Coming Of Age Experience

Have you ever seen real courage? Not the kind you see in movie and books, I’m talking about the kind not many talk about. The people who have that kind of courage, are the ones who have the tenacity to persevere no matter what. Many children don’t see this, until they witness it and learn from it, this is what you would call a coming of age experience. The Finch children encounter this in their life after many serious events. Some of these events in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee include Mrs. Dubose’s death, the men arriving at the jail, Tom’s trial, and Bob Ewell’s attack and death. This will be mainly about the coming of age experience of Mrs. Dubose’s death for Jem. Before her death, Jem, after weeks of reading for Mrs. Dubose, had
Dubose is when the news is first delivered, because that is where the tone, what a person sounds like when reading their words, is introduced. When Atticus comes in and says “She’s dead son” (147), it marks the beginning of Jem’s journey into understanding the person Mrs. Dubose was. The way he says it just shows how gloomy he feels, but in a way, it also feels sincere. This tone of his voice will persist throughout Atticus’ entire clarification of Mrs. Dubose’s situation to Jem and this would help explain who she was to Jem. Atticus continues by revealing what Mrs. Dubose was afflicted with all along, “Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict,” (147), she had been for many years. Jem realizes that was what Mrs. Dubose’s fits were, a first step in Jem feeling sympathy for Mrs. Dubose. Morphine addicts go through very tough times, even to the point of death, and Jem had no idea Mrs. Dubose was one of them. He realized it too late unfortunately, as he felt contempt for her the entire time, without even knowing what Mrs. Dubose had been going through. Shocked as he is, Atticus continues on further, and this is where we get some instances of Jem’s reaction that tells a lot about how he feels. Such as when Jem asked “You mean that’s what her fits were?” (148), you can feel the surprise in his words, because of the tone that was previously set-up, which just gives more reasons as to why tone is an important literary element in this passage.
Dubose died free, Atticus mentioned that Jessie, the negro woman who took care of Mrs. Dubose, was told by Mrs. Dubose to fix up a box for Jem. Atticus takes the candy box out and gives it to Jem: “Jem opened the box. Inside, surrounded by wads of damp cotton, was a white, waxy, perfect camellia. It was a Snow-on-the-Mountain” (148). This little flower is very important to the theme, as it symbolizes something that’ll make Jem come even closer to apprehending who exactly Mrs. Dubose was. Before that is explained though, it must be mentioned why it’s even a symbol. It all started when Jem had enough of Mrs. Dubose and started destroying all of Mrs. Dubose’s camellias. This would lead to Jem’s punishment of reading to Mrs. Dubose, and thus, starting this entire thing with Mrs. Dubose. As you can see, the camellias play an important role in this chapter’s story, which is why it is a symbol of this passage. Jem’s reaction, to say the least, wasn’t good, as “he screamed, flinging it down” (148), nearly breaking the thing. Jem saw it as a symbol of hate and spite for all the things he did to Mrs. Dubose and her