Although some claim Mrs. Dubose's camellias in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee represent courage, they more accurately symbolize racism. It can be assumed from different readers that Mrs. Dubose's flowers represent courage. When Jem receives the flower from her in the story, it says "Jem's eyes nearly popped out of his head. 'Old hell-devil, old hell-devil!' he screamed, flinging it down. 'Why can't she leave me alone?' In a flash Atticus was up and standing over him. Jem buried his face in Atticus's shirt front. 'Sh-h,' he said. 'I think that was her way of telling you- everything's all right now, Jem, everything's all right. You know, she was a great lady" (Lee 148-149). Some may interpret this as a reassuring statement that Jem shouldn't worry and that everything will be okay, therefore Mrs. Dubose is passing down her courage to him when she dies.…show more content… Since when Mrs. Dubose died she still had the same feelings towards african-americans, she was trying to pass down those feelings to Jem before she died. She knew that Jem was not racist, so she may have been trying to influence his opinions. This would make sense since he reacts frightened and disturbed by the flower. Furthermore, Jem's anger toward Mrs. Dubose's racist remarks are represented by the camellias. In the text, it says "He held out his other hand; it contained fat camellias. 'Jem,' he said, 'are you responsible for this?' 'Yes sir.' 'Why'd you do it?' Jem said softly, 'She said you lawed for niggers and trash.' 'You did this because she said that?' Jem's lips moved, but his 'Yes sir' was inaudible" (Lee 138). This shows that Jem destroyed the flowers because he was enraged at Mrs. Dubose and just wanted her racism gone in the
