Atticus calls Mrs. Dubose a “great lady” because he believes that she is admirable in the way that she holds her opinions. He describes her as being brave and having no fear of what other think of her. In the quotation on page 149 Atticus describes her with great pride even though her opinion are greatly immoral to Atticus.
“She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe. . . son,…. I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked even before you begin but you begin anyways and you see through no matter what. You rarely win, but Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she dies beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.”
The first line proves that Atticus disagreed with her yet still greatly respected her opinions. This shows many things about Atticus, but most importantly it shows that he is man of reason that respects opinions no matter how troubled they might be to him. Atticus uses the word “courage” to describe Mrs. Dubose. Courage means the ability to confront fear and Atticus believes it is much more courageous to face fear with reason and knowledge then with a loaded gun. Mrs. Dubose confronts fear when she speaks to others around town and does not filter her tongue because she has no fear of what they might think. Atticus also thinks that Mrs. Dubose is “great lady” because he uses the phrase “know you’re licked even before you begin.” This phrase shows that Mrs. Dubose was the kind of person who would fight a nearly lost war just because she believed it was the right thing to do. Atticus also uses the phrase “beholden to nothing and nobody.” This means that Mrs. Dubose owed nothing to nobody and had not debts. It also means that she was truly an individual with her own views. And lastly he uses the word “brave” to describe her which shows his grate respect for her and that she truly is a “grate lady”
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