Jem Standing Up For Himself In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

In chapter 6, Jem, Dill, and Scout go over to the Radley house on Dill’s last night to try and see Boo Radley through a window. Instead, they see a shadowy figure in the yard and a gunshot goes off, scaring them and forcing them to run away from the property. While they are running away, Jem loses his pants and leaves them behind. Once they get back home, they join the group outside huddled near the Radley house. Jem is questioned about where his pants are and responds with how he lost them in a game of strip poker. Later that night, Jem returns to the Radley house to retrieve his pants. When he receives them, they are folded over the fence and have been sewed where the tear was.

To begin with, Jem exhibits his maturity through his actions. Lee demonstrates Jem’s advancing age when he tells Atticus about Dill hiding in their house. Jem does this against his friends’ wishes; Scout even

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

Society shaped and influenced jem by making him more mature and not racist. For example on page 46 it quotes “ Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old woman who ever lived, Jem wouldn 't go by her place without atticus beside him.” In other words Jem was young and naive and didn 't know why Mrs. Dubose was mean to him, so he had to have an adult next to him when he went by. This suggest that jem acted very childish before the trial. Another example on page 142 would be “ jem read for perhaps 20 min”. In other words this means that jem would read to Mrs. Dubose for about 20 min every couple of days. The author makes this comparison because it shows that jem had matured and was no longer afraid of Mrs. Dubose. To Emphasize this connects back because they doth show that jem was more childish in the begingji and toward the end he was more mature.

Throughout the story Jem shows a huge amount of maturation. The book starts when Jem is about ten years of age and still acts like a young boy. He loves to play with his toys, make up games to play with Scout and Dill, go on adventures, and many more. As the story develops so does Jem. With each day that passes Jem seems to becoming more and more like his father. “ 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 I consulted Atticus: ‘Reckon he’s got tapeworm?’ Atticus said no, Jem was growing” (pg 153). As Jem is dealing with more complicated issues, one being puberty, he is starting to grow up and develop a more

One of the most significant racial injustices Jem faces involves the Tom Robinson trial. Atticus

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

16). When Jem was young, he saw Boo Radley as this monstrous, savage, animalistic type character. Jem later recalls that he’s only met the man once when he was about the age of a toddler, so this just shows that Jem’s description of Boo is probably just his imagination. When Jem is older, he attends the Tom Robinson trial with Scout and Dill. At the end of the trial, Jem experiences a coming of age in that he now knows how adults function in the society in Maycomb. Before Jem knew the degree of how much everyone discriminated black people, he thought that Atticus was going to win the case. He even says, “Don’t fret, Reverend, we’ve won it,” (Lee, 1960, p. 212). After Tom Robinson is ruled guilty on the case, a crying Jem asks, “How could they do it, how could they?” (Lee, 1960, p. 216). The first quote shows that Jem thinks that Atticus clearly has more compelling evidence and doesn’t take into account that Tom Robinson is black and because of that, he’s going to lose the court case. The second quote shows that Jem now understands that Robinson lost the trial because he was black, but he still doesn’t know how

Jem’s personality underwent significant changes when he turned twelve years old. His new behavior was noticed by Scout, who described him as,”...Difficult to live with, inconsistent, moody”(Lee, 131). These are certainly signs that he is beginning to mature. He is said to have “..maddening wisdom…”(Lee 133) as Scout put it. He seems to know a lot more than he did in the

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

This decision by the jury made Jem cry. Jem knows that it was wrong to find Tom Robinson guilty. In chapter 22, Jem is upset about the jury convicting Tom Robinson. Jem talks to Atticus about why he is feeling sad. Jem says to Atticus, “Tom Robinson wasn’t guilty in the first place and they said he was”. Atticus explains to Jem why the jury decided to convict Tom Robinson. He says that racism is taught and not something that you are born with. “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.'" Atticus said this because he thinks that it is prejudice. He says that white hold all the power in the world and that the citizens of Maycomb are charging Tom Robinson of raping Mayella Ewell just because of the color of his skin.

From the beginning until the end of the novel Jem learns and beings to understand many different things about his community. In Jem’s life there are two main people who he learns prejudice from: Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley. From the beginning until the end of the novel Jem learns and begins to understand many different things about his community. In Jem’s life there are two main people who he learns prejudice from: Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley. Jem believes every rumor about Boo Radley. He thinks Boo is just a crazy person, who only comes out at night, hunts animals and peeks through people window. Jem has certain stigmas surrounding two of the fearful figures in his life, Mrs. Dubose and Boo Radley. Jem is very naive in his young age and easily becomes swayed by rumors around Boo Radley. The rumors outline Boo Radley to be a “malevolent phantom” who hides in the shadows of their town. He is thought to stalk people through windows and cut them up with scissors. He is believed to commit heinous crimes. Through these rumors, Jem and friends try to interact with Boo. By dropping notes, sneaking around his property and

Jem starts to mature the most after the case. His [Jem’s] face was streaked with angry tears as we make our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain't’ right," he muttered all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting… “It ain’t right, Atticus,” said Jem. No son, it’s not right.” We walked home. Jems opinion on life changes a lot through the Tom Robinson case. He learns that people aren't treated equally just by the color of their skin. From this quote it shows just how much Jem cares about people's equality and how he's maturing. After the case and Tom Robinson's death Jem doesn't do anything to anybody or anything that doesn't deserve it. Like this incident in the story, A rolly polly has crawled in the house by Scouts bed she was going to smash it but then Jem says, “Don't do that, Scout. Set him on the back steps (Lee 319). After Jem says that Scout asks him why he didn't want her to smash it and Jem says, “Because they don’t bother you, Jem answered in the darkness. He had turned out his reading light.” (Lee 320). These quotes are showing that after the case Jem realizes that you shouldn't hurt things that haven't done anything to

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”

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird Jem is an example of a character whose coming-of-age process involves gaining a different perspective. Jem at the beginning of the book is 10 years old and is very immature and does not know much about the world considering he has never left Maycomb county. He