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Examples Of Jem Finch's Transformation In To Kill A Mockingbird

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As one enters adolescence, they become more alert to the cruel injustices in the world around them. Every single day, every single person discovers something new, and it’s not always something pleasant. In Harper Lee’s quintessential bildungsroman, To Kill a Mockingbird, her character Jem Finch undergoes an extremely important psychological transformation regarding his understanding of justice in the world around him. One hot summer day, Jem and his friend Dill take it upon themselves to lure their supposedly crazy neighbor, Boo Radley, out of his house. Confronted by Scout, they justify the plan by saying they “... figure if he’d come out and sit a spell with [them] he might feel better” (pg. 51). Even as small children, these characters are …show more content…

His faith in the world around him, in the people he’s grown up around his entire life, has been completely and utterly shattered. He “[don’t] see how any jury could convict on what we heard” (pg. 230). He’s totally convinced that Tom Robinson is innocent, and, undoubtedly, he is. But what Jem doesn’t understand, despite his father’s efforts, is that innocence is not enough to keep Tom out of jail. The words of a white man, even a distrusted and disrespected man like Bob Ewell, will always trump those of a black man. The justice system in Maycomb is deeply racist and subsequently heavily flawed. This truth is not one Jem wants to hear, nor one he can fully process at such a young age. His sister, Scout, more or less lives her life as she did before, but Jem, in his adolescent state, cannot shake the uneasy feeling the results of the trial planted deep in his stomach. He becomes closed off, surly, unapproachable. When his sister brings up the trial, asking “Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad and then turn around and be ugly to folks right at home-” (pg. 249-250), he cuts her off with a ferocity that's almost hostile. His exposure to the cruelness of these adults he’s been told to trust his entire life has made him a different person entirely. He’s matured as a result of seeing just how flawed the justice system really is. He can’t play with his friends in peace anymore. His childlike wonder at the state of the world has been ruptured. But is

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514 Words | 3 Pages

Jem’s adamant interest in Atticus’s affairs implies that he is beginning to replace his innocence with an understanding of the racial stereotypes surrounding Tom Robinson, and how his Atticus’s decision to defend Robinson in court puts himself in a position of political and physical danger, as social norms prohibit such.

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1036 Words | 5 Pages

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper E. Lee, the story of protagonist Scout and her older brother Jem unfolds in the small but talkative town of Maycomb, Alabama, where they are raised by their insightful, loving father Atticus. Over the span of a short three years with their sidekick Dill, they spend their childhood days tormenting and daydreaming about town legend Boo Radley, causing shenanigans all over town and not wasting a moment of their care-free, young lives. However, the friends’ summer fun ceases when Scout and Jem especially are faced with traumatic and influential experiences like the renowned Tom Robinson case that send them quickly down the path into young adulthood. The corruption and people of Maycomb send Jem blindly spiraling

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1103 Words | 5 Pages

In Lee’s book, it is shown through the innocence of a child that Tom Robinson is not guilty, and that the jury convicted him for no reason other than their own prejudiced values and pressure from other prejudiced townspeople. After the outcome of the trial a young boy named Jem questions “How could they, how could they do it?” and his father answers. “I don't know but they did, they’ve done it before tonight, and they will probably do it again.”(Lee 215).

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674 Words | 3 Pages

Jem also opposes the town’s racism. He instead sees the incorrectness of the town in a logical standpoint. During the trial of Tom Robinson, Atticus brings up solid evidence that the attack was not from Tom, but her father Bob Ewell. Jem believes that there is no way that Tom would be declared guilty, he still believes that the town is not racist and thinks that the jury people will think logically about the case. “I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them.”

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811 Words | 4 Pages

After Atticus loses his trial, Jem notices that the Maycomb County justice system is broken and it needs help, “Then it all goes back to the jury, then. We oughta do away with juries. ”(294) This shows that Jem now understands that people are racist in everything and racism needs to be fought. On top of realizing that the justice system is in shambles, Jem realized that Tom Robinson’s case was very good at showing that.

