I recently finished reading a book by Rachel Ward titled “Numbers”. It is an extremely thought provoking novel as there is something unique about the protagonist. Dates appear in her mind when she looks into someone’s eyes; dates predicting death. As a child Jem constantly saw the same number when she looked at her mother, but only realized what the dates meant the day her mother died. Jem became a foster child at the tender age of six, and since then she grew up to be a very isolated person.
Because of these unfortunate events and her special ability, Jem displays traits of being an introverted person. She is forever lost in thought with her own feelings and minimizes her contact with other people. “I like to find the places where nobody
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She grasps that there is absolutely nothing she can do to erase or change the depressing facts that she holds in her mind. Jem states that “People just don’t seem to get me. Don’t understand that I need my space” (Ward 6). Jem doesn’t know anyone with her abilities, she feels like no one will truly be able to comprehend what she has to live with. This is her reasoning to why there is no point in letting others in. Jem reminds me of myself in this aspect. I am generally a shy person until I get to know the other person. I have known my friends for years and we are very close. I am hesitant to let others in, however I realize the importance of being welcoming. Jem begins to learn this later in the novel. “If you’ve …show more content…
“You get used to someone—start to like them, even—and they leave. In the end, everyone leaves” (Ward 7). She feels this way because she was only close to her mother, but feels like her mother chose to leave her. Her mother was a drug addict and Jem is angry that her mother made such bad decisions that ultimately lead to her death. This is understandable, however Jem does not appreciate the precious moments her mother and her shared. She emphasizes only the negative. Jem also says “We’ve got the future all mapped out from the time we’re born” (Ward 133) and “It’s like it don’t matter what I do because the end will be the same” (Ward 192).Jem believes in predestination—that the situations she is in will determine where she will go in life. I believe she thinks this way because it is easier for her. If she looks at life like this she does not need to strive to be better. She does not need to try. This reminds me of Reef from the novel “The First Stone”. He is also in a similar situation as Jem as they are both from foster homes and environments were they are not expected to be different from the other teens that live there. Other evidence that suggests that Jem is pessimistic is when she says “We all know we're one day closer to the end when we wake up in the morning. We just kid ourselves that it's not happening” (Ward 77). This attitude will definitely make her gloomy all
Jem has grown up and has become more mature and Scout does not realize why he does not want to be around her anymore. Calpurnia tells Scout, “He’s gonna want to be off to himself a lot doin’ whatever boys do, so you just come right on in the kitchen when you feel lonesome” (154). Cal was trying to explain why Jem wanted Scout to leave him alone even if Scout does not want to. Calpurnia gave Scout an alternative to come into the kitchen if she ever felt lonely. Calpurnia taught Scout and Jem many things, but one of the main lesson was that all people are
Being Reflective is a good yet interesting attribute for Jem. For Example, he misses his mother that he almost remembers here an example from the text in the book “I did not miss her, but I think Jem did.” Found on Pg. 7 P 2
Jem had changed throughout the story from acting like a child and doing things that children do to becoming more mature and taking part in the community. When Dill had ran away from his mom and stepdad during the summer Jem and Scout had found him under the bed in Scout’s room. Scout was planning to hide him in her room: however, Jem had other plans. “Dill’s eyes flickered at Jem and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. “Atticus, can you come here a minute, sir?” (pg. 74) For years, Jem and Dill had been the best of friends. Dill had found Jem trustworthy, however, Jem was willing to do what was right even if it means losing a friends trust. Towards the end of the summer, when Dill was getting ready to leave Jem felt that it was necessary that Dill should learn to swim. He has spent the next week going to the creek to teach him. "Jem had discovered with angry amazement that nobody had ever bothered to teach Dill how to swim, a skill Jem considered necessary as walking. They had spent two afternoons at the creek, they said they were going in ...
Jem shows that he is growing up in many different ways. For example, he shows this when he goes back to the Radley house to retrieve his pants. “Atticus ain’t ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way.” (Jem 75) The fact that Jem went back to get his pants was a brave decision. This quote shows that he is maturing because he didn’t want Atticus to whip him, but not because he was afraid, because he didn’t want Atticus to go through the pain of having to whip his child. A quote that describes Jem at the moment is "We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice--that is, until we have stopped saying 'It got lost,' and say, 'I lost it.'"(Sydney J. Harris). In addition to Jem’s developing characteristics, he acquired a load of wisdom. Jem shows a loss of innocence, after his perfect view of the world is shattered right in front of his eyes. For example, “I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, at least that’s what they seemed like.”(Jem 288) This is important because Jem realizes that Maycomb folks aren’t that great. This also shows that he saw the prejudice in the people, and how racist they were to African Americans. As Jem matures and starts developing a new eye for the world, he slowly starts to lose his childhood innocence and is exposed to the wrong doings of the
In the beginning of the story, Jem enjoys the childish games of fantasizing about Boo Radley, taking any dare, and . Scout tells the reader that Jem becomes more and more moody as the story progresses, due to his aging. He thinks more; he shows more compassion; and he is appalled by the unfairness that rears its ugly head in his hometown. While Scout recounts the events of her childhood, the reader fails to notice that “To Kill a Mockingbird” is not a story about the narrator (Scout) maturing, it is actually about Jem maturing, and becoming an adult.
