people are nothing and that they worthless. She uses strong diction in order to describe her perspective of Atticus and his work. Through her and her symbolism Jem and Scout learn about racism. Racism is a cruel thing and affects the people who encounter it. “ I had become almost accustomed to hearing insults aimed at Atticus,” (136). Scout has become used to the remarks given about Atticus and their family. Although the children are used to it that does not mean they aren’t annoyed by it. Many people took racism as a way of life whereas the Finches saw it as an injustice. Just like this quote, eventually Jem could not handle Mrs. Dubose and destroyed her garden. He did something about what he viewed as an injustice by Mrs.

Unlike most of the people in the black community, Calpurnia is able to read and write. It is mentioned by Scout that Calpurnia is the one who taught her how to write because it kept Scout from driving Calpurnia crazy. Equivalently to how Calpurnia is able to read and write, she also talks in a white dialect, unless she is around her people. Upon hearing Calpurnia talk in a different dialect, Scout questions her about it. “Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’ talk at home it’d be out of place, wouldn't it? Now what if I talked white-folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors? They’d think I was puttin’ on airs to beat Moses.” (127). Calpurnia explains that she does it according to the company, so she isn't out of place. The last divergence that readers can notice about Calpurnia is how strict she is towards the kids she watches. Atticus explains that most nannies aren’t strict with them, and don't punish them. “… she’s never let them get away with anything, she’s never indulged them the way most colored nurses do.”

Scout notices that Calpurnia’s voice seems ‘strange’. Then Calpurnia explains to them on why she talked like that, and teaches them. “I just wants to know why you bringin’ white chillun to our church.”“They’s my comp’ny,” said Calpurnia. Again I thought her voice strange: she was talking like the rest of them…’Suppose you and Scout talked colored-folks’ talk at home-it’d be out of place, wouldn’t it? Now what if I talked white-folks’ talk at church, and with my neighbors? They’d think I was puttin’ on airs to bear Moses.’” This shows that Calpurnia changes how she talks, she adapts herself to who she’s with, colored or not, to make them comfortable and not question how she talks, and to sound ‘normal’, according to what normal is to the people she’s with. It is respectful because as she said, talking colored folks at home would be out of place while talking white folks talk at church and with her neighbors would also be out of place, so she is respectful of what people think is right. (Page 135 and 143) My final piece of evidence is in chapter 14 where Alexandra wants to make Calpurnia leave, since she’s there now, and Atticus defends her telling how Calpurnia is a faithful member of the family and has earned his

Since Calpurnia is so caring and good to the kids, they look at her as more than just the cook, they look at her as if she was a second mother. One day while Atticus was away for the day Calpurnia decided to take the kids to the all-black church with her. When she showed up with Jem and Scout she was getting nasty looks and comments from some of the other church-goers. She just ignored then and led the kids into the church. When church was let out and they began their walk home. This shows that Cal is caring enough to take the kids to church, knowing ahead of time that the other church members were not going to be happy. On their way home Scout asked if she could go visit Calpurnia at her home one day. Calpurnia responded with, “Any time you want to. We’d be glad to have you” (Lee 168). This also shows that Cal is willing to open her house for them anytime they want to come. Due to Calpurnia’s strong opposition to race, the kids aren’t racist. They don’t care about skin color, they want justice for all. Another example of her caring is the time Tim Johnson, the rabid dog, came down the street and headed right towards their house (Lee 123). The kids ran to get Calpurnia and she took

In To Kill a Mockingbird Jem and Scout initially feel like they know everything there is to know about those closest to them, like Atticus and Calpurnia. As the story progresses they discover additional information the reveals more about who Atticus and Calpurnia really are. Scout and Jem spend a great deal of time with Calpurnia, and they see her as another adult figure, similar to Aunt Alexandra or Miss Maudie. When they spend more time with Calpurnia throughout the story they see that her life outside of the Finch household is very different from anything they are used to. When Calpurnia takes Jem and Scout to church she starts talking differently. At home she talks as if she is educated; more like a white person. However, at church with

Mrs Dubose is represented as a mean old lady but in reality she’s just struggling with her health. Mrs. Dubose has suffered many years with addiction and is trying to take care of her health but the kids do not believe that because she is a mean person. Jem and Scout try to avoid walking by her house because she’s really rude to them. One day when Scout walked by, she said: “ ‘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!’ she was vicious” (pg 115). Scout judges Mrs. Dubose based on how she behaves towards her without getting to actually know her, this is seen when Mrs. Dubose uses the word ugly to describe Scout. However Scout similarly describes Mrs Dubose negatively by calling her vicious, although Scout has never made the effort to understand her personal struggles. Likewise After Mrs. Dubose’s death, Atticus said to Jem “I wanted you to see something about her--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.” (pg. 112). Atticus wanted his kids to see the side of Mrs. Dubose that he knew himself. Atticus wanted them to see the courage she had and how strong she was in reality. The kids thought she was just a mean old lady, but behind closed doors, she was a hero. Jem and Scout thought that Mrs. Dubose was a mean old lady. They did not believe or see what Atticus saw in Mrs. Dubose.

