In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most significant themes is real heroes do not always use weapons. For example, one of the meanest woman to ever live, Mrs. Dubose, was a morphine addict. The addiction made her needy because she wanted to take the drug, but resisted. Mrs. Dubose was determined not to “‘leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody...she meant to break herself of [the addiction] before she died’” (60). One day Mrs. Dubose was insulting Atticus in front of Jem and Scout, his children. Jem grew aggravated and threw a tantrum. He stomped and tore up Mrs. Dubose’s flowers. Therefore, as a punishment for Jem ruining her flowers, she had him read to her every day after school. Jem would have an alarm that indicated …show more content…
Dubose that she was getting closer to becoming free from using the drug. Mrs. Dubose shows heroic actions by persevering through her hardships. Furthermore, Atticus Finch is a white, upper class, Maycomb lawyer who is defending Tom Robinson, a black man. Tom was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. However, rape in the 1930s was known as a black man looking or walking in the same side of the street as a white woman. Atticus knows that this case is going to be difficult to defend because Tom is black. During the Great Depression, white people viewed black people as worthless and futile. On the contrary, Atticus believed that all men should be treated equally no matter their race. He knew it was the moral thing to do even if it means “‘a Finch [going] against his raising’” to ensure that Tom gets an equal opportunity as a white man (55). As a result, Atticus kept the jury thinking for a few hours, which is rare because a white man is biased against a black man. This helped give hope to the black community and advance progress towards equality, little by little. Finally, a lynch mob was coming to Maycomb Jail to lynch Tom Robinson. Jem, Scout, and Dill followed Atticus, who was protecting Tom, to figure out what he was