I
chose to portray the character of Mrs Dubose from the text, to kill a
mockingbird, because even though her part in the book is minimal she is very
important in the way that she is pivotal in the lives of Jem and scout. I
wanted to develop the ideas of loneliness and courage. These are important
ideas in the text because they reflect the loneliness of a widow as well as her
isolation in a society that easily labelled those who were different. Her
courage is also important not in the way of overcoming fear but in the way of
human temperament, how she stuck with her situation and never gave up. This
monologue is an extended scene but for ease of delivery I have divided my
presentation into 3 sections. Part one is when she is sitting on her porch and
Jem and Scout go by. Part two is when Jem and Scout visit her house to read to
her for the first time and part three is the last time the children ever see
her as she is near death. I will indicate the different parts as pivotal shifts
by changing my seating arrangement which is also a visual metaphor for Mrs
Dubose as she ages and draws closer to her death. In part one I will be sitting
upright, for part two I will be slouching to the side and for part three I will
lie back to create the illusion of her lying in bed. I will also demonstrate
the pivotal shifts between thoughts and speech by looking at the audience when
she’s speaking and staring into space when she’s thinking.
//PART
ONE\\
Where
are you two going at this time of day? Playing hooky like the rest of those little hooligans from
Maycomb Primary, I suppose. Well, I’ll just have to call up the
principal and tell him. Although actually yesterday was
Friday so that would make today Saturday. Makes no difference if it’s
Saturday. Children
like you should be at home doing your chores. Isn’t that what your father would
want? I wonder does he even know what you’re up to running around the streets
terrorizing old people like me. It’s just not right. Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on them... After all they are only
children… And Jeremy Finch
Miss Maudie told me just this morning that you broke down her scuppernong
arbour. She’s going to tell your father and then you’re going to wish you never
saw the light of day! If you aren’t in reform school by next week, why my names
not Dubose because after
all nothing goes by me unnoticed. I think
it’s almost time for my morning nap... No that child needs a mothers touch in
her life just look at her running around in those drab overalls no just five
more minutes. YOU!! What
are you doing in those overalls? You should be in a dress and a camisole young
lady! You’ll grow up waiting on tables if somebody doesn’t change your ways... It just aint right that a girl
of your age and respectability runs around in dressed in those clothes.
If you keep dressing like that you’ll end up working at the O.K. café hah! But
not only that there’ll also be your father lawing for niggers… it’s just plain unacceptable I
say unacceptable you know they say that law is respectable but those niggers
sure aint... And don’t try to convince me he’s innocent, he’s nothing but a
piece of trash, that Robinson nigger... Yes indeed what has this world come to
when a Finch goes against his raising? I’ll tell you! Oh I can just imagine his
mother turning in her grave... Oh the shame... Finch used to be such a
respectable name and now it’s just being dragged through the mud with all those
niggers tarnishing it... the reputation oh…
//PART
TWO\\
Monday... The day that Jem comes to read to me… oh hello
what’s that on the dresser... Oh it’s a mirror, I haven’t looked at myself in
years... Just a quick peek... I look like a monster!
My face is the colour of a dirty pillowcase and I thought only babies dribbled... Ugh my face
is covered in liver spots and wrinkles and Im so far from the blonde beauty I was years ago...
What would Clyde say if he could see me now... And my eyes they were my
defining feature they’ve lost their deep blue and now they’re just a murky grey
with black points for pupils no wonder the children look at me so fearfully... Oh there are their
voices now. So
you brought that dirty sister of yours did you? Couldn’t you find anything better to do could you? And
you’re still wearing those ratty clothes; anyone with eyes can see that they’re
old stock from like five seasons back at the Miracle Mile Shopping Centre...
well come closer children...
I won’t bite… and you may commence reading Jem. What are you reading today? Ivanhoe are we? Oh
well this should be interesting…we shall
meet again I trust... that’s what Clyde said to me before he went off to the
war and then I when I received the dreaded telegram and I had that blasted
heart attack.. And they put me on all that morphine it numbed the pain... not
just from the surgery but the pain of losing Clyde... I need to stop it but
it’s the only thing I can rely on... Oops must have dosed off a bit there...
Jeremy Finch I told you you’d live to regret tearing up my camellias. You
regret it now don’t you? Thought you could kill my Snow-on-the-mountain, didn’t
you? Well Jessie says the tops growing back out... next time you’ll do it right
won’t you? You’ll pull it up by the roots.
But you better not, those camellias
are the only memory I have of my Clyde when we planted them out front there
yonder together... Don’t you dare mutter at me boy, you hold your
head and say ma’am... I guess you don’t feel like holding your head up though,
what with your father doing what he is... Finch used to be such a respectable name... But now...
//PART
THREE\\
Come
in... Oh it’s the lovely Atticus he looks so much like Clyde it’s
scary. Do you know what the time is Atticus? Exactly fourteen past
five. The alarms set for five thirty... I want you to know that... Im so proud of myself. Each day
the alarm has been set five minutes later that the day past. Today I’ve gone
for two hours without having a fit... I think I’ll only need them for
another week just to make sure Im properly over the morphine...
My ends drawing near anyway. I’ll get Jessie to wrap up a candy box for Jem...
as a thank you gift... but ill add in a special surprise that Im sure he’ll
love... Im going to leave this
world beholden to nobody, I
have no legacy, no mark on this world, I have no family, nobody’s going to miss
me when Im gone. You do realize Atticus that I didn’t hear a word
Jem said throughout these weeks, he was a minor distraction... but I wanted him
and scout to see that true courage isn’t a man with a gun, he’s a wimp. Courage is
when you know your licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it
through no matter what. I
may die with no legacy but if there’s one thing I aint Mr Finch it’s a quitter.
