Would things be different if he was still alive? Jemima Emerson’s father was killed by the British. His death made her mother go into a grieving state which forced Jemima to grow up quickly and make important decisions. Throughout the book, Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi, Jemima grows from a childish and patriotic girl to a strong woman.
Jemima used to be a childish girl. Instead of going to school, she had lessons at her house every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. She “resorts to every sort of trickery she can think of to get out of lessons” (Rinaldi 6). Furthermore, when she managed to actually show up to lessons, she was never attentive. She sat there and waited for them to be over, never actually listening to what she learned. Also, she did not take pride in her etiquette, so Jemima was very improper. She did not even curtsey. Jemima was very immature and childish.
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Jemima’s mother had been secretly writing essays to encourage people to join the rebellion to a newspaper. The British found out that it was her who was writing these essays, so they lured Jemima’s father out of town on a “business” trip. They then killed him and stapled copies of her mother's’ essays to his dead body. The death of her husband made Jemima’s mother go into shock and stay at her friend's’ house for several weeks , leaving Jemima to fend for herself. Jemima’s brothers were at war so the only person she had was her freed slave, Lucy. Even though Jemima was practically an orphan, she still decided to take care of her house and her family's store. In the text, it says, “If you take Mother, that will give Lucy and me more time to care for the house and the shop” (Rinaldi 167). This shows that instead of breaking down at the death of her father and the mental loss of her mother, Jemima decided to stay strong and become the head of her house. Jemima proves to be a very strong women towards the end of this