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A Comparison Of Childhood In Marigolds And To Kill A Mockingbird

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The journey from childhood to adulthood is something everyone can relate to. Even though everyone has their own personal experiences. In “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lizabeth and Jem have very different real life experiences that give both characters reality checks showing the pair how the world does not cater to childhood innocence, bringing them into the next step of adulthood. In the book, “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, Lizabeth’s journey is filled with more emotions compared to Jem’s, representing the more womanly and violent epiphany that she has. In the text it states, “Joy and rage and wild animal gladness and shame become tangled together in the multicolored skein of fourteen-going-on-fifteen …show more content…

In the text, it states, “This change in Jem had come about in a matter of weeks. – Overnight, it seemed, Jem had acquired an alien set of values and was trying to impose them on me: several times he went so far as to tell me what to do” (Lee 115). As a boy, Jem goes through the changes of growing up differently from Lizabeth. Scout sees Jem maturing as an inconvenience to her childhood fantasy of always having her brother there to play with. In the book, it says, “ “They've done it before and they did it tonight and they'll do it again and when they do it—seems that only children weep” (Lee 213). Not only does Jem have Scout there to see him mature and grow, Atticus is there to help guide him through the trial and simply become a man. Very different from Lizabeth, his family has all of the resources for them to have a stress free childhood and yet Jem is still faced with things no child should have to sit and worry about. The trial brings many thoughts and questions to Jem’s mind, molding the person he becomes towards the end of the book. While recognizing the injustice Tom Robinson was faced with, Jem becomes more cynical after the trial. No longer believing in the society that he thought he knew. Marking his reality check, ridding him of his childlike innocence and

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His appetite was appalling, and he told me so many times to stop pestering him,” so she did but didn’t exactly know why he was acting this way. (153) Jem was starting to change into a young adult so he left all his things behind when he did when he was smaller. To explain, he doesn’t want to play with Scout so he stays in his room all the time and as Calpurnia says he is going to do what boys do now. He is way older than Scout so of course he is the one who is going to change first

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153 Words | 1 Pages

Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself -John Macnaughton. B. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and short story Marigolds by Eugenia Collier both show how their characters attain wisdom and compassion but also lose their innocence but through different ways. C. B. In To Kill a Mockingbird and Marigolds the older children, Jem and Lizabeth experience a realization when they destroy their neighbor's flowers. For Jem and Lizabeth it was an outburst of a childish rage.

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird and Eugenia Coolliers short story “Marigolds” evoke the most empathy by showing the growth of morals like empathy and compassion in the characters. The dynamic characters are used to emphasize how a person can change while symbolism is used to show a deeper meaning in an object both are used by the authors to evoke empathy. To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel published in 1960 about innocence, compassion and hatred. A story about children living in a racist time period trying to get through living there childhood without being influenced by the bad customs. “Marigolds” by Eugenia Cooliers is a short story also written in the 1960’s about a learning compassion and turning into a woman.

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798 Words | 4 Pages

Jem idolizes his father and views him as the embodiment of justice and morality at the beginning. However, as Jem became more aware of the world around him, he began to question Atticus' principles. For example,Jem is disappointed when Atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinson, knowing that he will bring ridicule and scorn from the people inside of Maycomb county. However his disappointment turns into admiration when he witnesses Atticus’s to stand up for what is right in the trial.

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824 Words | 4 Pages

For Jem, this transformation meant changing physically, mentally, and emotionally. It also meant giving in to some of society’s premeditated beliefs. The theme that Harper Lee intends to make is that coming of age, a process influenced by society and involving physical, emotional, and mental change, is mostly about being able to interpret ideas and words that don’t have clear-cut meanings. After all, everybody knows how to read a book, but it is understanding the book that is

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571 Words | 3 Pages

In the early onset of the story, Jem has a child-like expectation for what people act like and should act like. Jem, just like Scout, experienced an immense loss as he failed to grapple with the inescapable truth of Tom Robinson’s fate (“his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail”) (Lee

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1033 Words | 5 Pages

When Atticus find out that Jem, Scout, and Dill followed him into town, he demands that they go home, but Jem refuses: “We were accustomed to prompt, if not always cheerful acquiescence to Atticus‘s instructions, but from the way he stood Jem was not thinking of budging,” (203). Jem is maturing, and he is starting to understand the situation that Atticus is in because of his defense of Tom Robinson. While he would normally obey Atticus, he realizes that protecting his father against the lynch mob is more important. Jem displays his courage even in his stance, emphasizing that he is doing what he thinks is right in spite of the challenges he faces. As Scout interacts with the mob, Atticus continues to demand that the children go home: “‘Atticus stood trying to make Jem mind him.

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The town already sees the Finch’s as a odd family because Atticus defends African Americans, so he didn 't want that to happen to Jem. A result of these events Jem developed to become more

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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.

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1240 Words | 5 Pages

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

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940 Words | 4 Pages

This is different from the younger version of Jem where he would be happy and help Dill stay hidden. Scout also gains individuality a lot throughout the story. Even though she is usually with Jem or Atticus. After Tom Robinson was taken back to prison, he thought he would not be able to succeed in his second trial. He decided to climb the fence and was killed doing so.

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695 Words | 3 Pages

Jem’s old enough to understand how a court case should work, and he’s learned enough from Atticus to see that it should be a clear-cut case. He truly believes that Atticus has won the case and says, ”we’re gonna win, Scout. I don’t see how we can’t” (Lee 270). This is where Jem can be pictured as bright eyed and excited

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822 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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563 Words | 3 Pages

Remember the days spent dancing with imaginary friends, tea parties with stuffed animals who could talk, then going to bed with the boogie man under the bed? The novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about Jem and Scouts journey through their youth as they work to deal with tough subjects such as rape, racism, and the realization that the world is not how they once viewed it. Throughout the story, Lee demonstrates the loss of childhood innocence, which shows that one's true perspective of the world is obtained through maturity. To begin with, all children experience innocence in their youth, but as they grow up, their understanding of the real world betters.

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747 Words | 3 Pages

As Jem starts to mature, his body language and use of words also start to show his overall maturity and his loss of innocence. Specifically, he acts exactly like his father,

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