Tom Robinson Misunderstood In To Kill A Mockingbird

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

Courage can mean being adventurous or doing something by yourself for the first time. Real courage is having perseverance, determination and doing what you believe in. According to Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, real courage is “when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Mrs. Dubose, Boo Radley, and Atticus show their courage by never giving up when things get tough or being afraid of going against societal norms.

I am reading the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. This book is about a girl named Scout Finch who lives with her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus, during the Great Depression. They live in a small town called Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a town where everybody knows everybody. There is currently a trial taking place; Mayella vs. Tom Robinson. Tom has been accused of rapeing Mayella. Tom has pleaded not guilty for the crime he has been accused of. In this journal I will be evaluating Tom’s character and questioning why the Ewells may be lying.

Through her determination to die free of morphine, Mrs. Dubose suffers tremendously from withdrawal showing that mental courage is more difficult to obtain than physical courage. Mrs. Dubose is a morphine addict who appears to be a racist based off of her interactions with Jem and Scout regarding Atticus’ defense of Tom Robinson. In a state of anger, Jem destroys Mrs. Dubose's camellias, and has to read to her for a whole month as a punishment. During this time, the children witnessed the pain that Mrs. Dubose has to endure from not using morphine, yet they could not see her goal and considered her to be disgusting, rather than to show her sympathy for her decision. By the end of her life, Mrs. Dubose has “died beholden to nothing and nobody” (149), she experienced true freedom before she passed away. Mrs. Dubose did

The two people involved in the so-called crime, Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell, are at the very bottom of Maycomb society. Tom is black and Mayella one of the poorest of the poor whites. However, neither of them fits into the stereotypes held by the people of Maycomb. Tom is honest, hardworking and dependable, as Mr Link Deas's shouted testimony and his demeanour in court

Atticus wants them to empathise with her so they can see how much courage she had and learn “what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.” They both begin to understand why she was the way she was and see that she was actually a “great lady”, “had her own views about things” and died “beholden to nothing and nobody.” The reader sees that Jem in particular empathises with her at the very end of the chapter when Scout says, “He picked up the camellia, and when I went off to bed I saw him fingering the wide petals.” This shows that Jem was now beginning to understand and think about Mrs Dubose in a new light and he could now see her perspective. She was not just a bitter old lady. She was a courageous woman who stuck to her opinions right to the end and was determined to be rid of her morphine addiction before she died.

In chapter ten of To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem gets angry at what Mrs. Dubose said about him and his family, so takes scouts brand new baton and chops off the top of her camellia buds and then he snaps her baton in half. As Jem and Scout make their way to town Mrs. Dubose who raked them by her wrathful graze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and given a melancholy prediction on what we would amount to when we grew up, which was always nothing She criticized how Scout dressed, how Atticus was defend tom, a black man, and how Atticus let them run wild. When Atticus found out that Jem had chopped the top of her bushes off, he made him go apologize to her. Mrs. Dubose then made a request for Jem which was for him to read

Jem hates Mrs.Dubose because of the mean things that she says about Atticus and the trial. After she dies they all learn that she was a morphine addict and that’s why she was always so hostile and negative (for the most part). “ … Son, didn’t you know know what here fits were?’. Jem shook his head ‘Mrs.Dubose was a morphine addict,” (Lee 147). Atticus helps Jem step into Mrs.Dubose shoes as he tries to understand what she was going through. “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 meant to break herself of it before she died, and that’s what she did,” (Lee 148). Now that Jem has this information, he has a chance to really internalize it. Next Atticus’s influence helps Scout to empathy for Mayella during the

In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Atticus relates to the main quote by showing his children how they could never understand Mrs. Dubose until they experience her struggles. Atticus explains to Jem and Scout Mrs. Dubose’s situation. To Jem and Scout, Mrs. Dubose is a mean, old cranky lady who doesn’t respect anyone. To Atticus, Mrs. Dubose is a fighter. When Mrs. Dubose insulted Atticus, Jem finally snapped and cut her camellia bushes.

Tom Robinson lived a normal life for a young black man. He walked to work every day and helped others when they needed it, but one day on his way to work, Mayella Ewell asked him for help and took advantage of him. But she blamed it on him and he was sent to court to be found guilty or not guilty. “But you weren’t in a fix- you just testified that you were resisting Miss Mayella Ewell. Were you so scared that she’d hurt you, you ran, a big buck like you? No suh, I’s scared I’d be in court, just like I am now.” (Lee 167) This relates to the thesis because they thought that just because he is a colored man that he was supposed to stronger than Mayella. But due to his respect, he was looked down upon and lost his innocence trying to show that he did nothing

Tom Robinson was a black man, who was allegedly accused of rape based off of very bad evidence. Despite the bad evidence, he was still convicted. From this case the reader could see how bad the prejudice was in Maycomb towards black people, but it didn’t stop there. Not only was Tom Robinson treated unfairly, but as well Atticus, the lawyer who decided to defend him. Atticus was verbally assaulted daily in the town, due to his decision of defending a black

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

According to her, she died beholden to nothing or nobody. She was the bravest person I knew.” (p.149) Jem and Scout don't realize the hardships and struggle Mrs. Dubose is facing by simply choosing to overcome her addiction. Atticus admires and respects Mrs. Dubose for facing her addiction so he uses the example of Mrs.Dubose’s courage to Jem and Scout to show them what real courage is. By reason of her courage Mrs. Dubose died free of her morphine addiction, because she knew it was the right thing to

Tom Robinson finally testifies and I believe what he says. The only reason why he is even in that court is because his skin color. First off, Tom Robinson has always passed by the Ewell’s place and Mayella always asks him to do some work for her. Tom Robinson was just trying to be a gentlemen. Secondly, Tom Robinson has a family. I am sure any gentleman like him would not do that to his own wife or kids. Besides having a family, the man is crippled!! There is almost no way he abused Mayella as described by Bob and Heck.The only reason why he is guilty is because he is a Negro, and everyone assumes Negroes always do bad. The facts are plain and simple. Mayella tempted Tom and Bob being the abusive person he is, abused Mayella for what she had

Nobody's favorite character in a book is the villain, unless the reader is a nine year old boy who walks around with a plastic sword in his back pocket and has a strange obsession with violence, manipulation and all the other important lessons learned from our parents at a young age. Other than that people are usually drawn to the heros; the one who are responsible for making the book being read a little more tolerable. The book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee opens in Maycomb, Alabama where blood runs deep but racism runs deeper. This southern town is shaken to its core when local destitute, Mayella Ewell, accuses Tom Robinson, a negro, of rape. A surplus of events leads to the inevitable: guilty or not, Tom Robinson was going to jail