Although at first it doesn’t seem like it to Jem, His neighbor Mrs. Dubose is full of courage. Infact one of the people she criticizes the most (his father Atticus Finch) considers her to be "the bravest woman I ever knew." Before Jem actually got to encounter Mrs. Dubose on a daily basis, he and many of the other neighborhood children were petrified of her. They knew that any time they would walk past …showed first 75 words of 475 total…

…showed last 75 words of 475 total…put her on as a pain-killer for her illness. Atticus wanted his children to see her an example of true courage because even though she knew she was going to die, Mrs. Dubose wanted to be free of her addiction. Atticus tells Jem that courage is about more than men with guns, it's knowing you're going to lose but sticking to your views and fighting anyway. Mrs. Dubose won, because she died beholden to nothing.