Tuesday 26 April 2011

What are quotes that show racism from Mrs. Dubose?

Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose is an ancient and
malignant woman who lives near the Finches. She is introduced as generally disagreeable, rather
than specifically racist:

Mrs. Dubose lived two doors up
the street from us; neighborhood opinion was unanimous that Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old
woman who ever lived.

However, Mrs. Dubose's racism
quickly becomes clear and explicit. Her most virulent expressions of prejudice relate to 's
defense of Tom Robinson. She says toand ,

Not only a Finch
waiting on tables [the fate she has predicted for Scout] but one in the courthouse lawing for
n----rs!

When she sees that this has angered Jem (who is
frequently infuriated by her ill-natured remarks), she adds,


Your fathers no better than the n----rs and trash he works for!


When Jem is forced to visit Mrs. Dubose in the afternoons,
following his destruction of her camellia bushes,writes,


Mrs. Dubose would hound Jem for a while on her favorite subjects, her camellias and our
fathers n----r-loving propensities; she would grow increasingly silent, then go away from
us.

This shows that Mrs. Dubose's hatred of black people
and her anger with Atticus for defending Tom Robinson (which she regards as a betrayal of race
and class for a member of the Finch family) are obsessive concerns, to which she returns over
and over again in her increasing sickness.

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