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False Judgments In To Kill Mockingbird By Harper Lee

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Unknown Identities and Assumed Profiles People tend to judge a lot, and worse, judge based on what others say. In the book, To Kill Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, three characters illustrate being victims of others’ false judgments. These individuals reveal little about their past, and so most of the people in Maycomb knew next to nothing about them. As a result, some misinformed folks make up and spread stories and speculations about those individuals’ pasts. Though the gossipers mean no harm, the individuals’ reputations suffer as a result. Mrs. Dubose, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, and Arthur Radley all demonstrate the life of someone who lives as an incognito individual. Throughout the story, the truth of their pasts is revealed, making Scout …show more content…

Dubose and how terribly she acts, but they also learn first hand her awful behavior, having been victims of Mrs. Dubose’s insults. Rumors about a “...CSA pistol concealed among her numerous shawls and wraps” (114) caused Jem much fear of Mrs. Dubose, but that did not prevent him from destroying Mrs. Dubose’s flowers when she criticized Atticus about defending an African-American. And as punishment, Atticus required Jem to go and read to Mrs. Dubose. During their reading trips to her house, Jem and Scout find out that Mrs. Dubose is a sick old lady with nothing to do. After Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus explains that she had an addiction to morphine, and that Jem reading to her had helped her break that addiction. Jem finally learned the truth about Mrs. Dubose, and though he still thought of her as a cantankerous old woman, he also learns of self-control and how valuable it can be. Many folks of Maycomb judged Mrs. Dubose by what they saw: a cranky old lady, but they did not see the full picture and did not see things from her point of …show more content…

The children hear from Mrs. Stephanie Crawford about her encounter with Boo Radley, claiming that she saw him look through the window at her one night, and stories like that cause Scout, Jem, and Dill to fear Boo. After listening to the Tom Robinson case and hearing about his unfortunate death, Scout and Jem begin to comprehend why Boo never comes out of his house. Jem explains to Scout, “I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time . . . it’s because he wants to stay inside” (259). Since Maycomb had many different kinds of folks, it was hard for them all to get along, and Jem saw this in the Tom Robinson case, which helped him understand Boo. Mr. Ewell seeks revenge on Atticus because Atticus showing him up in court, so he tries to murder Scout and Jem. When Boo saves the children from Mr. Ewell, Scout and Jem realize then that Boo is a misunderstood, yet kind

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From Scout’s perspective, she, as well as Jem, view Mrs. Dubose as an irate and racist old woman who frequently calls out insults from her front porch, “Mrs. Dubose would become bored and pick on us: ‘Jeremy Finch, I told you you’d live to regret tearing up my camellias. You regret it now, don’t you?’” (Lee 146). Nonetheless, it is only later in the novel that Mrs. Dubose’s true strength is revealed. The central conflict of the scene occurs through Jem’s punishment, and realization as well as Mrs. Dubose’s inner conflict in her fight against her own morphine addiction.

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227 Words | 1 Pages

(Mrs. Dubose in To Kill a Mockingbird is another character that is not who everyone thinks she is). Scout and Jem do not like Mrs. Dubose she yells and screams at them when they walk by her house: “Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be ranked by her wrathful gaze” (132). Mrs. Dubose always had an angry tone and harsh remarks to say to the kids came into her view. A couple months after Jem’s punishment of reading to Mrs. Dubose ended, Atticus tells Jem that Mrs. Dubose has died.

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919 Words | 4 Pages

Mrs. Dubose’s unseen patience displays her true intentions to prove that appearances are not always as they seem. “It suddenly came to me that each day we had been staying a little longer at Mrs. Dubose’s, that the alarm clock went off a few minutes later every day, and that she was well into one of her fits by the time it sounded” (Lee 145). After Jem cuts down Mrs. Dubose’s camellia’s for calling Atticus bad names, Mrs. Dubose punishes Jem by having him come and read to her every day for two hours. However, Jem and Scout soon find out that Mrs. Dubose actually extends their time at her house everyday by a couple minutes. While it seems like a harsh punishment, Mrs. Dubose’s true intention of extending the time each day was so that she could fight her addiction a little longer.

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655 Words | 3 Pages

Moral growth is understanding and learning right from wrong, throughout one’s entire life. In the novel: To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many instances in which Jem increases his moral growth, meaning he grew morally. At the beginning of the novel, Jem is a child, and he acts like one based on his actions and the decisions he made. As the book went on, Jem becomes older and he learns from his past actions and makes better decisions, the right decisions. Therefore, he demonstrates moral growth.