She was introduced as “ a mean lady”(132), she instilled an aura of fear in the kids through her callous comments towards Atticus which the children took to heart. They did not understand that Ms. Dubose was a “morphine addict”(147), which was the reason she said those mean comments without knowing. They walked away from her comments without knowing the reason why she said them. Later, Jem destroyed her garden after some of her mean remarks, he was then told to by Atticus to go to her house every day and read to her. After a few weeks of reading to her, he realized that she was sick. He then felt the slightest of sorries for her, but he still hated her. The ignorance towards her by Jem before he knew of her illness caused them to think of her as a monster. In addition to Ms.Dubose, Tom Robinson continues to emphasize how ignorance leads to

Through rumors and ignorance, lives, careers, and relationships are ruined. Scout Finch, the younger sister of Jem and the daughter of Atticus, is morbidly curious. She wants nothing more than to get to see her neighbor, Boo Radley, and wants to be included, even though she is young and a lady. She tends to take everything she ever hears as the truth, no matter how much it is a lie. To Kill a Mockingbird covers many serious topics, such as growing up, racism, courage, and even rape, but it addresses rumors in a unique way. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird covers the effect of a rumor, through “Boo” Radley, segregation, and even the Finch family, she proves that a rumor is nothing more than the words of someone too lazy to seek out the truth.

Dubose was one of the examples Atticus used to teach scout how to be empathetic. Scout herself described Mrs. Dubose as “plain hell” (Lee 7). Every single time Jem, Scouts older brother, and Scout passed Mrs. Dubose’s house on their way to the city they would be verbally harassed. One day when Jem and scout were on their way back from the city they passed Mrs. Dubose’s house and Jem got fed up by all her rude and unnecessary comments so he ruined her garden. As a punishment she asked that Jem come to read to her every day after school. Although “Jem and I (Scout) hated her (Mrs. Dubose)” (133), Atticus still made them both go to read a book to her every day because he “wanted you (Them) to see what real courage is” (146). What the kids don’t know is that Mrs. Dubose is actually a morphine addict who was coming clean right before her death. Mrs. Dubose could have just been on medications until she died but she wanted to “die beholden to nothing and nobody” (146) which is what Atticus wanted to show the kids. Even though she was considered an “Old-hell devil” (145) she was actually just fighting a greater battle which was making her come across as unpleasant and rude. Scout starts to realize how she misjudged Mrs. Dubose which helps her become more

Dubose was telling at Jem and Scout for doing something harmful, but they are actually innocent of doing nothing wrong. The kids see Mrs. Dubose as a rude, selfish, and inmature lady. Atticus on the other hand understands Mrs. Dubose and sees her as an innocent lady because “‘[She] was a morphine addict’ . . . She took it as a pain-killer . . . ‘She was the bravest person [Atticus] ever knew’”

While he is reading to her. Scout and Jem realize that Mrs. Dubose asks a bit strange and that the time slots that he is reading to her in continue to get longer and longer. Closer to the end of the book, Mrs. Dubose dies and Atticus explains to Jem that she was a morphine addict, and that the reason that she was being so mean was because she was going through withdraw. Jem and SCout did not realize that Mrs. Dubose was going through withdraw, they judged her before they knew her and when they found out what she was going through the immediately changed their mind about

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.

Dubose. Jem and Scout see Mrs. Dubose as a grouchy old woman who enjoys making snide comments about them and their family. One day, Jem lost his normal calm and ruined some of her bushes. As punishment, he had to read to her every day of the week for a month. Although they never learned to like her, they came to respect her and view her in a different light. Their respect for her grew after she had died and Atticus told them that she had been a morphine addict. He said, "She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you're as sick as she warm it's all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn't all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that's what she did," (Lee 148). To Atticus, this made her the bravest person he knew. This new description of her was very different from the one the Finch children had originally given her. In this case, Jem had judged before he looked, which later taught him a valuable

(33) Atticus tells her. It is clear here that the Finch family need her to carry on, and that she is trying to help raise them as if she were her own. Calpurnia soon took Scout and Jem to her church to show her the ways of her people; African Americans. After seeing this, Scout says inspiring things about her, claiming that “Calpurnia led a modest double life [. . .]. The idea that she had a separate existence outside our household was a novel one” (167).

She is a neighbour of the Finch household, and is described as “plain hell”, chapter 1, and “the meanest old woman who ever lived”, chapter 4. She was always shouting and yelling insults to Jem and Scout. However, Atticus saw her as a very brave woman, and was a winner, “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”, chapter 11. Mrs Dubose was misjudged from many people because of her unkind attitude but the quote relates to her because she was a morphine addict and promised herself to die clean. Jem and Scout didn’t know this so they disliked her, but they didn’t know the pain she was going through. Mrs Dubose was in fact an underdog, a hero, and that took immense courage. This is how the quote “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” applies to Mrs Dubose because nobody knew what she was going through and she died as a