When it comes to assessing who Mrs Dubose is, she is a racist woman in the story To Kill A Mockingbird. With several negative aspects surrounding her character, including being ill-tempered, being mean, and more, she is certainly a character to study in-depth. She is located near the Finches and has a minor role to play in the respective book. Jem, also one of the characters of the story, believes that she is a very bad woman, but when it comes to Atticus, she is quite inspired by her because of the way she is battling her addiction to morphine.
We all know how Mrs Dubose plays one of the minor characters in the respective story, but the impact of her role is of enough worth. Scout and Jem have always had a strong hatred against her. In fact, Scout acknowledges her in the form of "Plain hell." She is known for inspiring fear, rage, and negativity around. Scout can know what she is up to with her facial expression itself. So this shows how she has been framed in the story as a negative character.
As and when she arrives at Maycomb county, she has been seen to support all kinds of negativity in the form of racism and even slavery as well. Jessie is also with her, but she is more worried about the morphine doses needed, but because of Mrs Dubose, it becomes difficult for her to continue with the same. In fact, Mrs Dubose also has a CSA pistol with herself.
All these aspects reflect who Mrs Dubose is in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird. But there is a lot more to it, and we have all your questions answered. Keep reading.
The reason behind this behaviour of Mrs Dubose is the location where she used to stay. The town where she stayed had people sharing a similar thought process. She is known for constantly yelling at Scout and Jem as and when they cross her house. Not only this, even other children are very scared and afraid of her. The reason for this has to be her yelling habit that makes everyone think that she might call them and cause trouble through harsh words and language.
Scout is certainly not very fond of Mrs Dubose. He thinks of her as a plain hell, as stated above. According to him, she is a very cranky woman full of negativity around her. She keeps on shouting or yelling as and when to pass by her house. This not only increases problems but also gives rise to fear. Scout thinks she is only good in terms of spreading rage and negativity.
In fact, Scout knows her show very well that he can read her facial expression as well. He gets to know what she is up to by her expression itself. As she was always mean to him and Jem, they didn't respect her at all. So, all these aspects show how Scout used to feel about Mrs Dubose. It was all because the way she treated everyone and the yelling made things even worse.
As stated above, Scout was already very afraid of Mrs Dubose because of the negativity she used to carry with her. All he knew or could relate to Mrs Dubose was yelling, shouting, rage, and fear. There was nothing else he would think of about Mrs Dubose except how mean and cruel she had been over the years. All these aspects have now crossed the limit and eventually led to fear and afraid.
She just didn't like children crossing her house, and this is the reason she always used to yell at them. Jem and Scout have always been on the other side of the yelling. This is why he felt she is nothing but a very bad cranky old woman who knows nothing but to inspire negativity and fear among the others. As she used to berate him because of different reasons in the form of dress, behaviour, or anything, he started being afraid of Mrs Dubose.
In all, Mrs Dubose does represent her personality with determination and grit. She is quite strong mentally and is very much clear about what she wants and desires to avail. However, she is not liked by many characters that don't make her feel like changing herself. She remains the way she is despite what people talk about her. She is also quite aware of the fact that she is going to die very soon, and she desires to end her life with all her wits.
One of the biggest inspirations that her character leaves in the story is being determined to leave morphine. She was quite strongly addicted to morphine, but it was one of the negative factors that she needed to get over. She not only thinks but also works on it and also tries to overcome the same. All these aspects show how strong and determined she was all the way through the story.
Last Words
Hopefully, you have got a clear idea about how Mrs Dubose was in To Kill A Mockingbird. She was quite a personality that was not liked by many, but she had her own way of doing things, and she did it without thinking about anyone else.
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