In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most significant themes is real heroes do not always use weapons. For example, one of the meanest woman to ever live, Mrs. Dubose, was a morphine addict. The addiction made her needy because she wanted to take the drug, but resisted. Mrs. Dubose was determined not to “‘leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody...she meant to break herself of [the addiction] before she died’” (60). One day Mrs. Dubose was insulting Atticus in front of Jem and Scout, his children. Jem grew aggravated and threw a tantrum. He stomped and tore up Mrs. Dubose’s flowers. Therefore, as a punishment for Jem ruining her flowers, she had him read to her every day after school. Jem would have an alarm that indicated …show more content…
Dubose that she was getting closer to becoming free from using the drug. Mrs. Dubose shows heroic actions by persevering through her hardships. Furthermore, Atticus Finch is a white, upper class, Maycomb lawyer who is defending Tom Robinson, a black man. Tom was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. However, rape in the 1930s was known as a black man looking or walking in the same side of the street as a white woman. Atticus knows that this case is going to be difficult to defend because Tom is black. During the Great Depression, white people viewed black people as worthless and futile. On the contrary, Atticus believed that all men should be treated equally no matter their race. He knew it was the moral thing to do even if it means “‘a Finch [going] against his raising’” to ensure that Tom gets an equal opportunity as a white man (55). As a result, Atticus kept the jury thinking for a few hours, which is rare because a white man is biased against a black man. This helped give hope to the black community and advance progress towards equality, little by little. Finally, a lynch mob was coming to Maycomb Jail to lynch Tom Robinson. Jem, Scout, and Dill followed Atticus, who was protecting Tom, to figure out what he was
Dubose’s unseen patience in fighting morphine addiction and her astonishing strength in extending time between doses of morphine, Lee uses Mrs. Dubose’s true intentions to show things are not always as they seem as the theme of the novel. “‘Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict,’ said Atticus. ‘She took it as a pain-killer for years’” (Lee 147). Atticus explains to his children that Mrs. Dubose used to yell at them because she was fighting morphine addiction and needed some way to get her anger out.
When a person is courageous, they are doing something without fear and without wanting anything from it. In Harper Lee´s To Kill a Mockingbird the characters in the novel show courage. The book is based in the 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama, where racism towards blacks is all too common. The Finch family that consists of Atticus Finch, the father of two children named Jem Finch and Scott Finch are experiencing second-hand racism from the people around them like Tom Robinson. Atticus is Scott´s role model.
Furious, Jem decided to rip the tops of her white camellias off. Scout narrated, “He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs.Dubose owned” (Lee 118). Going through puberty, his innocent perspective of the world was getting chopped away, just as the white camellias got chopped down. Atticus found out and made Jem go read to Mrs.Dubose for 2 hours every day after school and on Saturdays for a month. A few weeks after the reading month was over, Mrs.Dubose had died.
Atticus Finch treated Tom with the dignity and reverence that he deserved while everyone else accused and condemned him due to his skin color. For example, Atticus decides to take the case because of his moral character and his unshakable conviction that the discriminatory practices of the Deep South will eventually change. Even if it is only a modest step, he sees
Atticus is appointed a case by Judge Taylor to defend a black man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell. Because of the racism and prejudice against black people, he believes that he will not win this case and could risk the life of Tom Robinson. Because of this case, Scout gets bullied by Francis about how his dad is defending a black man, Atticus later talks to Scout about how “[Tom Robinson] lives in [a] settlement behind the town dump….there’s been some high talk around the town to the effect that I shouldn’t do much about defending this man” (Lee 86). Atticus knows that something bad can happen to him if he were to defend Tom Robinson but still does so because he has the courage to do it. After the trial had ended, Atticus was waiting for news but he did not expect something so terrible and heartbreaking, Tom Robinson, unfortunately, died after being shot several times.
Courage is a key part of life and some people are more courageous than others. In Harpers Lee novel TKAM set in the racist town of Maycomb County, where everyone is blood related and everyone knows each other. Atticus, Scout, and Jem are the three main characters that exhibit courage: Atticus takes on an unwinnable case, Scout by sticking up to a mob, and Jem by not backing down.
