F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Great Lady"

Atticus calls Mrs. Dubose a "great lady" because he believes she is disciplined to her morals. Mrs. Dubose speaks in what she believes in and does not care what everyone else believes is right. She believes in what she thinks is right and ethical. Mrs. Dubose also shows that she does not back down in supporting her beliefs if someone questions her. On page 49, Atticus tells Scout and Jem that Mrs. Dubose is a great lady, but they don’t believe Atticus. Then Atticus says:

" She was. She had her own views about things, a lot different from mine, maybe...son, I told you that if you hadn't lost your head I'd have made you go read to her. I wanted you to see something about her-I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that real courage is a man with a gun in his head. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”


When Atticus says that Mr. Dubose “had her own views on things” he is saying that she has beliefs that were different than Atticus’. Atticus is also saying that it is not wrong to have different opinions than someone else, but one needs to respect one another’s opinions and morals. In this, Atticus is also saying that one doesn’t need to agree with another’s morals but respect them. On the third line Atticus says, “I wanted you to see what real courage is.” In this line Atticus is saying that it does not take a lot of courage to believe in what other people believe in, but it takes much more courage to believe in a different moral and be proud of it. Atticus wants to teach Scout and Jem what true courage it takes to believe in what one believes in rather than believing in what people tell one or in what other people show one. Atticus is also saying that Mrs. Dubose speaks from her true heart and doesn’t care what other people say about what she believes in and that she is not shy about her beliefs. The most important part is that Atticus is insinuating that it is also important to believe in what one thinks is right. On the last line, Atticus says, “you see it through no matter what”. Here Atticus is saying that Mrs. Dubose believes in her a true “great lady”.