and wraps.

Jem and I hated her. If she was on the porch when we passed, we would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding our behavior, and given a melancholy prediction on what we would amount to when we grew up, which was always nothing. We had long ago given up the idea of walking past her house on the opposite side of the street; that only made her raise her voice and let the whole neighborhood in on it. We could do nothing to please her.

I believe Harper Lee uses this chapter to demonstrate that just like blacks and whites have a hard time understanding each other, so do people of different generations. This chapter further illustrates that we can learn things from other generations. Jem and Scout learned that it takes courage to live with pain.

Ageism involves holding negative stereotypes about people of different ages. The term ageism was first used by gerontologist Robert N. Butler to describe the discrimination of older adults. [www.dictionary.com/browse/psychology]

--Mrs. Dubose is perceived as ancient, mean, bitter, and abusive.

Certainly, Jem and Scout have formed a negative opinion of Mrs. Dubose. Scout describes her as "very old" and confined to a wheelchair whenever she has enough strength to get out of her bed. Scout adds,

It was rumored that she kept a CSA [Confederate States of America] pistol concealed among her numerous shawls and wraps. (Ch.11)

Here Scout implies how hateful and how old-fashioned she finds Mrs. Dubose in her thinking. Like many children, Scout and Jem do not understand or concern themselves with how ill Mrs. Dubose is, nor how her pain affects her. Scout only declares, "She was vicious," and Jem merely observes that she must not be too sick because she can yell so loudly. It is not until after Mrs. Dubose dies that the children are made aware by Atticus of her pain and her addiction to morphine. Only then do they realize that she was under the influence of a drug and could not always be in control of herself.

--Mr. Avery and Mrs. Radley mean little to Scout.

Scout's remarks indicate no positive feelings about these older neighbors. When a rare snowfall appears in Maycomb, Scout depicts Mr. Avery as rather snide in his manner of speaking to her and Jem: 

Mr. Avery said it was written on the Rosetta Stone that when children disobeyed their parents, smoked cigarettes and made war on each other, the seasons would change....(Ch.8)

After relaying his words, Scout makes no further comment about him. Then, in the next paragraph, Scout makes only a cursory mention of another older person: 

Old Mrs. Radley died that winter, but her death caused hardly a ripple--the neighborhood seldom saw her....(Ch.8)

There are several examples of ageism throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ageism is discrimination against a particular age-group, especially the elderly. At the beginning of Chapter 10, Scout mentions,

"Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries..." (Lee 118).

Scout and Jem are ashamed of their father's age. Scout also mentions how her father refuses to play tackle football with Jem because he is too old. Their prejudiced feelings towards Atticus would classify as ageism. They feel that Atticus is inadequate when compared to their friend's younger parents.

There are also several scenes throughout the novel that depict Jem displaying prejudiced feelings toward his sister because she is younger than him. In Chapter 14, Jem tells Scout not to antagonize Aunt Alexandra because Atticus has more important things to worry about other than disciplining her. Scout responds to Jem by saying that Atticus doesn't worry about anything. Jem then says,

"It's different with grown folks, we---" (Lee 184).

Scout doesn't wait for Jem to finish his sentence before she begins yelling at him and eventually takes a swing. Jem felt superior to his sister because he was four years older than her, thus making him more intelligent than Scout in his mind.