When I look back on my experience in Maycomb County, I remember the kinds of things people thought of others, just ‘cause they were different, or just ‘cause they didn’t take part in normal things. Arthur “Boo” Radley definitely was one of those people who was judged harshly by “normal” folk. People believed that he was a “malevolent phantom”(8) who committed crimes and “peeped in windows”(9). Even after the real culprit of the crimes was revealed, everyone was “unwilling to discard their initial suspicions”(9). Jem and I also believed it ourselves, completely oblivious to the fact that the town folks’ gossip was nothing but lies. But we realized soon enough that we had only scratched the surface of this one man’s story. One night, Jem and …show more content…
Dubose, one of our neighbors, certainly was a very peculiar woman. She was very old, and seemed very mean and stingy to Jem and I. She also insulted Atticus on numerous occasions for his standing in the trial, and that made Jem so furious that he “cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubosed owned”(103). Of course, when Atticus found out about this, there were consequences. Jem was to “come every afternoon after school and Saturdays and read to her aloud for two hours”(105). I chose to go with Jem, just so that he wouldn’t be alone, but that was not the only reason as I soon would find out. I realized that “each day we had been staying a little longer at Mrs. Dubose’s, and that she was well into one of her fits by the time it sounded”(109). At the time, I didn’t understand why this was the case, and neither did Jem. However, Atticus later explained to us that Mrs. Dubose “was a morphine addict”(111). That drug was supposedly for pain, but before Mrs. Dubose died, “she said she meant to break herself of it”(111). Her effort of getting clean of the drug was not a useless one and she “die[d] free”(111). To this day, I still believe that Mrs. Dubose was a great woman, and that she truly knew what it meant to be
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
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
Jem asks about Mrs. Dubose's addiction and death, and Atticus uses her fight against morphine as a lesson on how important it is to fight for something good. Lastly, “According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” (Lee 116). Atticus had an admiration for her bravery against her addiction to the very end.
Atticus Finch had noticed her stay strong through her life when he explained to his son “Mrs Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her.” he saw what this morphine addict went through and said “She was the bravest person I ever knew” because how she made the pain go away but having jem come over and the most important thing he had said was “She died beholden to nothing and nobody.” (112). She used jem to make the pain go away as she was addicted. She had nobody as she was a widow and now it was just those painkillers keeping her from death as every day she felt the pain but was courageous enough to fight through it.
People aren’t always what we think they are and yet we still expect people to be the stereotypes society runs off of. Maycomb too suffers from this “usual disease” especially with regard to Boo Radley. Everyone in Maycomb County makes fun of Boo, Arthur Radley, without even knowing him: “Boo was about six and a half feet tall […]; he dined on raw squirrels...” (13). This quote explains one of the many urban myths Maycomb and the children have built around Boo.
Dubose at first glance, is a bad woman doing nothing but spending her days sitting on her porch criticising people or hiding indoors. Everyone in the book can agree that she is cruel and bitter towards everyone. However, Mrs. Dubose isn’t grumpy because of Atticus, the children or even that her flowers are ruined. She is battling a morphine addiction, that leaves her feeling mentally broken. Her struggle is discovered and she shocks everyone because all she’s trying to do is be brave until she dies. “...neighborhood opinion was unanimous that Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old woman who ever lived” (35, Scout). In this quote, the entire neighbourhood thinks that Mrs. Dubose is just a mean, rude and unenjoyable old woman. Jem and Scout especially depict her as nothing more than heartless and a huge insult to their father. Later it is evident that Mrs. Dubose suffers from a morphine addiction that is slowly ending her life. According to Atticus she is very brave, despite her rotten attitude and deserves plenty of sympathy. Prior to knowing about her addiction, Scout is mildly annoyed with Mrs. Dubose constantly pointing out the smallest flaws in her behavior. “‘Don’t you say hey to me, you ugly girl! You say good afternoon, Mrs. Dubose!’”(103, Mrs. Dubose). Scout experiences first hand Mrs. Dubose’s rude and cruel manner. She, again, seems to be an extremely evil and horrific old lady. Mrs. Dubose, although slightly cruel and mean has been extremely affected by her
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee tells of a story of Jean Louise Finch, who goes by the name of Scout, living in the southern town of Maycomb county in Alabama. She describes her life chasing after Arthur “Boo” Radley and her summers accompanied with Dill and her brother, Jem. The town peacefulness changes by a crisis because a trial of a black man, Tom Robinson, against the word of white people but are known as “trash”, Mr. Ewell and Mayella Ewell. By including Ms. Dubose’s addiction, the Ewells’ crimes and Mr. Dolphus Raymond’s eccentricity, Lee suggests the complexities of life, demonstrating the idea that bigotry often overshadows empathy, but goodness usually prevails. By incorporating Ms. Dubose’s narrow-mindedness and her personal
Over the years stories have spread about Boo. The rumors have scared the residents of Maycomb senseless. “A Negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite” (Lee 9) These rumors were responsible for the bad reputation of the Radley family. It can be argued that these rumors killed Boo’s reputation despite his innocence.
