On the way to the business district in Maycomb is the house of Mrs. Dubose, a frail old lady who shouts at Jem and Scout as they pass her house everyday. Atticus tells Jem to be politen to her, because she is old and ill, but one day she tells the children that Atticus is not any better than the “niggers and trash he works for,''. This makes Jem very frustrated. Jem takes a baton from Scout and destroys all of Mrs. Dubose’s camellia bushes, throughout the book, she makes it clear these are important to her. As punishment, Jem must go to her house every day for a month and read to her, at this point, Jem does not realize he is there to comfort Mrs Dubose. Scout accompanies him and they endure Mrs. Dubose’s abuse and regular fits, which occur at the end of every reading session. Each session is longer than the one before, but the children dont realize until a month or so. Mrs. Dubose dies a little more than a month after Jem’s punishment ends. Atticus tells Jem that she was addicted to morphine and that the reading was part of her successful effort to combat this addiction. Atticus gives Jem a box that Mrs. Dubose had given her maid for Jem; in it lies a single white camellia.
1) How do you think Jem feels about the way he acted to Mrs Dubose after he receives a white camellia shortly after her death?
2) '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.''
a) What do you think Atticus is trying to imply about his shooting of the dog?
b) Why is he making Mrs Dubose seem so courageous?
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