The children have to pass Mrs. Dubose's house when they walk to the center of town, the store, or the courthouse. As Jem and Scout are headed to the store one day to buy her a baton, Mrs. Dubose verbally explodes as usual:
"Your father's no better than the ni****s and trash he works for!" (102).
Scout says that "Jem was scarlet," as she pulled him along. Mrs. Dubose didn't stop there. She yelled after them about how all of the Finches end up in mental hospitals and they wouldn't be in this mess if their mother had not died. All of these things were just too much for Jem to bear. Scout even says the following:
"I wasn't sure what Jem resented most, but I took umbrage at Mrs. Dubose's assessment of the family's mental hygiene. I had become almost accustomed to hearing insults aimed at Atticus. But this was the first one coming from an adult" (102).
Up until chapter 11, Scout has heard insults about her father from Cecil Jacobs and her second cousin Francis who are both children. This is why Scout thinks Mrs. Dubose's comments are worse--because she's an adult. It's one thing for kids to say mean things during recess, but it's another when adults are actually saying the same horrible things in public. This causes Scout more concern about the situation they are facing as her dad prepares for the Tom Robinson trial.
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