Character Lessons
Character Lessons
Maya Angelou said, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, strives to teach his young children, Jem and Scout, to courageously look at life from others perspective. One instance occurs when Jem and Scout read to Mrs. Dubose. Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, an old woman who designates the Finch family as her prey, criticizes Atticus and his children regularly for defending a black man in court. Her insults varying from rude to obscene. In response to the numerous attacks, Jem cuts down Mrs. Dubose’s camellias with Scout’s baton in a fit of rage. Mrs. Dubose requests that Jem and Scout read to her as their punishment, and Atticus obliges. Atticus knows that Mrs. Dubose has a morphine addiction that clouds her mind when she insults his family, but his children do not. He also knows that she wants to overcome her addiction with the help of Jem and Scout reading to her. Did Atticus make the right decision to not tell his children about Mrs. Dubose’s addiction and physical condition? Atticus made the right decision to not tell Jem and Scout about Mrs. Dubose’s up coming death for three reasons: Jem and Scout would have treated Mrs. Dubose without respect, Mrs. Dubose did not want them to know about her coming death, and Atticus could not have taught his children as great a lesson about courage.