Chapters 11+12 TKAM

Chapters 11 and 12 of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, discusses Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, a very sickly old lady. The beginning of chapter 11 provides an example of how rude Mrs. Dubose can be, and Jem’s reaction to her character.  Scout describes his feelings about Mrs. Dubose when he says, “ Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked by her wrathful graze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behaviour” (99). This makes her feelings towards this woman quite apparent. Scout and Jem go into town frequently and really can’t get there without passing her house, unless they walk a mile out of the way, so if they need to be on better terms with Mrs. Dubose, and they should do this through being more empathetic and as Atticus would say; walk around in their skin.

Although Mrs. Dubose is a sassy old woman, she is going through tremendous pain for she is very ill. If Jem and Scout felt more empathic towards her as a person and understood the pain she’s going through, that would change their view of Mrs. Dubose dramatically.  For instance, when Atticus finds out about what Jem did to Mrs Dubose’s house, he says, “ Jem, she’s old and ill, you can’t hold her responsible for what she says or does.”(105). This shows that Jem doesn’t understand where she’s coming from but Atticus knows exactly what she’s going through and knows how to help when Jem is only making it worse, by giving her more stress. This further proves that in order to establish a good relationship with someone you need to understand their background and experiences before making a judgement or worse, getting angry and revengeful.

Scout’s experience with Mrs. Dubose connects to something that has happened to me with a neighbor of ours. One day, when I was 8, I was walking my dog Lucky and I passed a house that I didn’t know and they were watching me and Lucky intently. When my dog leaned over to pee on their tree, which was relatively close to the street, they bolted out and started to yell at my dog and me, and I was only 8. This is similar because all I was doing was walking my dog and all Scout was doing was walking to the town. Both of us, as innocent individuals, suffered the wrath of an unfamiliar person berating us. In retrospect, if I had understood more about the person who yelled at me, it may have been more clear why they would be so upset about my dog, just like if Scout knew more about Mrs. Dubose’s circumstances she would have been more understanding.