Jem's Destruction of Mrs. Dubose's Camellias and Reading Punishment

Jem Finch's destruction of Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose's camellias and his subsequent punishment of reading to her for a month is a pivotal event that forces him to confront the nature of real courage, as Mrs. Dubose battles her morphine addiction and dies free. The incident begins with a verbal assault and escalates into a violent act of vandalism, but it ultimately becomes a profound lesson in moral fortitude, reshaping Jem's understanding of bravery and integrity.

Causes and Background

Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose lived alone, two doors up the street from the Finches, in a house with steep front steps and a dog-trot hall, attended only by a Negro girl named Jessie. She was very old, spending most of each day in bed and the rest in a wheelchair, and it was rumored she kept a Confederate Army pistol concealed among her shawls. Jem and Scout hated her; she would rake them with her wrathful gaze, subject them to ruthless interrogation, and give melancholy predictions that they would amount to nothing. She was vicious, once reacting apoplectically when Jem referred to his father as "Atticus," and she told them it was a pity their father had not remarried after their mother's death. Atticus consistently advised Jem to hold his head high and be a gentleman, saying, "She's an old lady and she's ill." The day after Jem's twelfth birthday, he and Scout headed to town, where Jem bought a miniature steam engine and Scout a twirling baton. On their return, Mrs. Dubose was stationed on her porch. She accused them of playing hooky, lied that Jem had broken down Miss Maudie's scuppernong arbor, and then delivered her most wounding insult: "Not only a Finch waiting on tables but one in the courthouse lawing for niggers!" She added, "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" Jem stiffened; the shot had gone home.

What Happens

Jem, who had a naturally tranquil disposition and a slow fuse, suddenly went mad. At Mrs. Dubose's gate, he snatched Scout's baton and ran flailing wildly up the steps into her front yard, forgetting everything Atticus had said, forgetting that she packed a pistol under her shawls. He did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves. He bent Scout's baton against his knee, snapped it in two, and threw it down. Scout was shrieking; Jem yanked her hair, said he didn't care, and kicked her, causing her to fall on her face. That evening, Atticus came home carrying the broken baton and a handful of fat camellia buds. He asked Jem if he was responsible, and Jem admitted it, explaining softly, "She said you lawed for niggers and trash." Atticus called the act inexcusable and ordered Jem to go down and have a talk with Mrs. Dubose. Jem returned with a queer look on his face, having cleaned up the mess and apologized, though he said he wasn't sorry. He also reported that Mrs. Dubose wanted him to read to her every afternoon after school and on Saturdays for two hours, for a month. Atticus insisted he must do it.

Consequences and Aftermath

Jem and Scout climbed the steep front steps to Mrs. Dubose's house the following Monday. The room was oppressive, with a brass bed in the corner where Mrs. Dubose lay under a pile of quilts. She was horrible: her face the color of a dirty pillowcase, her mouth glistening with wet that inched like a glacier down deep grooves enclosing her chin. Jem read from Ivanhoe, but as he read, Mrs. Dubose's corrections grew fewer. She began to have a fit, her head moving slowly from side to side, her mouth opening and closing like a clam hole at low tide, occasionally saying "Pt" like some viscous substance coming to a boil. The alarm clock rang, and Jessie shooed them out. Over the weeks, a pattern emerged: Mrs. Dubose would hound Jem on her favorite subjects, then grow silent and go away from them; the alarm clock would ring later each day, and she was well into one of her fits by the time it sounded. Atticus eventually revealed that Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict, taking it as a pain-killer for years. She had called him to make her will, and Dr. Reynolds told her she had only a few months left. She said she meant to break herself of the addiction before she died, and that was what her fits were. Atticus explained, "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." Mrs. Dubose died a few minutes after Atticus left her house. She left Jem a candy box containing a white, waxy, perfect Snow-on-the-Mountain camellia. Jem screamed, "Old hell-devil!" and flung it down, but Atticus said, "I think that was her way of telling you—everything's all right now, Jem, everything's all right. You know, she was a great lady." Jem picked up the camellia and, when Scout went to bed, was fingering the wide petals.