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As To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee progresses, Jem abandons his childish behavior, becoming more serious, more idealistic, and more protective of his sister. At the start of the novel, Jem plays the Boo Radley game with Scout and Dill, and he accepts Dill’s dare to touch the Radley’s house. However, after he finds gifts in the tree and discovers that Boo has mended the pants he abandoned when Nathan Radley fired a rifle in the air, Jem no longer wants to continually taunt Boo. The incident with Mrs. Dubose’s carnations also aids in Jem’s development because he learns not to allow the abusive language of others to color his understanding of their problems. By reading to Mrs. Dubose while she fights her morphine addiction, he recognizes …show more content…
that the woman has great courage even though she is prejudiced against blacks. Perhaps the event that changes Jem the most is the trial of Tom Robinson.
Throughout the trial, Jem remains convinced that Atticus will win an acquittal, even yelling in excitement, “’We’ve won, haven’t we?’” (276). The guilty verdict causes his face to be “streaked with angry tears” (284). The wrongful conviction of Tom Robinson strikes Jem as being unfair and leads to him viewing Maycomb County differently. To him, the outcome of the trial is similar to “’bein’ a caterpillar in a cocoon, that’s what it is . . . . I always though Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that’s what they seemed like’” (288). His idealistic nature has difficulty comprehending the guilty verdict, but he is able to understand that Atticus did make a difference. The end of the book also clearly reveals Jem’s protective nature. He walks Scout to and from the pageant, urging her to run away from Bob Ewell’s attack and taking the brunt of the beating himself. While Jem is several years older, physically, by the end of the book, the events he experiences during the course of the novel age him even more, mentally and …show more content…
emotionally. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Maudie explains to Scout that mockingbirds are innocent creatures that exist only to bring joy into people’s lives; it is a sin to kill such birds because they cause no harm and “’don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us’” (119).
Lee employs the mockingbird and the sin of its death to develop two key characters, the plot sequence and an important theme of her novel. Boo Radley emerges as the first of Lee’s mockingbirds because he not only leaves gifts for the children, but also protects Scout with a blanket after the fire at Miss Maudie’s house and, ultimately, saves the children’s lives. He may live a secluded life, but he only brings joy to Jem and Scout. Similarly, Tom Robinson resembles a mockingbird since he is an innocent man who simply tries to help Mayella with her chores because he feels “’sorry for her ‘” (264). In fact, Scout observes that Robinson’s manners are “as good as Atticus’s” (260), and Link Deas acknowledges that when Tom worked for him, he ‘”ain’t had a speck o’trouble outa him’”(261). In addition to developing these two characters as mockingbirds, Lee employs the mockingbird in several plot sequences. After the children are given air rifles for Christmas and are warned not to shoot at mockingbirds, the bird is not mentioned again until Mr. Underwood’s editorial in which he compares the killing of Tom Robinson to “ the senseless slaughter of songbirds” (323). Indeed the senseless shooting of the
innocent Robinson is the equivalent of the killing of a mockingbird. Later in the book, as Jem and Scout pass the Radley place on their way to the pageant they hear a “mocker pour[ing] out his repertoire” (342), foreshadowing Boo’s subsequent appearance. Finally, Lee signals Scout’s maturation when Scout realizes that Heck Tate wants to suppress the details surrounding Bob Ewell’s death because to involve Boo Radley would be “’sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird’” (370). Scout’s ability to stand in Boo’s shoes and to recognize the sin of killing a mockingbird enables her to grow beyond the innocence of childhood. Further, by comparing the sin of harming an innocent to the sin of killing a mockingbird, Lee elucidates the necessity of acting humanely and according to one’s conscience.
“Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity. The measure of your maturity is how spiritual you become during the midst of your frustrations.” is a quote from Samuel Ullman. This describes the struggles that Jem went through by taking part in the community and trial and by also taking the risk of losing some of his friends and family in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. Through Jem’s interaction with the racism of Maycomb, he became aware of the things around him. We all learn that it takes a strong person to overcome the barriers of society.
