How Does Jem Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the start of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem is a playful and creative ten year-old brother. He is misguided in his ideas of courage and bravery. Jem believes bravery is to hold a gun. He is also prideful in his own bravery. For instance, on page 13, “Dill bet Jem The Gray Ghost against two Tom Swifts that Jem wouldn’t get any farther than the Radley gate. In all his life, Jem had never declined a dare.” At this point Jem’s view on being brave is greatly skewed. Jem accepted the dare and went past the gate and touched the Radley house. Also, at this point it is discovered that Jem is a caring brother. He worries about his sister as he takes the dare because Boo might come out and get them. Another aspect of Jem, being a 10 year-old boy, he believes in

Scout expounds on page 115, “Jem was twelve. He was difficult to live with, inconsistent, moody. His appetite was appalling, and he told me so many times to stop pestering him.” Along with that, he likes to be by himself, and his newly developed characteristics have alienated him from his sister. Additionally, midway through the novel, Jem learns what courage is from an unlikely person; it was the person who was a childhood enemy, enraged Jem by insulting Atticus, and caused Jem to destroy her camellias, Mrs. Dubose. She was a morphine addict for years; however, she decided she was going to quit her awful habit before she died. On page 112 Atticus explained to 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.”… “According to her views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew.” As he read to Mrs. Dubose every day for a month as reconcilement, she slowly weaned herself off the awful drug. Although Mrs. Dubose scorned the Finch family, she taught Jem enduring bravery through difficult