The Jim Crow South was an era of intense racism and segregation. Jim Crow was more than oppressive laws; it was life as the South knew it. However, underneath the hateful surface, the Jim Crow South is more complicated than it is portrayed. Harper Lee explores these issues in her book, To Kill a Mockingbird. In the fictional town of Maycomb County, Alabama, Lee presents the theme of coexistence of black and white in all people and things, by illustrating Scout and Jem’s relationship with several characters, including Mrs. Dubose, Boo Radley, and Atticus, as they develop into maturity.
Lee incorporates Mrs. Dubose’s, who was a spiteful person and a racist, ordeal of struggling with addiction to demonstrate to the audience that the world is an equivocal place. Mrs. Dubose is vitriolic to the children, often berating them for no apparent reason: “Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and given a melancholy prediction on what we would amount to when we grew up, which was always nothing” (Lee 99).
After Atticus takes on Tom Robinson’s case, she becomes especially insulting, telling them, “You’re father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for” (Lee 102). When Jem defends his father’s honor by tearing out her flowers, Atticus reprimands him, and agrees with Mrs. Dubose. Although Jem is initially puzzled by his father’s decision, it isn’t until after her death that he learns about her battle with morphine addiction.
Atticus explains to him why he had wanted Jem to read to her: “I wanted you to see what real courage is … It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and … [y]ou rarely win, but… Mrs. Dubose won … she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person lever knew” (Lee 112). Atticus knows that although Mrs. Dubose wasn’t a very nice person, she wasn’t a bad person either. She was a courageous person with her own demons. Jem and Scout’s innocence prevents them from seeing below the surface. Atticus has the maturity to have a better understanding of Mrs. Dubose situation, and respect her.
He wants Jem to learn from her that it is important to respect the good qualities of a person, and understand their actions. Mrs. Dubose’s battle with drug addiction complicates with her antagonizing ways as a racist, validating the theme that the world is full of ambivalence. Another example of this is Boo Radley. For much of the story, lem and Scout fantasize Boo as a monster, but as they become more sensible and see that the boundaries between good and bad are often hazy, they begin to see that their perception of Boo is inaccurate.
The people of Maycomb County view Boo as an abomination: “According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the living room … As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them onto his pants” (Lee 11). According to Jem, “Boo… dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained … There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 13). From these descriptions, Jem and Scout portray Boo as a menacing enigma.
Along with Dill, they invent games and thrilling stories based off of him, in order to amuse themselves and gain a better understanding of the freak living next door, by bringing his personality alive. As the games and dares become more complicated, Boo slowly becomes an obsession of the children. Their innocence prohibits them from seeing Boo as a person, instead of a monster. However, as Jem and Scout mature, they begin to make sense of Boo’s actions. At the trial, Tom Robinson is convicted of raping Mayella Ewell.
Jem’s faith in the people of Maycomb is shattered, and he says o Scout, “I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time … it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 227). When Tom Robinson is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, Jem starts to see the world as it really is. He comes to terms with his childhood fantasy that the world is just and fair place. The moral foundations his father always taught him to honor were jeopardized by the people of Maycomb. Jem realizes that Boo hasn’t come out of the house because he is unable to confront the harsh realities of the world.
Meanwhile, Scout also matures throughout the story and begins to see the gray areas in the world. After Boo Radley saves the children from Bob Ewell, she walks him back home, and realizes that “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 279). At that moment, Scout sees Boo Radley as the person he is, a mockingbird, one who means no harm, and it would be a sin to disturb. He had rushed out of the house he had been shut out of the world for decades, in order to save Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell.
She realizes that Boo was a good person, but people pushed their judgement onto him based on rumors. He had cared for her and her brother all along, even risking the chance of being abused by the world again in order to save them from peril. Although the children initially view Boo Radley as a freak, they eventually realize his true nature as they mature into adolescence, revealing to the audience that not everything is so clear-cut. On the other side of the ethical spectrum is Atticus. He follows his moral compass down the righteous path, no matter the ramifications.
However, the author incorporates a scene where Atticus has an internal struggle to decide what is right, thus showing the readers that there is sometimes no definite right or wrong choice. In the story, Atticus is the embodiment of moral courage. This is evident when a mob of angry Maycomb folk gathers at the county jail to lynch Tom Robinson. Atticus risks his own life to make sure Tom Robinson wouldn’t be harmed. “’You know what we want,’ another man said. ‘Get aside from the door, Mr. Finch. ”You can turn around and go home again, Walter,’ Atticus said pleasantly. “(Lee 151).
Additionally, when Mrs. Dubose attacks his reputation and character, Atticus merely tells his son, “Jem she’s old and ill. You can’t hold her responsible for what she says and does. Of course, I’d rather she’d have said it to me than to either of you, but we can’t always have our ‘druthers” (Lee 105). His moral voice earns him the respect of the community, and stems from his understanding of the evil in people without limiting his judgement. He has faith that people have the capacity to do good, because he realizes that instead of being solely good or evil, people often have good and bad qualities, one just occasionally outshines the other.
He treats people with the unwavering respect, because he is able to see life through their eyes. It is this understanding and maturity that forces Atticus to contemplate everything he ever believed in when the sheriff Heck Tate fabricates the story that Bob Ewell fell on his knife. It’s obvious to Atticus that Boo Radley stabbed Mr. Ewell to save Scout and Jem, but he encounters the dilemma to whether try Boo Radley in front of a judge and jury, where he would undoubtedly be out of place, or accept the version the sheriff deduced.
Mr. Tate says to Atticus, “To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways about the limelightto me, that’s a sin. It’s a sin and I’m not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man it’d be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch” (Lee 276). In his heart, Atticus knows that even though it isn’t the right choice, it is the best choice. Atticus has always done the right thing, and taught his children to do the same. However, when he is confronted with a dilemma, Lee proved that even the most ethical characters are compromised when there is a blurred line between right and wrong.
Harper Lee indulges in the relationships of Scout and Jem with characters Mrs. Dubose, Boo Radley and Atticus, as they mature throughout the story, to show the readers that the world isn’t black and white, but composed of infinite hues of gray. For all their lives, Jem and Scout viewed the outside world as simply good or bad. However, as the children gradually mature, they eventually realize that there are both good and bad in all people. This bildungsroman uncovers the transition from child to adolescent, and how their views of people develop into more sophisticated dimensions.
