Monday, November 4, 2013

What lessons does Atticus try to teach his children through Mrs. Dubose and her death?

In Chapter 11, Jem loses his temper and destroys Mrs. Dubose's camellia bush after she makes several derogatory comments about Atticus. Atticus punishes Jem by making him read to Mrs. Dubose for two hours each day, except for Sunday, for an entire month. After Jem's assigned reading time is over, Mrs. Dubose passes away and leaves a white camellia flower for Jem as a token of her appreciation. Atticus then explains to the children that...

In Chapter 11, Jem loses his temper and destroys Mrs. Dubose's camellia bush after she makes several derogatory comments about Atticus. Atticus punishes Jem by making him read to Mrs. Dubose for two hours each day, except for Sunday, for an entire month. After Jem's assigned reading time is over, Mrs. Dubose passes away and leaves a white camellia flower for Jem as a token of her appreciation. Atticus then explains to the children that Mrs. Dubose was suffering from a painful chronic disease. She ended up getting addicted to morphine and her final wish on earth was "to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody." Jem's reading helped occupy Mrs. Dubose's mind between her doses of morphine until she was finally able to beat her addiction.


Atticus says that he wanted to show his children what "real courage" looked like. According to Atticus, real courage is "when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what" (Lee 69). Along with teaching his children a lesson in courage, Atticus also teaches his children tolerance and indirectly provides them insight into the duality of human nature. Scout and Jem learn that they must control their anger and not be so quick to judge others.

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