Why was Mrs. Dubose a Great Lady: an Insight According to Atticus Finch

The Many Faces of Courage

Have you ever asked yourself what it meant to be courageous? What do you consider to be a courageous act? Is it serving our country in the military by putting their lives at risk? Or is it helping a young child who is getting bullied get through hard times? Courage can have so many meanings; it all depends on the person you are.

Everybody has done some courageous acts, but they are all different because of the person you are.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is one of the most widely read books ever in the United States. This is due to many reasons; It may be the super exciting story of the Finch family or the disgustingly fascinating acts of discrimination that happen throughout the story due to the story taking place in the 1930s. Or what if the courageous acts take place in the story? Mrs. Dubose is an elderly lady in the story “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

According to Atticus, Was Mrs. Dubose a Great Lady?

Atticus say that Mrs. Dubose died free, as the successful endeavor of withstanding her addiction impacted both her and Jem greatly.  There are two ways in which the audience typically looks at her. Mrs. Dubose is an addict to morphine, which commonly leads to the reader just looking at her as a morphine addict. However, others have the heart to look at her as more than just an addict. Put yourself in her shoes, she does not want to be addicted to a heavy drug, but she is, and she is not proud of it, but is open about it, which takes strength in itself.

Mrs. Dubose makes it her life goal to be clean from morphine by the time she dies. Without letting the Finch kids know that she is addicted, she tells them to let her take less every day. Eventually, she would be completely clean from the drug, but unfortunately, before that could happen, Mrs. Dubose passed away. So if you look at it that way, she may seem more courageous and less of an addict. 

People are always quick to look at the bad in people before they even consider the good in people. Everybody is courageous in their unique way due to the hard things each of us has been through. So what do you think? Do you think Dubose is courageous? I think she has loads of courage; Yes, she did addict herself to morphine, but that may have been in her younger years. People change, and it is usually for the better, which in this case holds to be true. She tried her absolute hardest to quit the drug. She made it her life goal to come clean before her death. There is always more to people than you think; everybody has courage in their way. Before you judge someone, think, what have they been through? Why are they the way they are? Put yourself in their shoes, and use your courage to improve their lives.

Reference

1. Lee, H. (1960). To Kill a Mockingbird. J.B. Lippincott & Co.

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