When children grow up, they face difficult problems, and. they learn to cope and take responsibility. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a flashback about two kids that spans over a few years. Jem ages from ten to thirteen over the course of the novel, and undergoes much change, as his sister describes him. Over the years, he is exposed to issues adults face, and eventually shows an understanding of racism and innocence. As Jem grows up, his view on courage also changes. Jem follows his father's footsteps, and gets much of his knowledge from him.
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.
When the children were given toy guns for Christmas from their uncle, Atticus tells them that is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because mockingbirds are innocent creatures that only make pretty music and do not harm anything. Boo Radley is shown throughout the story as a gentile man when he covers Scout up with a blanket the night she was waiting on the sidewalk for the fire burning from Miss Maudie’s house to be put out. He also leaves the children presents in the knothole and saves their lives when Bob Ewell tries to kill them. His bad reputation comes from the idea that all people who isolate themselves from their communities are horrible, violent people who need to be shut off from everyone for their own safety, when in reality we are left to guess that he detaches himself from Maycomb because of some form of social anxiety or dislike of socializing. The comparison of him to a mockingbird is prominent at the end of the book, when Heck Tate is explaining to Atticus that it was Boo who killed Bob Ewell, and not Jem. He tells him that it would be best to pretend that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife because sharing the actual story would bring Boo into the spotlight, which Scout compares to being a sin as bad as killing a mockingbird. Tom Robinson also represents a Mockingbird because he is just as innocent as one. During the time when Mayella and Bob
The characters in To Kill A Mockingbird change a lot throughout the book.Some changed for good and others for bad but in my opinion jem has changed the most. Jem has changed the most in this book because he becomes more mature and starts seeing boo radley for who he really is.
Jem Finch has come a long way since his humble beginnings as a naive ten year old child. He has come to understand the real meaning of courage, gone from playmate to protector for his sister and has grown enough to understand the workings of the real world, and see the negatives and positives of society. His maturity has been quick and the changes great, and over the years he has come to adhere, respect and carry out Atticus`s legacy and use his father`s ideals to shape his lifestyle. Due to the course of events, his adolescent changes and Atticus`s influence, Jem has matured from a reckless child into a young man capable of making his own decisions.
To Kill A Mockingbird The Maturing of Jem Finch Society is not as innocent to a child as it may appear to be. In fact, when one really understands the society in which he lives he is no longer a child. This is much the same case as found in To Kill A Mockingbird, by Leigh Harper. Although Jem, being a child at the beginning of the novel, is immature and unaware of the society in which he lives, he matures mentally to the point where he sees the evil in society and gains a knowledge of death. Like most children, at the beginning of To Kill A Mockingbird Jem and Scout are both young, play together, and have childhood monsters or fears like other children.
The children laugh and imagine the reclusive life of Boo Radley, yet their father quickly puts a halt to their shenanigans, as they should not judge the man before they truly know him. Atticus unforgettably tells the children, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” During Dill’s last night in Maycomb for the summer, the children wrongfully ventured onto Boo Radley’s property. He shoots at the children, and in their escape, Jem loses his pants. He later returns to find them mended and hung over the fence.
