Scout (Jean Louise)- Jean Louise (more commonly known as Scout) is introduced to us as a young six year old girl who is innocent, but intrigued in the world. “‘If you shouldn’t be defendin‘ him, then why are you doin’ it?’ ‘For a number of reasons,' said Atticus. 'The main one is, if I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.’ ‘You mean if you didn’t defend that man, Jem and me wouldn’t have to mind you any more?’ ‘That’s about right.’ ‘Why?’” (Lee 78). This shows that Scout is determined to learn as much as possible about the world.
Courage is not strength or skill, it’s simply standing up for what you believe in and what is right. This is the theme that was enrolled after Jem destroys Mrs.Dubose’s camellias and after she died in chapter 11. This passage also reveals Jem’s coming of age moment. After using conflict, symbolism, and point of view, Harper Lee was able to connect the theme with Jems coming of age moment.
"Jem, 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 see it through no matter what." This insightful statement was told by Atticus Finch to his son, Jem Finch. Many people in Maycomb had to deal with racism, hatred, and discrimination because of their skin color or because of the court case. Most of them, if not all, showed true courage by standing up for what they believe in and keeping their heads up high. Harper Lee uses many scenes and key characters to develop the theme of real courage for instance, Jem, Atticus, and Miss Maudie go through a journey to discover, understand and to show that real courage is mental courage in the face of physical and emotional torment.
To Begin with, Jems bravery take after him in the beginning of the book when he touches Boo Radley's house. “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back to us” (lee 71). This show how Jem discovers bravery by simply touching boo radley house also later in the book atticus shoot the mad dog which also shows bravery for saving the town. Jem becomes more mature later and breaks the oath of childhood when dill sneaks in the house and jem snitches.
At the beginning of the novel, Jem is on the pre-conventional level; therefore, he acts childlike and wants to avoid punishment. The reason that Jem reacts this way because he does not want to be punished by society or the authority. In the novel, it implies: “ Atticus ain 't ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way” (Lee 56). This suggests that Jem is in the stage of obedience and punishment since he undertakes not wanting to disobey his father and does not want to be punished. He proposes that he does not want to be punished by his parent because he fears his father 's punishment that he sneaked up on the Radley’s house. In the novel, the author implies: “I stomped at him to chase him away, but Jem put out his hand
" Run, Scout! Run! Run, Jem screamed. I took one giant step and found myself reeling: my arms useless, in the dark, I could not keep my balance. Jem, Jem, help me, Jem!" (chapter 28). When Jem and Scout were walking after the pageant, they think they hear someone following them. When Jem realizes that the person behind them is an adult, he is not scared and tries to protect Scout. At first, Jem as a young boy believes that courage is mostly a physical thing such as defending yourself by winning a fight or touching the Radley house on a dare. Later he learns from his father about the mental and physical courage Mrs Dubose displayed to beat her addiction to morphine. He demonstrates both physical and moral courage, even though he ends up getting the brunt of the attack, he does his best to save Scout and stands up for her from the attack of Bob Ewell. Lee wants to show that Jem's courage is against the fears and saving her sister without regard for his own safety.
Maturing is something everyone goes through in life whether you go through it early or a little later in life. In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows a lot about maturing. Growing up in a small town in Maycomb, Alabama where life was a lot more different from today, you mature much different and in different ways. Jem is one person who matures through the whole story and makes realizations about people around him, including his dad, Tom Robinson, and Mrs. Dubose.
In the first few chapters of the book where Jem and Scout were young children, he accepted a dare to touch the wall of Boo Radley’s house because he thought that was what real courage was, accepting dares. Although he had heard the stories told of Boo Radley and was terrified by them, it did not stop him from going ahead to accept the dare because he thought that it would determine how much courage he had. Also, he knew the rumours of how if one touched anything near Boo Radley 's house, one would die. However, Jem seemed
Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout 's perception of courage drastically changes their behavior as they mature. They learn a lot about courage throughout the novel from their father Atticus and what they learn from him influences their choices and opinions. Although Jem is older than Scout, they both experience change in their behavior. At the beginning of the novel, Jem is still a young boy. He is defiant towards Atticus, he plays all the usual childhood games with Scout and Dill, and he engages in the younger children’s obsession with Boo Radley. As the novel progresses, Jem becomes less defiant and more understanding of adults. Jem witnesses the physical and moral courage of his father before and during the trial of
Courage has gone through many changes. It has been altered throughout races, cultures, religions, sex, and time. However, the core values of courage has always remained parallel. It is difficult to explain in words the meaning of courage, like describing a color, but everyone knows what courage is, how it feels, and how to perform it. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus explained to us a type of courage that was shown in Ms. Dubose. These attributes were also apparent in a man named Liu Xiaobo. Both Ms. Dubose, and Mr. Liu, rose above social views to fight for their beliefs, did not give up in times of trouble, and had the audacity to face demons that were far more powerful than themselves.
Harper Lee uses direct and indirect characterization to demonstrate the three facets of Jem’s maturity. At the beginning of the passage, Lee directly characterizes Jem as physically being stronger and more manly. On page 300, Scout notices that Jem is “growing taller”. Jem also grows hair under his arms and on his chest. Next, Lee indirectly characterizes Jem as being empathic. Specifically, when
1. Scout and Jem found two pieces of gum, a gold watch, soap figures of them, twine, and two coins.
Jem, a young and smart boy develops and matures through many unique situations in the novel. Jem is exposed to the harsh belief, judgement and circumstances of the court at a very young age. Following his father, Jem involves himself in the trial between Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell yet takes Tom’s side due to his father's involvement. Jem slowly loses faith in the justice system and is faced with a loss of innocence as explained by Scout“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” (212). Jem begins to take his anger out on Scout and uses what he deems maturity against Scout’s lack of as “He slapped me and I tried another left, but a punch in the stomach sent me sprawling on the floor” (138). Jem is a mockingbird because in his attempt to civilize situations and maturely fight for justice, he loses his
Throughout the novel, courage is portrayed through various instances that affect each of the characters. Scout and Jem witness these instances and mature because of it. Their development of the meaning of courage changes from childish dares to standing up for others even if that means standing alone. The trials that Jem, Scout, and
Coming from a strong moral figure like Atticus, Jem is expected to become a respectable young adult. He starts out fairly immature, especially with Dill over the summer. While they are friends, they share interests such as Boo Radley and “making [him] come out”