Jem’s perception of bravery has changed throughout the course of the book. His maturity is a result of Atticus’s actions around him. At the beginning of the book, Jem is dared by his neighbour Dill to touch the door of the Radley’s; the Radley house symbolizes fear in the minds of the children. Jem does so thinking the act is courageous while Scout remarks, “In all his life, Jem had never declined a dare.” This shows that like most children, Jem is often more idealistic than realistic. His reactions are instinctive and often unplanned and reckless.
Even though Jem is growing up and maturing he has some naive view of the community he live in. We see that in trial of Tom Robinson. Jem is convinced that the jury is going to rule in favor of Tom. But as we know Tom is convicted. This surprises Jem. He doesn‘t understand and can‘t accept it. However everybody else know that the ruling is never going to be in Toms favor. He sees the world only as black and white although he is learning that it is not that simple. Through the story Jem learns about the injustice, racism and discrimination in his
Jem is very brave, for example the time he went to see Boo Radely, and then when he lost his pants trying to escape, he went back for them even after the fact that he was shot at. He is smart but very stubborn, he wont listen to anybody because he always got to have things his way. Jem is strong, and persistent. He can sometimes be mean to Scout, epically after he met Dill. He isn’t racist and is kind and trustworthy.
Jem is Scout's brother. He is a little older than Scout. He also becomes familiar with the prejudice of Maycomb County through the story. In addition, he grows up like most teenagers “He was difficult to live with, inconsistent, moody” “said Scout” (pg. #). That statement is made when Jem starts to grow up. He doesn’t want to play with Scout like a little kid anymore. He wants to be a man.
Jem displays values like compassion and tolerance by believing that all men are created equal no matter which race, religion, or attitude they have. He shows this when he hears the verdict of Tom Robinson's trial. 'It was Jem's turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. 'It ain't right,' he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus'; (212). This is the first time he realizes that there was injustice in the world. He slowly matures and begins to understand that there are such thing as prejudice and racism.
Jem’s maturity is shown through his understanding of true courage and Boo’s true personality. A few months after that, she dies and Atticus explains about the reason he makes Jem read: “[Mrs. Dubose] had her own views about things, a lot different from mine…I wanted you to see something about her—I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. Mrs. Dubose won, all ninety-eight pounds of her. According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew” (Lee 149). Atticus says that he makes Jem read to her because he wants to understand what real courage is. Mrs. Dubose is morphine addict, but she forces herself to quit even though she knows she was going to die. Without Jem’s knowledge, Mrs. Dubose has been using...
This passage of the story displays coming of age as an internal force through Jem’s character, conflict, and setting. This event led Jem to see situations in a different perspective. He learns that people might come out as rude. But, as hard as it is he must remain respectful, because he would not know what kind of battles they must be facing. He uses this coming of age experience as a life lesson more throughout the
The reader acknowledges Jem Finch as Scout’s older brother from the start of this novel. He is brave and strong. “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.” The reader understands Jem to be the older and wiser one of the two siblings, but also understands Jem to be brave and not confused by life. The reader expects him to understand the ways of life. When the trial took place, Jem is awakened by the fact Tom Robinson was persecuted only because he was black. Jem does not understand this even though he thought he was old enough to understand. The reader starts to realize Jem does not have life figured out and he is still a kid. Jem shows his bravery throughout the book with Cecil, Burris Ewell, Bob Ewell and even Mrs. Dubose. Jem matures throughout the book as well. The reader notices this while he is comforting Scout and when he is comforting to ...
Whether he’s getting gulped up by a huge fish, falling down an endless slide into a black hole, or falling into a raging river, his extremely detailed nightmares continually appear to have an undesirable effect on him. Robert’s nightmares either alarm him, make him irritated, or thwart him. His single request is to never dream again; instead of his nightmares coming to a stop, his dreams yield a shot for the bizarre. Instead of tumbling down holes, he encounters the Number Devil. Exercising oversized fuzzy calculators, heaps of coconuts, electronic glass boxes, and a never-ending amount of scrolling paper, the Number Devil presents Robert to numerous unalike concepts of arithmetic which the Number Devil does through many famous mathematicians such as Carl Friedrich Gauss. Carl contributed many concepts and theories to the field of math and science. He was used in the book to explain the sum of numbers, which he invented. Over the sequence of twelve nightmares, Robert is occupied further into mathematical notions where he results in admiring at just what numbers can
Throughout the story we see Jem develop as a character who helps develop the idea that moral courage is greater than physical courage. Harper Lee does this several times, although it may not be originally intended, it can be evident to the reader.