TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD CHAPTER 11 P 110

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD CHAPTER 11 P. 110 - 124

PLOT • -Mrs. Dubose is a cranky old lady who always shouts insults to Scout and Jem as they walk past her old house to get to the business district of Maycomb. • -Jem and Scout are always polite to her because Atticus tells them to be nice to her because she is old and sick but one day she says that Atticus is no better than the “niggers and trash he works for”, when Jem and Scout are on their way to town. • -Jem is furious and takes the Scouts baton and destroys all of Mrs. Dubose camellia bushes. • -Atticus finds out about the camellia bushes and as punishment, Jem must go to Mrs. Dubose’s house every day and read to her for a month.

PLOT • -Whilst there Jem is accompanied by Scout and together they endure Mrs. Dubose’s wrath and unusual fits which occur after every reading session. • -Mrs. Dubose passes away a slightly after Jem’s punishment ends. • -Atticus tells Jem and Scout that Mrs. Dubose was addicted to morphine which was prescribed to her by her doctor a few years ago, and that Jem reading to her helped her battle the addiction. • -After she dies Jem receives a box that Mrs. Dubose gave to her maid to give to him before she died. Inside the box is a single white camellia.

SETTING • ‘When we were small, Jem and I confined our activities to the southern neighborhood’ (p 110). • The location and description of Mrs Dubose is described as; ‘Two doors up the street from us in a house with steep front steps and a dog- trot hall’ (p 110). • ‘The O. K Café was a dim organization on the north side of the square’ (p 112). • ‘There was a hint of summer in the air- in the shadows it was cool, but the sun was warm, which meant good times coming: no school or Dill’ (p 113) • This piece of text from the book tells the reader that Maycomb doesn’t experience hot weather throughout the whole year and when it was summer and suggests that many kids would be outside in the sun. In the state of Alabama, Maycomb is located near the ocean which suggests they might visit the beach and swim in the summer time. By stating that good times were coming says that due to scouts experiences she doesn’t enjoy school and much as she first thought she would. • ‘He sat by the windows, hunched down in a rocking chair, scowling, waiting. Daylight faded’ (p 114) This piece of extract suggests that Atticus was depressed or unsatisfied with something in his life at this certain period in time. • ‘Atticus, it’s all right on the sidewalk but inside its – all dark and creepy. There’s shadows and things on the window’ (p 117) •

CHARACTERS Atticus: Atticus is very calm and respectful of others, he teaches his children important morals and ways to deal with difficult situations. • This is shown when Jem is angry at something Mrs Dubose said, he responds with “Easy does it son” – “She’s an old lady and she’s ill. You just hold your head high and be a gentleman. Whatever she says to you, it’s not her job to make you mad. ” (p. 111) • Another example is when Atticus greets Mrs Dubose instead of being rude as she is to them, he says “Good evening Mrs Dubose! You look like a picture this evening. ” (p. 111) He is against racism and stands up for others rights but is still respectful of others opinions while voicing his own. • “Tom Robinsons case, is something that goes to 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” (p. 116)

Mrs. Dubose: • “She was horrible. Her face was the colour of a dirty pillowcase, the corners of her mouth glistened with wet, which inched like a glacier down the deep grooves enclosing her chin. Old-age liver spots dotted her cheeks, and her pale eyes had black pinpoints” (p. 118) • “She was very old; spent most of each day in bed and the rest of it in a wheelchair. It was rumored that she kept a CSA pistol concealed among her numerous shawls and wraps. ” (p. 110) This immediately tells the reader that Mrs Dubose has a bad reputation among the children and they find her frightening. She has a very unwelcoming appearance and through her description, readers are immediately positioned to dislike her. Mrs. Dubose is a rude and unlikeable character as she is racist, ill-tempered and hated by Jem and Scout: • “Jem and I hate her. ” (p. 110) • “She was vicious. ” (p. 110) • “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” (p. 110) • She is quite cruel to Jem and Scout as she insults their father to their faces and uses derogatory and racist terms. • “Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the court-house lawing for niggers”(p. 112) • “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!”(p. 113)

Jem: Jem cares about Scout a lot, although he doesn’t always show it which gives the reader insight into relationships between siblings. • He stands up for her in the quote ‘My sister ain’t dirty and I ain’t scared of you, ’ although his knees were shaking. ”(p. 118) • He uses his own birthday money to buy something for Scout, “Jem thought he had enough to buy a miniature steam engine for himself and a twirling baton for me. ” (p. 11) Jem has temper, especially when Mrs Dubose is rude about his family: • “Countless evening, Atticus would find Jem furious at something Mrs Dubose had said when we went by. ” (p. 111) But from his encounters with Mrs. Dubose, Jem learns that there is more to people than just what they show on the surface.

THEMES - Courage - In this chapter courage is shown when Mrs. Dubose is fighting through a very painful death because she wanted to die free, without being associated to anyone or anything. Atticus thinks that she's the bravest person he's ever met, but Jem and Scout have trouble understanding this. - Atticus says this quote after explaining to Jem why he made him read to Mrs. Dubose all of those times. “ I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting this idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. ”

THEMES • Time- Time seems to drag for Scout, this is shown when the alarm clock in Mrs. Dubose's house keeps them there a little later every day. Scout and Jem lose much of their free time and begins to believe that it is a waste of time. Time is very valuable to Scout and Jem. • “The alarm clock was the signal for our release; if one day it did not ring, what would we do? ”

THEMES • “Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the court-house lawing for niggers” ( Mrs. Dubose p. 112) This quote shows how the people use racist terms and are unaccepting of other cultures that aren’t theirs's. • “Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for. ” (Mrs. Dubose p. 113) These quotes have very racist terms in them. This shows that the society in this instance Mrs. Dubose used these terms like normal words like it was part of their normal vocabulary. • “What are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady! You’ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn’t change your ways – a Finch waiting on tables at the O. K. café – hah” – (Mrs. Dubose p. 112) This quote is discriminating genders. Mrs. Dubose is telling Scout that she should be more like a lady and can’t wear her normal clothes that she feels comfortable in. Mrs. Dubose is basically stating that girls must wear dresses and act “lady-like” and boys are allowed to play outside and wear overalls.

LANGUAGE • Passé – out of date; old fashioned • Reconnaissance – Inspection or exploration of an area, especially to gather military information • Philippic – a bitter attack or denunciation, especially a verbal one. • Simile: • “You look like a picture this evening” • “Which inched like a glacier down the deep grooves enclosing her chin” • Hyperbole: • “Two geological ages later, we heard the soles of Atticus’s shoes scrape the front steps. ”