To Kill a Mockingbird was a mixture of sorrow and suspense in Alabama during the 1930s. “To kill a mockingbird”, is a novel written by Harper Lee, published in 1960 and later achieving the Pulitzer Prize in the year 1961. It was translated to 40 languages, along with selling over 30 million copies worldwide. During this period there were a lot of prejudice people, it took real courage and bravery to do what some of these characters did through the uneasy circumstances. Atticus, Mrs. Dubose, and Boo Radley showed many exemplar actions, such as courage against their town.
Prathana karki Block 4th Ms.bose How TKAMB teaches about courage? Courage is an attribute of good character that makes us worthy of respect. From the Bible to made-up stories; very old stories to Hollywood movies,our culture is rich with excellent stories of courage for the greater good. From David fighting Goliath in the Bible, the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz who gathers the courage to face the witch, to Harry Potter and stars war, kids are raised on a diet of heroic and motivational stories. History books tell colorful stories of social advocators, such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King , who chose to stand out against terribly unfair treatment at great personal risk.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how a controlled pride is beneficial to society through the use of characters, conflicts, and settings. Evidently, our dignity is an enormous part of our personality. When our thoughts and actions
Atticus’ courage is shown in multiple ways through his court actions and his stand against racial discrimination. For instance, as a lawyer, Atticus defends the innocent, despite controversial thoughts of others, this is proven true in the Tom Robinson court case. During this discriminative period, most African Americans brought to court for an accused crime were deemed guilty, despite the clear evidence that proved their innocence. When Jem thought Atticus’ defense of Tom will bring Tom to justice, Reverend Sykes said: “I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man”(Lee 279). This proves Atticus’ courage because he chose to fight for a colored man to prove that he is not guilty of an alleged crime, despite knowing the usual outcome of the case and the disapproval he will receive from others.
Atticus is able to admire Mrs. Dubose's courage even while she makes fun of Atticus for being a nigger lover. No matter how mean she could be to him he would still treat her with respect. Throughout the novel Scout changes from being a tom-boy to a girly-girl. She used to wear trousers now she wears pink dresses.
Jem had the conception that courage was a “manly man”, a man that was tough and could fight. However, using Ms. Dubose as an example, she explained a new type of courage to Jem. Ms. Dubose knew that her struggle was close to impossible to win, as many people failed to break addictions, yet she still tried to fight it, and winning at the end. The courage to do so was considered, by Atticus, real courage. This was also demonstrated by Liu Xiaobo.
In chapter 11, Jem Finch is in the living room with Scout Finch when Atticus returns from Mrs. Dubose’s house and brings them news of Mrs. Dubose’s death. Atticus gives Jem a box that the old women had left him. Jem opens the box and finds a flower. Jem becomes angry, but Atticus tries to explain to him that the white flower is Mrs. Dubose’s way of saying that there is no bad blood between them. Atticus goes on to praise Mrs. Dubose and how courageous she was for fighting her drug addiction, saying that “‘I wanted you to see what real courage is,...
Whenever they would walk past her house, she would shout hateful and insulting comments at them. Atticus told them to not let her comments affect them. One day, Mrs. Dubose made a comment about Atticus defending Tom Robinson. The comment was hateful and racist toward Atticus and Tom. Jem was angered by her comment and fueled by rage, cut down all of Mrs. Dubose 's camellia bushes.
Blue Jays and Mockingbirds Who are the blue jays and mockingbirds of To Kill A Mockingbird? Set in the early 1930’s of America, Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a coming-of-age book that tells the story of an innocent, naive child becoming an adult through the experience and intake of racism, discrimination, and social injustice throughout the book. Harper Lee’s development, usage and characterization of her characters throughout To Kill A Mockingbird help establish two of her most important themes of the book, which are the presence of social injustice and the coexistence of good and evil. Social injustice is consistently seen throughout To Kill A Mockingbird.