How Does Jem Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

Jem’s Development Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird It is a known fact that throughout life, as children grow, they also develop and mature into young men and women. The same thing is true for children in books. The book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’is an excellent example, using Jem as it’s model, on how children mature more and more as they get introduced to the adult world, and how they develop to fit into this new world. Throughout the book ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Jem grows and matures from a child to a young adult. He starts off the book as an immature young boy, and through the course of the book grows into a young gentleman In the very beginning of the book, Jem is a ten year old boy, and he acts that age too. When Scout is introducing

He has bursts of sudden maturity, followed by more immaturity. One of the times where he shows that he is starting to realize how the adult world works is after Nathan Radley fills the tree knot with cement and Scout notices when he comes inside that, “[she] saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places…” (Lee 84). Jem is realizing that Boo Radley is notn’t the monster he thought Boo was, but that maybe Boo is being forced to stay locked up inside. He is starting to sympathise with other people, and care about what happens to them, which is a sign of his growing maturity. Despite his growing maturity, he sometimes goes back to his old immature, childish ways. One of these instances is being disappointed in his father. He feels that, “Atticus was feeble” which, “reflected upon his abilities and manliness” and that “our father didn’t do anything” (Lee 118). Jem feels his father is a disappointment because he is old, can’t see, and can’t seem to do anything, when in reality he hasn’t bothered to learn much about his father, and really his father is the “deadest shot in Maycomb County” (Lee 129). If Jem had taken a little more time to investigate about his father, he could have realized how cool Atticus really was and not written him off immediately as old and unable to do anything. Jem also doesn’t see his father’s wisdom as

As he grows he begins to take on more and more adult qualities. Jem shows true courage, instead of his false, childish bravado when he follows Atticus to the jail the night he goes to protect Tom Robinson and Atticus, seeing the mob says, “Son, I said go home,” but, “Jem shook his head” (Lee 203). Jem is too terrified even to speak, but out of courage and love for his father, stays with him to protect him. Besides Jem’s newfound courage, he also shows a value for life that he never had before. Scout had found a roly-poly outside and was playing with it was going to kill it when Jem stops her. “ ‘Why couldn’t I mash him?’ [Scout] asked. ‘Because they don’t bother you’ ” (Lee 320) was Jem’s reply. Jem values the life of a little insect, and tells Scout to do the same. The trial taught Jem that life is important and shouldn’t be wasted, especially if that person, or in this case, creature, has done nothing wrong. Jem also shows a whole knew level of understanding for Boo Radley when he says, “Scout, I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time...it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 304). Now that Jem has seen a lot more of the world he recognizes that maybe Boo just found that the only way to handle such a judgemental world was to just stay hidden from it, and Jem