Jem Transformation In To Kill A Mockingbird

Learning to do the right thing, does not come easy for children. This especially is difficult to show your friends and siblings, what to do and not to do. This lesson does not come easy for Jem, but he learns how to have courage in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the novel, Jem transforms from a very childish young kid to a very mature young adult due to learning the lesson of real courage.

At the beginning of the novel, Jem seems to be a childish young kid. Jem appears this way to the reader and the adults in the novel. Jem displays this trait when Atticus says “Don’t go near the Radley gate” (55). Through this quote, it is clear that Atticus does not want Jem near the Radley house. He doesn’t want Jem to get in trouble

and he wants Jem to learn that, it is not right to run through other people’s houses. Those words later on, help Jem learn the lesson of real courage.
Throughout the novel, Jem learns what real courage actually is.

He learns this when he first found out that Atticus is in a court trial, defending a black man named Tom Robinson. Jem most clearly learns this when Atticus says “I’m defending a black man in trial named Tom Robinson” (133). From this experience, Jem is able to realize that his family is going to go through some tough times, with all of the trials going on. He realizes that he needs to step up and learn what real courage is to get through these tough times.

By the end of the novel, it is clear that Jem matured from learning what real courage was. He shows real courage at the end by trying to save Scout, his sister, from getting strangled by Bob Ewell. Even though, Jem probably couldn’t stop Bob from attacking his sister, he tried his hardest to save her. He even tried to fight Bob when “there came a dull crunching sound and Jem screamed” (222). While he tried to save Scout, Bob broke his arm. This comes to show that Jem learned what real courage is and isn’t.

Although Jem initially was very childish, the events of the story caused him to have a change of attitude as he matured; by the end of the novel, he is a much matured young adult. This development would not have been possible without Bob Ewell trying to attack Jem and Scout or the Tom Robinson court case. Because Jem learns this lesson, it is clear that Harper Lee intended for her audience to understand what real courage is all

about.