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1007 Words | 5 Pages

To illustrate, “Tom Robinson is a colored man, Jem. No jury in the world is going to say, ’We think you are guilty, but not very,’ on a charge like that.” (Lee, 251). This quote shows how little faith Atticus had in Tom’s freedom. He knew that he would not win Tom’s trial, no matter how hard he tried, because no jury in 1930s Alabama would take the word of a black man over that of a white man, no matter how much evidence there was to prove the black man’s innocence.

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343 Words | 2 Pages

Stephen Mcgee Mrs. Lawson, Instructor English 9th 4/2/2017 Title of Your Report Jem’s coming of age story is shown in many different ways. He changes mentally. He changes how he communicates to other people.

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800 Words | 4 Pages

Tom Robinson, an innocent black man, was the defendant against a white father and daughter Bob and Mayella Ewell. Jem, Scout, and their friend Dill go to the trial and destroy their own innocence there. Scout narrates,” I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” had a separate stab with them”(282). While Jem was at the trial he watched his father Atticus defend Tom Robinson the best that he could. He saw and heard his dad cross-examine every witness and question his own, but

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680 Words | 3 Pages

After Tom Robinson’s trial Jem talks to scout about how "if there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other?"(Lee 162). Jem realizes that not everyone is treated the same whether it be because of their skin, like Tom, or the way they act, like Boo Radley. He's learning that people are treated differently even though all men are created equally. Jem is coming of age and realizing the world is not the same as he had once seen.

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965 Words | 4 Pages

It is during the trial of Tom Robinson that he truly understands the malevolent world and its mindset. “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). In this quote, Jem realizes the verdict and knows how wrong it was.

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504 Words | 3 Pages

‘It ain’t right…’ ” (pg 242) Jem had false hopes in Maycomb’s justice system. He didn’t understand that racism and the Jim Crow laws would get in the way of equal justice. His idealistic views are shattered when he learns he was wrong.

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1045 Words | 5 Pages

It is at this moment that Jem and Scout realize that as much as they want the world to be fair, it is never going to be in favor of them. The morals in Maycomb, no matter how unfair and biased they may be, will not change as the racism and prejudice present in the novel have been in Maycomb for as long as the people living there can remember. This incident is another example of a lesson learned for both Jem and Scout as they see that life is not always perfect, but they have to make out of it what they

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814 Words | 4 Pages

Initially Scout believes that the family, friends and neighbours she has in Maycomb are all good people, but the trial marks a turning point where she realises that they are also racist and morally questionable. Scout is confused as to why Atticus takes on the case when the town’s attitude is that he “shouldn’t”, and he explains that it’s the right thing to do. When she asks if he’ll win, he says “No” but that he is still going to try. This shows that Atticus is aware of the racist attitudes and history in Maycomb, and recognises that the evil nature of the prosecution will probably win. The outcome of the trial is correctly foreseen by Atticus, but comes as a shock to Scout and Jem, because they previously believed that good and truth and reason would always win.

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997 Words | 4 Pages

Growing up with a lawyer as a father and a role model, Jem has always believed that the court and judicial system will prevail. So when he attends Tom Robinson’s trial he is sure that the court will find him innocent of the crime he was accused of committing, but when Tom is found guilty, despite the amount of evidence to back him up, Jem cannot believe it. Lee writes, “Judge Taylor was polling the jury: ‘Guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…’ I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each “guilty” was a separate stab between them… (282). This shows just how badly the final jurisdiction hit Jem with reality.

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1220 Words | 5 Pages

“‘You gonna take that back, boy?’...‘My folks said your daddy was a disgrace an’ that ‘negro’ oughta hang from the water-tank!’” (Lee 87)Since the racism is extremely common amongst not only the adults in town but also the Maycomb children, Scout almost reneged on her promise to keep her head high and fists down. If Scout chose to fight Cecil, she would disappoint Atticus, but more importantly herself. After Tom Robinson is wrongfully convicted of rape and assault by the jury, Jem is furious and doesn’t understand why they even have juries. He even goes on to say that we oughta “do away with juries.”

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