Oral Presentation

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus gives advice on how to get along with all sorts of people. One of these people is Mrs. Dubose, an elderly woman who sits on her front porch and yells at Jem and Scout whenever they walk past. She says hurtful things about them and their father Atticus, which upsets them a lot.

But whenever Atticus walks by, he tips his hat and makes sure to say something polite and flattering to Mrs. Dubose. He knows she says cruel things about him when he’s not around, and yet he is as kind to her as he can be.

I think there are a lot of Mrs. Duboses in life. They may not be in the form of an elderly woman sitting on her porch, but there are always going to be people who say cruel things about us, sometimes to our face and sometimes behind our backs.

Mrs. Dubose is sick and dying, which is perhaps the reason why she’s unhappy, but sometimes the cause of people’s words isn’t going to be so obvious. Sometimes you won’t be able to think of a reason why someone is saying mean things to you or about you, but it’s important to keep your head up and kill the coldness with kindness.

Why? Well it really comes down to self-worth or value. If you’re think you’re worthless, if you think you deserve pain or to be pushed around, then you’re obviously going to let their words get to you, and you may even fight back. But if you believe those words could never define you, they never will.

And when you’re in that mindset, you’re able to see things from the offender’s point of view. Atticus says that sometimes you have to step into another person’s shoes to truly understand why they are the way they are.

Like I said, it’s not always obvious, but there’s a saying that goes “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle”.

There is no excuse for making someone feel like they are of less worth than everyone else, but keep in mind that if you are the victim, you have the power to choose what you’re going to do about it. Just remember that Atticus, the man who knew how to get along with others, the man who never said a judgmental thing to anyone, and the man who took Mrs. Dubose’s words and turned them into kindness is, at the end of the day, the hero of the novel.