To Kill A Mockingbird Reading Journal 2

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.

Mrs. Dubose shows true courage when, she battled her morphine addiction to the grave. She knew it was going to be a struggle, but she wanted to die free of her burden. Atticus describes her as the bravest person he knows. She also left a huge impression on Scout, and Jem, for life. After Mrs. Dubose makes a crude comment about Scout and Jem’s mother, Jem gets so angry that he cuts the tops off of Mrs. Dubose’s camellias. As a punishment Jem has to go read to Mrs. Dubose. Each day an alarm clock would go off and Jem would pack up and leave. Everyday the alarm clock would go off a little later, Jem never knew why until, Atticus told them about her Morphine addiction. Atticus explains why Mrs. Dubose wanted to beat her addiction and explains to Jem by saying, “She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you’re sick as she was, 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.” (60). Atticus is saying that Mrs. Dubose wanted to die free with no regrets, and one of her biggest regrets was morphine. Not only was she already dying, but she also had her withdrawals on top of that, and that makes one tough time. Despite all of that she still beat her addiction making her a true symbol of courage because she kept going

The camellias are two different symbols in the book. Lee uses them for Jem and Mrs. Dubose. Jem’s action of cutting the heads off Mrs. Dubose’s camellias show that his is still young and rash, he acted out of anger which later changes throughout the book. After Mrs. Dubose dies, she left a camellia for Jem, but Jem being immature, cannot realize that good and evil can live in the same person. The camellias symbolize for Mrs. Dubose that good and evil can live in the same person but to find the purity in people you have to dig down deep and pull the roots up. She left him the camellia as a good gesture to tell Jem that she appreciated him. Also throughout the book bravery takes a major role. Also throughout the book bravery takes a major role.

The flowers indicate that innocence is still in Jem and Scout because they believe Tom is being treated inhumanely and can see the wrongdoing of the townspeople. They are also staying strong in their mindset even after people chastise them for their views. White, is often associated with life after death or rebirth. Lee is showing that the spirit of Mrs. Dubose is still alive in these flowers and she is showing the children to advocate for what is right. The johnson grass and weed stand for the naive majority. Because the camellias grow ahead of them, it exposes that good is always coexisting with evil, it is just up to the townspeople to figure it out. Finally, Lee used the symbol of the camellias to uncover that innocence can be preserved when Jem threw the candy box in the fire, but left the camellia untouched. After Mrs. Dubose’s death, “Jem picked up the candy box and threw it into the fire. He picked up the camellia, and when I went to bed I saw him fingering the petals,” (112). The action of throwing the candy box into the fire is telling the readers that Jem is growing up and can see the effects of death or more mature topics. Normally, candy is for young children and since it is being burned that is displaying that Jem is over his youth. On the other hand, he keeps the camellia. Since he keeps the camellia that is implying to the readers that although he is going past his youth, Jem wants to

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

Atticus’s son, Jem, finds trouble with Mrs. Dubose; this caused a change in her character. Jem becomes angry with Mrs. Dubose because of her comments about Atticus to him and Scout; out of anger Jem “cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves” (103). When Atticus became aware of Jem’s actions he sent him down the street to apologize to Mrs. Dubose for what he had done. As a punishment, Mrs. Dubose asked that Jem to come to her home and read to her every day for a month. As asked Jem did bringing Scout along each day. After a month had went by Jem was asked to continue coming to read to her. Jem was not a fan of the idea but he did not want to disappoint Atticus so he did as he told him. Later, after Mrs. Dubose passes away, Jem is informed of why the reading was important to Mrs. Dubose. She had a morphine addiction and reading to her was helping her to break her habit. Jem

Dubose flower bed because he was mad at her for saying mean things to him. When Atticus found out what Jem had done he was furious. Atticus made him apologize to Mrs. Dubose. Mrs. Dubose asked Jem to read to her for the month. When Jem returned and told Atticus her request he said, “then you’ll do it for a month” (Lee 105). Jem really did not want to because he didn’t want to read to her for a month, it did not sound like a good time. He thought it was unfair. This shows just another of the many different ways life doesn’t always seem fair.

Throughout the novel, Jem is influenced by a variety of people and circumstances. His surroundings and the people that he grew up with influenced his outlook on life and persuaded him into a well developed young man. First and foremost, his father Atticus established morals, and guidelines and consequently lead him into adulthood. He provided wisdom and insight into a future for Jem, free from inequality and abundant in fairness. Mrs. Dubose, although biased and cruel, was a figure of courage for Jem to learn from. Throughout the case, Jem was constantly reiterating his opinion on how he believed none of it was right. At the end of the novel, Jem was put in the worst situation at such a young age, almost being murdered. Luckily, the outcome

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.

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

The transition from innocence to experience is a major theme in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, The character of Scout, on particular, portrays this theme exceptionally well. At the beginning of the novel, Scout is an innocent, good-hearted five-year-old child who has no experience with the evils of the world, as the novel progresses, Scout has her first contact with evil and she begins to mature. By the end of the novel her persperctive on people changed from that of a child to that of a grown-up.

Dubose said earlier about Atticus. Scout tells us that, gHe did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves. He bent my baton against his kneech (103). This quote shows that Jem was feeling very hurt by what Mrs. Dubose had said about his father. To Jem, Atticus seems feeble and old, so, when threatened, Jem feels it is his responsibility to protect him. In the book, when Mrs. Dubose talks about Atticus, Jem just ignores her and walks away, but finally he decides to get revenge. He does this by, glittering the ground with green buds and leaves.h Jem tries to hurt something Mrs. Dubose loves like she attacked Atticus. Mrs. Dubosefs harsh words make Jem feel that it is his job to defend Atticus.

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)