Mrs. Dubose — To Kill a Mockingbird

Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose lives two doors down and spends her days on the porch, insulting children who pass her camellias. She scolds Scout for wearing trousers and Jem for almost anything. When the Tom Robinson case becomes town talk, she uses a racial slur about Atticus and says he is disgracing the family. Atticus has told the children to keep their heads and remember she is old and ill. That advice holds until one afternoon when the abuse lands too hard. Jem snaps, seizes Scout's baton, and knocks the heads off the camellias.

Atticus does not shout. He sends Jem back to apologise and accept whatever extra punishment she names. Jem must read aloud to her every afternoon after school, and on Saturdays, for a month. Scout goes with him. A housekeeper named Jessie lets them in. Mrs Dubose lies in bed. Jem reads while she interrupts, corrects, and slips into sudden fits. An alarm clock decides when they may go. At first the bell rings soon enough. Then each day the clock is set later. When the month ends, Atticus adds a few extra days. Jem is furious, then finishes the extra time.

Not long after, Atticus comes home with news that Mrs Dubose has died, and a small box for Jem. Inside is a white camellia from the bushes Jem destroyed. Jem thinks she is mocking him. Atticus asks him to listen. She had been addicted to morphine, given for a painful illness, and had decided she would not die still bound to the drug. The readings occupied her mind while she reduced the dose. The fits were withdrawal. The extra days were the last stretch. She died free of the habit. The camellia was a peace offering. Atticus names courage as seeing that you are beaten before you start, and starting anyway. He does not ask Jem to love her. He asks him to respect the effort. Jem holds the white bloom and does not throw it away.