When something serious happens that would normally not happen until adulthood, it forces a child to “grow up” such as going through a loss or another difficult time. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, numerous situations occur which cause Scout and Jem to mature and “come of age”. Throughout the book, Scout and Jem face several complicated situations, for example, there are many cases in which people verbally attack Scout and her family. Scout has to learn to control her anger and to not get in fights with those who provoke her. In the novel, Scout and Jem encounter numerous circumstances which cause them to mature and “grow” such as reading for their neighbor, the trial for which their father is a lawyer, and having to defend
This especially comes in to play after Tom Robinson’s trial is over, and he is tried guilty. Jem learns that Tom never had a chance and would have never been tried fairly, just because he was black. As the judge was saying guilty, Scout, “Peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each "guilty" was a separate stab between them” (Lee 282). The quote shows how much he cares that an innocent man is being cheated out of his life. After the trial, Jem became gloomy because he knew in his heart that Tom would have to die because he was unfairly tried. This shows coming of age because Jem never had thoughts about how the black community were poorly treated before. So now he is growing up and thinking for himself, instead of just listening to the racists in Maycomb. Jem later forms his ideas about the Ewell family and how they are trash people from his father when he explains that if a white man cheats a black man, the white man is trash. Jem also has the mindset of an adult when he tells Scout, “It’s time you started bein’ a girl and acting right!” (Lee 153). This quote explains that Jem learns what is expected from them. He thinks like the other adults that want Scout to act more like a girl. All of these examples show Jem has a real coming of age story throughout the
By the end of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem is transformed from a naive, playful child into an aware, mature young adult. The trial changes his worldview; suddenly the people around him are not all righteous and good, and he grows through this. In recurring events, Jem comes of age through social realizations, and emerges into
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, protagonists Scout Finch and Jem Finch go through the process of growing up. The adventure takes place in a drowsy town known as Maycomb in Alabama, and is viewed through the eyes of Scout. Scout and Jem live a somewhat normal childhood, attending the local school. During the summer, they meet a boy from Mississippi named Charles Baker Harris, more commonly known as Dill. Scout, Jem, and Dill try to approach a mysterious figure known as “Boo Radley” and try to get him to come outside after a rumored past has intrigued them. Later, Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father and also a successful lawyer, is tasked with defending a black man called Tom Robinson. Faced with a biased jury, Atticus has to do his best to show that Tom is not guilty of rape. A primary theme that is displayed throughout the story is that every person, no matter how normal
Jems naïve views are soon corrupted as he goes through experiences like with Boo Radley, but Jem manages to grow in strength as he sheds his pure qualities and learns to have hope. Jem and Scouts childhood friend Dill represents another killing of a mockingbird, as his innocence is destroyed during his trial experience. Scouts childish views dissipates as she witnesses different events in her life, and she grows in experience and maturity as she encounters racial prejudice, making her learn how to maintain her pure conscience that Atticus has developed without losing hope or becoming cynical. Harper Lee’s novel explores human morality, as she weaves the path from childhood to a more adult perspective, illustrating the evils in a corrupt world how to understand them without losing
Scout and Jem are very close. They are very protective of each other and worry about each other often. When Jem, Scout , and Dill went to the Radley house at night Jem’s pants became stuck on the fence. Jem went to retrieve his pants and Scout wanted to come with to help and protect him, but Jem did not let her because he was protecting her making sure that she would not hurt herself. When Jem was gone Scout waiting for him to return because she was worried he would hurt himself. Another example is when Jem and Scout were attacked by Bob Ewell. Before they were attacked Jem thought he heard someone following them so Jem walked with his hand on Scout’s head worried about her and trying to protect her. When Mr. Ewell attacked them, they were trying to help each other and protect each other. After the attack while Jem was unconscious Scout was even more worried about Jem then she was before. Scout learns from Jem as well. An example is that Jem taught Scout and Dill the history of the Radleys and the superstitions that the town has of Boo Radley. The actions of Jem and Scout reveal the close relationship that they have with each
The plot revolves around the siblings’ daily lives, which involve playing with the neighborhood boy Dill, and driving their cook, Calpurnia, insane. The biggest worry in Scout and Jem’s lives is their obsession with their recluse neighbor Boo Radley, due to the rumors that have been spread about him. “People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work,” (Lee 10). At this point the mood that Lee has established is light- hearted and carefree. As the novel progresses, however, Scout and Jem’s lives become more complicated, as Atticus is assigned the case of Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping a white woman. While the townspeople of Maycomb, Alabama do not expect Atticus to actually defend Tom due to his race, Atticus realizes that the man is in fact innocent and he plans to defend him to