To Kill a Mockingbird Comparison of Atticus and Mrs. Dubose

In the book To Kill a Mocking bird by Harper Lee, both Atticus and Mrs. Dubose are brave figures for Scout and Jem. However they both show bravery differently. Mrs. Dubose faces her addiction with Morphine though reading and attacking others: “ Yes that’s what they were. Most of the time you were reading to her I doubt if she heard a word you said. Her whole mind and body concentrated on that alarm clock. If you fallen into her hands. I’d have made you go read to her anyways. It may have been some distraction. There was another reason. (111) Though Mrs. Dubose knew that her addiction to morphine had beat her, she shows bravery by trying to survive and cope with that through reading and being mean to Jem and Scout. Next, Atticus and Mrs. Dubose are different because Atticus is not racist. In this part of the book Atticus is assigned to defend a black man who is charged of rape. Though the town knows Tom Robinson is not guilty they won’t believe him because of the fact that a white women is who accused him of rape and they believe her because she is white.

So Atticus must be brave and defend him even though this means danger to his family. “It couldn’t be worse Jack. The only thing we have is a black man’s word against the Ewells. The evidence boils down to you did, I didn’t. The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells, are you acquainted with the Ewells”(88). In this part of the book Atticus must defend Tom Robinson and try to keep his family safe. He knows that there is going to be a lot of drama and racism going around and rumors about him and he must try to keep his children safe from that. Lastly, though Atticus and Mrs. Dubose are very different they also are very similar.

For example they are both very brave people. “ I wanted you to see what real courage was, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand” (112). In this part Atticus and Mrs. Dubose both show their bravery through the things they face. The both fight for the things that matter most to them and that’s what makes them so brave and similar to each other. Atticus and Mrs. Dubose are both very brave people that Scout and Jem get to know. Though they both are different, they are also are similar. Mrs. Dubose’s addiction to morphine makes her different to Atticus and his struggle to defend a black man and keep his family safe. They are very similar because of the fact that they face their situation with bravery.