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Bravery to kill a mockingbird
Bravery in the face of fear to kill a mockingbird
Essay on atticus finch
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In To Kill a Mockingbird, this person shows how they’ve entered adulthood with responsibilities given to them and deciding what’s best for their choices. The coming of age for Jeremy Atticus Finch was bravery throughout the novel. Jem, as an older brother of Scout, has to take actions of his own, to protect Scout, his little sister and he wants to be a role model to her. He shows bravery by not declining dares that are given to him, putting himself in risky situations to make things right, and standing up to his father. First of all, Jem touches the Radely house as a dare from Dill Harris. “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us, not waiting to see if his foray was successful.” “Jem stood in thought so long that Dill made a mild concession: “I won’t say you ran out on a date an’ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost if you just go up and touch the house.” Jem brightened. “Touch the house, that all?”’ Jem never refuses a dare because he doesn’t want Scout and Dill to see that he is weak and scared to do something risky. He wants to prove to them that he is the greatest at any dare that is given to him and Jem shows bravery when accepting the dare …show more content…
“He blew out his breath patiently.” “I—it’s like this, Scout,” he muttered. “Atticus ain’t ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way.”’ Jem did not want to explain to Atticus how he lost his pants, and so, he forced himself to go back to the Radely house and retrieve his breeches from the fence that it had gotten stuck in. From the warnings they’ve gotten from Nathan Radely, Jem was terrified to get his pants and he regretted trying to get a peak of Boo Radely. Even if Jem was scared to death, he did not want his father to look down on him because Jem knows that Atticus is already dealing with a lot of
The fact that Jem had never declined a dare shows me how strong he is mentally. Even though strength is usually a good thing to have, I can predict that in the future it will end up getting Jem into trouble. I think this because knowing what even in that instance the dare is pretty crazy; I also know that Jem will do it, and that the dares will continue to pile up. Once someone expresses their bravery in what they can do, others usually challenge them to test how great their bravery or strength is; not stopping until the person won’t go any further. I can predict that Jem will continue to accept these dares, and that he won’t stop until he gets in trouble or gets hurt.
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
He would blindly do a dare not thinking of the consequence. The book states, “Jem wanted Dill to know once and for all that he wasn’t scared of anything.” Then Jem eventually touched the Radley house and ran off. He did this to show that he’s “brave”. This isn’t what courage/ bravery is to Atticus. He said, “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.” When Jem finds out that Ms. Dubose had an addiction to painkillers and she stayed clean he realized he was able to see that Ms. Dubose has
When Atticus discovered what Jem had done, he was furious and punished him by making him go read to Mrs. Dubose everyday. He knew, though, in his heart that she had it coming. Atticus had told Scout that "when summer comes you'll have to keep your head about far worse things it's not fair for you and Jem, but
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.
Jem is a complex character who changes a great deal in the novel. He begins the novel as a boy and ends as an adult. People show bravery in many ways, both typical and atypical. Atticus, Boo and Jem all showed important examples of bravery. Atticus models bravery for his children in the determined way he defends Tom Robinson.
This also occurs very early in the novel: "Early one morning as we were beginning our day's play in the back yard, Jem and I heard something next door in Miss Rachel Haverford's collard patch." (11). As the novel progresses, Jem no longer plays with his sister Scout, but he is doing so at this point and he would appear to anyone as one child playing with his sister. Lastly, Jem has childhood fears like most any child does. All children have their fears or monsters.
In the beginning of the book Jem is ten. He is innocent and is kind of oblivious to what is happening in the town. In the book Jem represents courage and how that courage is represented changes the older he gets. In the beginning Jem‘s courage is shown when is dared to touch the Radley house, he does that because he never backs down from a dare. That is the Jem‘s and the kids idea of courage. As the story continues Jem sees how courage is not the naive idea of touching the Radely house. He sees Atticus shot a mad dog and Mrs. Dubose fight with morphine addiction. Jem is made to read to her and when he asks why Atticus says: “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.“
... he leaves him. Scout points out Mr. Cunningham in the mob and starts talking about his son, Walter. This makes the mob realize what they are doing and humanizes them. The mob disperses and Atticus is thankful for Jem not leaving. This is how Atticus has taught Jem to be independent and realizes that Jem is becoming more mature in his actions.
Tom Robinson is the black man Atticus is defending, so every work day Atticus walks past Mrs. Dubose's house. Which is “two doors up the street. with steep front steps and a dog trot-hall.” It was not until Jem needed to read to her, when he and Scout got to go inside of her house. “An oppressive odor met us when we crossed the threshold.
“In all his life, Jem has never declined a dare” says his little sister, Jean Louise Finch (Scout). He cerebrates that fear is something to be ashamed of and the dare that he had been told to do at the commencement of the novel, was to go up and touch the Radley house however he declined at first but when dill (a friend of theirs from next door) starting taunted him, he kenned that he had to do it. Just like that, Jem Finch had lived up to his name, he kept on showing his ambition towards his well-known personality trait to his friends and family all around
d you see him just standin' there? ' n' all of a sudden he just relaxed all over, an' it looked like that gun was a part of him.an' he did it so quick, like. I hafta aim for ten minutes fore I can hit somethin'.(97).' " Jem no longer felt that his father was useless. & nbsp; The middle section of the book shows many different sides to the relationship between Atticus and Jem. Atticus does not like to tell his children how to behave.
Although Atticus would play keep away in football, he wouldn’t allow Jem to tackle him. Jem felt that his dad should allow him to tackle him, but Atticus responded with the statement that he was too old. "Jem was football crazy. Atticus was never too tired to play keep-away, but when Jem wanted to tackle him, Atticus would say, I 'm too old for that, son."(pg.118). As the story progresses, they begin to see their dad in a different view. After Atticus shoots the rabid dog, Scout and Jem starts to respect and admiration for him increased dramatically. They gain a new respect for him as the novel closes. Both Jem and Scout realize what a great man Atticus is. They realize that he is a good person who works hard to defend Tom Robinson and overall on his job as well. They soon have a great amount of respect for their father when he was defending Tom Robinson. He sets a good example and cares about his
Jem Finch demonstrates growing maturity throughout the novel. After Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout reveals Jem’s feelings. “It was Jem’s turn to cry.” Scout uncovers, “His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd,” (TKAM 284). Jem understands the trial is not fair because of race. He is mature enough to realize this while Scout is not. Another example of Jem’s maturity is exemplified when he is fulfilling his obligation to read to Mrs. Dubose. Scout describes, “ ‘So you brought that dirty little sister of yours did you?’ was her greeting… ‘My sister ain’t dirty and I ain’t scared of you’, although I noticed his knees shaking,” (TKAM 141). Rather than Jem replying to Mrs. Dubose with an insult, he dismisses her comment. Furthermore, this showcases his patience and tolerance, which comes with maturity. Finally, Jem validates his maturity when the Finch children find Dill under Scout’s bed. “You oughta let your mother know where you are.” announced Jem, “You oughta let her know you are here…”(TKAM 187). At this point Jem knows the right way to handle this situation is to let an adult know where Dill is. Even though Scout believes she can keep him under her bed forever, Jem recognizes the reality. When Jem’s maturity is put to the test he demonstrates good judgment and decision-making.