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715 Words | 3 Pages

Rumors. Actions. Looks. All of these are reasons why we judge one being, to think that only three factors decide how others view you. You don’t just see this type of judging in reality but in To Kill a MockingBird.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

Who is the one responsible for destroying Mrs. Dubose’s beautiful, magnificent camellia bushes? In this astonishing, breathtaking, jaw-dropping book “To Kill a Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee, Atticus figures out who ruined Mrs. Dubose’s aesthetic camellia bushes. It was his son, Jem Finch. Atticus was extremely surprised that it turned out to be Jem, but also extremely disappointed that Jem had done that. Mrs. Dubose requests for Jem to come over to her house every afternoon after school is done and on Saturdays to read to her for exactly two hours for ruining her camellia bushes.

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753 Words | 4 Pages

Various incidents evidently show how it is part of human nature to create misconceptions and categorize people based on their appearance, beliefs, others’ opinions, and other attributes. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, the protagonist, Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout, grows up in a society in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Since the town is full of gossip and rumors are frequently generated, Scout starts believing in a legend regarding a monstrous creature named Arthur “Boo” Radley. When she starts gaining negative knowledge about him, there are some actions that foreshadow the ultimate character of “Boo” Radley, especially when saving their lives. These actions reveal that Boo is just another person who is warm-hearted and

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506 Words | 3 Pages

Boo Radley showed his true colors when he saved Jem and Scout from Mr.Ewell. Boo Radley overlooked his own fears to save the lives of his friends. Boo Radley also brought out the best in Jem and Scout Finch by making them climb out of their comfort zone to solve a mystery. After a few days, the siblings did not want to believe the town’s opinions about Boo Radley because they believed there was something that was missing from the story. So, the children put aside their own fears in their attempts to contact Boo and initiate a friendship.

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454 Words | 2 Pages

Scout and Jem are the children of Atticus who is a lawyer of the town Maycomb. Dill comes every summer to come and visit his aunt. All three children always play and go on adventures together. Their first adventure is to visit Boo’s porch. Boo Radley is a tall scary man who got locked up in his basement for stabbing his father.

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820 Words | 4 Pages

One should never be judged based on their initial presentation. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, this theme is especially highlighted. Many of the characters introduced possess deceiving looks that do not reflect their personalities. Boo Radley is the finest example of a deceiving appearance.

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516 Words | 3 Pages

In spite of this, Jem continues to come everyday to read to Mrs. Dubose because he doesn’t want her to know that he is scared of her or to have that power over him. If she did, Jem would be afraid that she would put him down even more. Also, there is the thought that if he does not go and read to her, Atticus will be disappointed and upset with him. This shows that Jem’s courage to keep going and reading to Mrs. Dubose was majorly influenced by his fear of what would happen if he did not go. Later on, Jem and Atticus are at their house and Atticus has just told Jem that Mrs. Dubose passed away.

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946 Words | 4 Pages

Dubose is also represented falsely. She is seen as a mean old woman but in reality, is not. The first time we hear about Mrs. Dubose is when the children are walking into town and Jem instructs Scout to walk on the sidewalk opposite Mr. Dubose’s house to avoid beginning a conversation with her. Mrs. Dubose yells profanities and accusations from the warmth of her front porch. She is intolerable to some of her neighbors that pass by on a daily occurrence.

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1303 Words | 6 Pages

The relationship between Boo and the children change through the course of the novel. At first, the kids both think that Boo is a terrible monster and prisoner inside his own home. The children believe everything that the town said about Boo Radley and his Family, they think Boo is a monster because he kill his father and he never get out of his house, because he is like prisoner in his own house. Childhood is the most important reason why the children didn’t understand the situation of Boo Radley in the novel, that’s why as they started to growing up they understand the discrimination and the lack of respect that people have just for their race. People talk so bad about Boo Radley and this make the children have a bad perspective about him and be afraid of him.

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1234 Words | 5 Pages

As they get older they begin to understand things from Boo’s point of view. For example, when Scout and Dill are talking, they have a realization: “ ‘Why do you reckon Boo Radley’s never run off?’ Dill sighed a long sigh and turned away from me. ‘Maybe he doesn’t have anywhere to run off to…’ ” (146).

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428 Words | 2 Pages

I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and I finished the book. The story is about three children that spend the summer together in Maycomb County, Alabama. The names of the children are Jem, Dill, and Scout whose age’s ranges from seven to ten in their first summer of the book. As the book moves on, they learn about the neighborhood legend that lives next to them, Boo Radley. As a young adolescent, Boo was in a gang, and their gang once got in trouble, and they were sentenced to go to jail.

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