Atticus and the "Great Lady"

Atticus called Mrs. Dubose a great lady because he admires how even she fought her sickness, and died happy. Atticus stated that she had told him that she had nothing to hold on to as she died, which means she had no legacy to leave behind, and no one to remember her. Atticus admires her because she didn't take the easy way out, and use drugs to block out the pain. On page 148, Atticus tells Jem that he doupts that she even heard a word of what he was reading to her. No matter how sick and ugly she got, she never backed down from a fight.