Jem Bravery In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Jem Finch, from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, plays an important role in order to develop the novel. Jem starts off as curious, sensitive, and creative individual. Throughout the novel he graduates into an understanding and morally correct personality. In the beginning of the novel, Jem’s idea of courage and bravery was spying on the Radley house. As the novel progresses and Jem developed, his prospective on bravery had changed. Jem had learned the true meaning of bravery from his father, Atticus Finch.
In the beginning of the novel, Jem Finch starts off as a curious, and creative teen. His idea of being brave and courageous was running up to the Radley house and touching it. It always fascinated Jem to wonder about …show more content…

Jem has learned the true meaning of bravery from his father, Atticus, when he had to shoot the mad dog. Atticus was the “best shot” of Maycomb County. He had hit the dog from over a football field away in only one shot. This proved to Jem that sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to. Another example of when Jem learned the true meaning of courage is when his younger sister stood up to the mob in front of the jail-house. This had shown Jem that things needed to change because his younger sister is more courageous than he is. As he grows older, he begins to do what is right even though his decision may not be popular. For instance, when Dill sneaks into Scout's bedroom after running away from home, Jem can only say, "'You oughta let your mother know where you are"(142) and makes the difficult decision to involve Atticus. This had caused his friends to close their eyes to him for a while. Jem stuck to his gut and did not apologize for his actions. This shows the readers that Jem is no longer an immature kid who is only interested in trespassing and spying on the Radley family. The readers also see signs of maturity from Jem when Miss Gates makes racist comments towards Jem and Scout at the courthouse: “I never wanta hear about that courthouse again, ever, ever, you hear me?”(251). His coping skills are developing and instead of reacting to

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