TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Scout is in second grade now. She and Jem are bored with Boo Radley games. Because they are older now, they want to spend time in the business center of Maycomb.
Mrs. Dubose lives nearby. She is an old lady. She is mean – really mean. Every time they walk by her house, she yells at Scout and Jem. She says bad things about their dad. She thinks Atticus lets his children run free, like wild animals. The children try to be nice, but Mrs. Dubose is never nice. The only nice thing about her is her beautiful flowers.
When Jem tells Atticus about Mrs. Dubose, he tells Jem to ignore her. “Ignore her, keep your head high and be a gentleman,” he says. One day, the children are passing by her house. She is on the porch. ”Hey, Mrs. Dubose,” Scout says.
“Don’t you say ‘hey’ to me, you ugly girl!” she yells at Scout. “Your dad is no better than trash. He is no better than the niggers he is helping in court,” Mrs. Dubose says. Jem tells Scout to ignore her. “Just hold your head high and be a gentleman,” he says to Scout.
One day, Jem and Scout are walking home from town. Jem got money for his birthday. They go to town to spend it on something good. He buys a train for himself. He buys a spinning baton for Scout. They pass by Mrs. Dubose’s house on the way home. She is not on the porch. She is inside. She can’t see them.
Scout never really understands why Jem does it. Jem loses control. He hates Mrs. Dubose. He hates what she says about their father. He takes the baton from Scout. He smashes Mrs. Dubose’s beautiful flowers.
Atticus is not happy. “Why did you do what you did?” he asks Jem. “She said you were a lawyer for niggers.” “You destroyed her flowers because she said that about me?” “Yes, sir.” “Son, I understand that you were frustrated. But doing something like you did to an old woman is inexcusable. You need to go say you are sorry. You need to make it up to her. You need to do something nice for her.” Jem sighs.
“Mrs. Dubose can’t see well. There is something wrong with her eyes,” Atticus says. “It makes her angry inside. I want you to go to her house and talk to her. Ask her if there is something you can do for her.”
Jem does what his father asks. “She wants me to read to her!” Jem says after he comes home from Mrs. Dubose’s house. “She wants me to read to her for two hours every day! Do I have to?” “Yes, you do,” says Atticus. “But she wants me to do it for a month!” “Then you’ll do it for a month.”
So, Jem reads to Mrs. Dubose. He does it once a day for two hours. It's hard for him. She is still mean. Really mean. But Jem does it. He learns about her. He begins to understand her.
Later that spring Mrs. Dubose dies. Atticus tells Jem he was brave for reading to her. Atticus also says Mrs. Dubose was brave. She was brave for fighting her illness. She was trying to get better. She was fighting hard. Jem understands her better now.
