TKAM Notes Chapters 11-12! These are two of my favorite chapters. :) Chapter 11 When my children are old enough to read a long passage but not quite mature enough for the entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird, I plan to give them this chapter to read on its own, because it is a clean right hook of beauty. In this chapter, we meet a character I have grown to love in Mrs. Dubose. She is completely awful. Mrs. Dubose is belligerent and insulting and physically vile. She is confident and narrow and dogged. The tension between the children and Mrs. Dubose builds over years until, in a single moment, it is broken when she insults Atticus. In a fit of passionate loyalty, Jem hacks her flowers to pieces. I don’t know if elderly women everywhere are fanatical about their flowers, but I know, I know, I know that the gentle women the South are fiercely protective of their yardside vegetation. Jem knows that, and he hits Mrs. Dubose where it hurts, intent on meting out justice. What happens next is a strange and eerie form of restitution, but it offers the children an array of truths. I love Lee’s description of Scout’s reaction to being inside Mrs. Dubose’s home. She does a fine job portraying exactly how children feel about elderly people in poor health; Scout and Jem are repulsed and, despite their newfound maturity, a little frightened. The added accoutrements, such as the alarm clock and Mrs. Dubose’s shifting dental plates, only add to the uncanny tone of this chapter. The entire section is mysterious and peculiar. And then, in the end, Atticus explains everything. What I love about this chapter is how completely common the situation is. Mrs. Dubose is not called to strength or courage. No one shows up at her house one day and says, “Mrs. Dubose, we need you to come out and be a hero.” Her situation is, at least in part, her fault, an ordinary foolishness that disrupts her health and stability. However, hers is not a circumstance that demands immediate restitution. Atticus points out that she is under no moral obligation to rid herself of her addiction; a person in her state deserves to be made comfortable. Yet, as she reaches the end of her life, Mrs. Dubose takes stock of her situation and decides to change. It is a painful change, a torturous one. And Atticus, seeing that she lacks complete community, offers his own children as support. Jem and Scout do not know what purpose they are fulfilling; they merely know that they have been told to serve their neighbor. Mrs. Dubose does not fight an external enemy, instead, she struggles against herself quietly and fiercely, contained in her own home, of her own choice, to find her own peace. She accepts the company of those she doesn’t particularly like and overcomes her obstacle a bit at a time. There is no rallying battle cry, no nick of time surprises, no sacrificial warrior. It’s just a mean old drug addict trying to get clean before she dies. How powerful. I do not often find myself a sought-after hero beckoned to fight a fantastic enemy. I do often find myself on the wrong side of my mistakes with nothing but willpower and the company of my neighbors to get me through. Those struggles are often mundane, if not sickening. I often think of Mrs. Dubose and her plain courage. If she can win, I can too. We read this entire story through Scout’s eyes, and the end of this chapter takes some digging to really understand. Jem’s emotional response to the news of Mrs. Dubose’s death tells us that his feelings toward her were not as straightforward as he had previously claimed. He might have been hateful to her, but he did not hate her. I suspect he is also a little aggravated at her gracious gift to him, a keepsake that betrayed a small amount of affection and appreciation she must have felt toward Jem. This fondness forces Jem to admit to himself that Mrs. Dubose is not entirely horrible, a fact that sends Jem reeling. Perhaps he harbors a slight sense of regard toward her as well. A note of direction: We should pay close attention to Jem’s behavior for the rest of the book. His emotional complexity colors the remaining events of the plot. Chapter 12 Dear Cal. Precious Cal. She mothers these children like they’re her own, skin color notwithstanding. Even though she and Atticus are not married, their shared values complement each other well as they raise Jem and Scout. Calpurnia’s loyalty to the children extends beyond racial divisions, and she is quick to stand up to her peers that criticize her for bringing white children to a black church. It’s easy to see that Calpurnia loves the Finch children deliberately, truly, and well. She doesn’t indulge them, fear them, or patronize them, but she does protect them and invites them readily into her life. This whole book is like a formidable parenting lesson. We could talk on and on about the treatment of gender in this novel, but I think I’ll skip that unless you guys want to wade out into those weeds. There is a point I’d like to bring up later, and its beginnings are illuminated here, when Scout explains that one reason she is wary of being a girl is that the sermons she’s heard always imply that women are somehow impure and responsible for lots of trouble. We’ll talk more about that later. The way that Reverend Sykes handles the offering reminds us that Tom Robinson’s trial is not an isolated hardship. It affects his wife, his children, and his community, whether they would like to be involved or not. Reverend Sykes bars the door until the offering is collected for two reasons. One, it is the right thing to do: Mrs. Robinson and her children are virtually a widow and orphans at this point, and the church has a responsibility to care for them. Two, there is no one else to help. No social safety net exists for the black people of this community, and the vast majority of Maycomb’s white residents will refuse to acknowledge the truth about the Robinson family. If Reverend Sykes and First Purchase do not help Helen, no one will, and she and her children will starve and suffer. Some of the members of First Purchase would rather not be involved in caring for Helen or standing with Tom. The entire situation is messy, dangerous, and difficult, and the easiest response for both blacks and whites is to ignore the whole thing. This makes Atticus, who stepped in to defend Tom on his own, all the more admirable. Jesus would have us step into the darkness. Atticus does just that, quietly and with great humility. For all of its faults, Maycomb is fortunate, if only because they have Atticus Finch.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 04:08:32 +0000
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