What does the Mrs Dubose episode contribute to the novel as a whole?
One of the most influential characters in the novel to Jem is Mrs Dubose. Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose was in her late nineties, who suffered from a morphine addiction. She spent most of her time in bed-rest or a wheelchair because of her addiction. Mrs Dubose was said to be the meanest lady in town. When Jem and Scout would walk past her house she would criticize their family and often made rude comments to Atticus because she didn’t think he should be defending Tom Robinson. One day when Mrs Dubose was inside her house, Jem took Scout’s baton and ruined her camellia bushes. For his punishment, Jem was forced to read to her for one month. Jem started reading Ivanhoe to her and each day, when the alarm clock rang, she ordered them to leave immediately. Everyday the alarm clock would ring later and later until it didn’t ring at all. This was Mrs Dubose’s method of weaning herself off morphine. She died a few hours after being completely independent from her medication. Even though Mrs Dubose died, she still played a vital role in this novel. She helped to show the attitudes of the whites in Maycomb towards blacks, helped the reader to understand Atticus better and her episode was a big learning experience for Jem and Scout.
Mrs Dubose helped Jem and Scout to mature and her episode in the novel taught them some valuable lessons. The main lesson that she taught them was about real courage and bravery. Her episode showed them that real bravery and courage was sticking to your morals and beliefs. She proved her own courage because even though she knew she was going to die, Mrs Dubose wanted to be free of her addiction. Atticus told his children, ‘She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you’re sick as she was it’s alright to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn’t alright for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that’s what she did.’ This shows courage because Mrs Dubose valued her principles more than her life. ‘She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe… son, I told you that if you hadn’t lost your head I’d have made you go read to her-I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand…she was the bravest person I ever knew.’ Jem and Scout learn that they will gain Atticus’s respect by showing real courage, not by having a gun in their hands’. Atticus emphasises the fact that whatever Mrs Dubose went through revealed indisputable courage, ‘It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through, no matter what.’ Jem and Scout also learn about strength of character and determination due to Mrs Dubose’s will power to give up the morphine. Jem and Scout learn to see things from other people’s point of view. If they had, they would’ve seen that Mrs Dubose was against Atticus defending a Negro because when she was younger, blacks were seen as ‘bad’ people and black slavery was still legal. She would have found it strange to find Atticus defending a black man. Also, they would have known that she was temperamental because Mrs Dubose was trying to get rid of her addiction of morphine. Jem learnt to control his anger and that bad behaviour was going to be punished. Jem and Scout learn to take into account the whole story before making assumptions and believing rumours. ‘It was rumoured that she kept a CSA pistol concealed among her numerous shawls and wraps.’ By doing this, they learn to see the best in people, just like Atticus. Atticus explains to Scout the need to understand and value other people’s opinions even if they differ from her, ‘I do my best to love everybody…I’m hard put sometimes – baby, it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you. So don’t let Mrs Dubose let you down. She has enough troubles of her own.’ Atticus also teaches Scout what a ‘nigger-lover’ is and says that it’s a common and ugly term to label somebody. Both Jem and Scout learn about Atticus’s case. They also learn why Atticus is taking on the case, ‘This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes against the essence of a man’s conscience – Scout, I couldn't go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man.’ ‘…but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.’ Atticus explains that he's taking on this case because of his moral sense of duty and his general Christian principles won’t allow him to desert someone in need. Finally, Jem learns that good and evil can coexist in the same person and that no person is either good or bad. After all the hurtful things Mrs Dubose said to Jem, he thought she was an evil person, ‘Old hell devil, old hell devil…why can’t she leave me alone?’ However, when she died, she left Jem a white camellia which showed that she understood Jem’s anger and his feelings. At first Jem found it hard to believe that Mrs Dubose had done something decent, but then he understood that no one person is good or bad.
