Mrs. Dubose And Heck Tate Character Analysis

Though the major characters are the meat of the story, the minor characters like Mrs. Dubose and Heck Tate from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee are the backbone, as they help to identify and explore the major themes of the novel. Mrs. Dubose originally seems like an antagonist with her constant criticism of the Finches. Even with her grumpy and racist ways, she embodies courage as she makes the decision to work towards detaching herself from her morphine addiction to die sober. Heck Tate, the county sheriff has to make numerous tough decisions in the book related to doing what is right and best for the town. Through this process, he demonstrates the sacrifices that need to be made to do the right thing. Mrs. Dubose and Heck Tate are significant

Mrs. Dubose is used to explain the theme of how real courage is doing the right thing, even if one knows it’s impossible. As Atticus gets home from meeting with Mrs. Dubose before her death, he explains how his definition of courage is so radically different from others’: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the 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” (149). Seeing Mrs. Dubose fight her morphine addiction demonstrates how doing what one thinks is right is more important than doing the easy thing, which in this case would be dying on the morphine. This is the courage Atticus talks about, the courage for one to put themself through hardship to carry out what they believe in. Mrs. Dubose is there to show that when anyone, no matter how unsavory, works to carry out what they believe is right is doing the most courageous thing they can.

As Tate describes why he is going to say that Bob fell on his knife, he reasons with why not involving Arthur in the murder is the right thing to do: “To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ im with his shy ways into the limelight - to me, that’s a sin”(276). Sheriff Tate firmly believes that implicating Arthur in the killing of Bob Ewell, although it wouldn’t result in conviction, would not be the right thing to do because of his shy ways and unsavory history with the town. Therefore, it is up to Tate to make a decision; does he follow the law and inform the public that Arthur killed Ewell, or does he put his reputation on the line and not mention Arthur. Heck Tate chooses the latter, because when one has to make a decision such as this one, doing the right thing often involves making a sacrifice. In this case, the sacrifice he makes is the chance of Maycomb finding out that he tampered with a crime scene, thus losing his reputation, and most likely job. As Jem, Scout, Cal, Atticus, and Tate spot the mad dog headed their way, Mr. Tate forces the gun into Atticus’ hands instead of shooting it himself and says, “Miss and you’ll go straight into the Radley’s house. I can’t shoot that well and