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. You
rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her.
According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest
person I ever knew.'
Atticus
Finch
This is the quote Atticus uses to explain to the
children why Mrs. Dubose is heroic. In the story Mrs. Dubose wants to fight her
addiction to morphine before she passes away. Many people see her as a mean old lady;
however, she is determined to die on her own terms remaining true to her own
conscious.
Another famous quote in the book from Atticus
is, "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's
conscience."
Mrs. Dubose knows in the novel she is dying
and that by not taking the morphine, not only is her own death imminent, but she will
die in pain. In the same way Atticus knows he is going to lose the trial of Tom
Robinson and face ridicule and judgement from many people in town. Both characters
though know, ultimately, the most important person they need to answer to is
himself/herself. Neither Atticus or Mrs. Dubose could live or die courageously or
justly with another decision than the one they made.
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