Mrs Dubose's Relationship

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a novel set during the 1930s in a small town in Southern Alabama called Maycomb. The story is told through the narrator, Scout, a young girl who lives with her father, a lawyer, and her older brother Jem. As a child, Scout is portrayed as a stubborn and obnoxious little girl who loves to read, play with her brother Jem, and fantasize about her mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. However, her life gets turned upside down when Scout’s father agrees to do something that is deemed unacceptable in the south; he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a negro who is accused of raping a white girl. Instantly, Atticus and his family go from being respected and beloved by their town, to being outcasted and despised. As a result,

Dubose, an unpleasant old lady living in the neighborhood, plays a crucial role in developing Jem’s character. His interactions with her teach him to control his anger and gives him an example of what true courage is. At the start of their relationship, Jem and Mrs. Dubose did not get along. Every evening, when Jem and Scout went out to meet Atticus, he would find them both upset over the insults that Mrs. Dubose had hurled at them while passing by her house on the way to the post office corner. Still, despite their anger, both Jem and Scout remained calm and polite toward Mrs. Dubose. However, after having enough of her insults, “... [Jem] simply [goes] mad (Lee 136).” and destroys Mrs. Dubose’s Camellias, a decision he soon comes to regret when he is forced to go and read to her every day for an entire month as punishment. This situation with Mrs. Dubose taught him not to lash out at people in moments of anger because he will end up regretting what he says or does. The other lesson Jem learns from Mrs. Dubose happens after she dies and he learns that she quit her morphine addiction, so she can, “...leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody (Lee 149).” and this was the lesson Atticus wanted Jem to learn from her; that true courage isn’t a “...man with a gun in his hand.” but someone who knows “ ...they’re licked before they begin, but begin anyway and see it through no matter what (Lee