Mrs Dubose Addiction

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates people may not be what they seem, so it is important to get to know people before drawing conclusions about them, mostly through Mrs. Dubose and Arthur Radley (Boo).

Mrs. Dubose is a strong example of people are not what they seem in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. When Scout is explaining Mrs. Dubose’s characterisation, as a cruel old lady. As Scout is walking past Mrs. Dubose while she is on her front porch she thinks: “Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior. And given a melancholy prediction on what we would amount to when we grew up. Which was always nothing” (Lee 132). Jem and Scout hates Mrs. Dubose for her rude comments and actions toward them and their father, however

they did not know what Mrs.

Dubose was going through on the inside that made her act the way she did. Mrs. Dubose was going through an addiction to morphine, she was dying, her goal was to die free from the addiction. But that is causing her physical pain, leading her to be critical toward everyone including Scout, Jem, and Atticus. Additionally Mrs. Dubose said some cruel things about Atticus. Jem was furious about what she said about Atticus, as a result he tore her flower bushes apart. In consequence of his action Atticus forced Jem to read to Mrs. Dubose as a form of punishment, he also made Scout tag along with Jem. While the children read to her they found that she was ill and in pain. In this situation Atticus explained to Jem and Scout why he made them read to her: “Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (Lee 149). Atticus is explaining to Jem and Scout that Mrs. Dubose was rude because she was in pain, her way of dealing with it was taking out on

other people. Scout learns she judged Mrs. Dubose before she knew what was going on, she learned that people are not always what they seem. Therefore Mrs. Dubose is the first example of people not being what they seem.
Arthur Radley (Boo) is the second example of people not always not being what they seem. When Scout was describing Arthur Radley through rumors, in the beginning of the story, setting the characterization development of Arthur Radley:“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed; but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows” (Lee 10). Scout believes the rumors before understanding all points of view. When Scout did not understand all points of view she was drawing conclusions about Boo based on false rumors. Furthermore as Scout walks Boo home after he saved Jem and Scout from their attacker, Bob Ewell. Scout learned Boo was nothing like the rumors she once believed, as she realized this she remembered what Atticus once told her: “One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. (Lee 374)” This quote is significant because the first time that Atticus told Scout that you never know someone until you look at things from their point of view, she had no idea what he was talking about. Until she meets Boo she understands that all of the rumors of Boo being a ‘malevolent phantom’ was nothing like who he really was. However she did not know unless she got to look at things from Boo’s perspective, to understand people are not always what they seem. Hence Arthur Radley is the second example of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird theme being, people are not always what they seem so it is important not to draw conclusions about them.