Strong Women In To Kill A Mockingbird

How could two young children’s lives be influenced so greatly by a handful of strong women? These answers can be found in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. The novel is set in Alabama in the 1930’s. Although the book is fiction, it gives many good lessons, which are enclosed deep within the meaning of the text. Throughout the story, Jem and Scout Finch are greatly influenced by the strong women around them in the novel. One of these strong women was Calpurnia, a black maid paid by the Finches to do cooking and cleaning around the house. For example, when Aunt Alexandra stated that Atticus should get rid of Calpurnia, Atticus explained how Calpurnia was a good influence on the kids, and in a way, the mother the kids never had. Why would you

Dubose, the old civil war veteran, with the white camellias, that lived down the street. In the later stages of Part One in To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem got mad at Mrs. Dubose and destroyed all of her white camellias. Jem had to fix the flowers along with further punishments. The punishments taught him that he had to take responsibility for his actions, a valuable lesson in life. Another example would be when Jem had to read to Mrs, Dubose after chopping up her beautiful white camellias. Jem didn’t understand this punishment, but it ended up teaching him empathy. He saw Mrs. Dubose more personally than he had before and he ended up feeling bad for her. Yet another example; after Mrs. Dubose died, Atticus stated, “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. 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.” (Lee, page 149). This quote illustrates how Mrs. Dubose silently taught Jem and Scout bravery. Mrs. Dubose was battling a morphine addiction. Instead of dying on morphine, she beat the addiction and died clean. It was a tough road, but she did it; Atticus really believed that Mrs. Dubose was brave for that. Mrs. Dubose was the last of the women to influence Scout and