Boo Radley is labeled an outcast and an outsider by the society of Maycomb because of the rumors and myths that have surrounded him through the years of being confined to his brother’s home. For over twenty-five years, Boo Radley has been restricted to the indoor limits of the Radley house suppressing him further from the Maycomb community. Arthur “Boo” Radley was a troublesome child who sadly continued to make wrong choices once he became
Arthur “Boo” Radley had rarely faced any real danger except in his childhood when he was “mixed up with the wrong crowd”, after that his father kept him inside most of his life so he could be protected from the outside world. The people of Maycomb didn’t know that was the reason he stayed
Rumors spread like wildfire, but when the rumor spreads each time it is told it is changed. A new detail is added, a bit of flare is put in to make it even more exciting. Rumors are not the truth they are not even close to the truth, yet people seem to believe rumors more than what the truth actually is. Due to this gossip and these rumors we get people like Boo Radley who are largely misunderstood and who have been given a reputation built on the fantasies of others. These stories that are spread make an innocent man look like a monster in the eyes of the people. In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” gossip is something that Maycomb county thrives on. Thanks to Miss Stephanie Crawford everyone in Maycomb is an expert on anything and everything
On one particular day, an ill, old woman named Mrs. Dubose made a rude remark towards Jem and Scout mentioning that their father is, “… no better than the niggers and trash he works for…” (Lee 135), referring to a case that their father has just taken. Jem loses his temper and destroys the old lady’s camellia flowers. When Atticus finds out about his sons actions, he allows Mrs. Dubose to make Jem read to her every day for one month. One night when the month is over, Atticus goes to see her and finds out that she has passed. He explains to his son how she had been addicted to a drug called morphine that helped her with the pain she experienced from a terminal illness, and that she was determined to break the habit before she died. Although Jem didn’t understand at first, Atticus is able to turn his punishment into a message by showing him that what Mrs. Dubose did took real courage. She knew there was only a few months until her death and she would experience horrendous withdraw symptoms when going off morphine, but she still choses to do it. Atticus expresses a particular way of educating his kids on a crucial life lesson; this is one of the reasons why Atticus is such a revered character in American
Dubose. As a punishment, for killing Mrs. Dubose’s flowers, Jem had to read to her for one month, and Scout decided to tag along. Everyday while reading an alarm clock would go off, and Mrs. Dubose’s caretaker would make them go home. Everyday they would have to read for longer and longer. After Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus tells the kids that Mrs. Dubose was addicted to morphine and she wanted to die free from it.
Mrs. Dubose fought morphine addiction for the conclusion of her life. Due to injuries, she turned to this drug as a relief from her terminal agony. While speaking to Jem of Mrs. Dubose, Atticus said, “She said she was going to leave this world, beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you’re as sick as she was, it’s alright to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn’t alright for her.” (Lee 127). Cessation greatly affected Mrs. Dubose’s attitude, and citizens of Maycomb viewed her as haughty, insulting, and uptight. However, Atticus viewed her as noble. After an unfortunate incident, Jem and Scout promise to read to Mrs. Dubose for an unlimited amount of time. Near the beginning of these
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