Jem Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

Everyone has to grow up one day, whether we like it or not. Every little kid wants to grow up and be big, but every grown up wants to go back to the “good ole days” when they were younger. When we grow up, we also become more mature through our trials and experiences. Jem Finch grows and matures throughout To Kill A Mockingbird, he matures because of his experiences with Boo Radley, Atticus Finch, and Jean Louise Finch.

In the beginning, Jem thinks that Arthur “Boo” Radley is the town’s monster, “Jem said if Dill wanted to get himself killed, all he had to do was go up and knock on the front door” (16). Boo stays locked up in his house all the time, and in a small town there's a lot of gossip, especially about Boo, and all the kids believe

He worked in an office, not in a drugstore” (118). Jem thinks his father is not like all the other dads, he does not play baseball or take them hunting like all the other kid’s father at school. Jem thinks that he is too old to do anything with them. Further on, Jem starts to understand Atticus and his ways, especially when he took the case for Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping a white girl. He sees Atticus as a respectable person throughout the trial because he stood up for a wrongly accused black man. Jem starts to mimic Atticus, “Mutual defiance made them alike” (203). Jem wants to be just like his dad, someone who stands up for justice and making a wrong to right. So he patterns his ways after him. Jem matures one way because of Atticus and his example to his

Jem and Scout play together and cause trouble, like all siblings do. Eventually, Jem starts to not see Scout as a playmate but as a little girl, he feels the need to protect her from evil, “We were nearly to the end of the road when I felt Jem’s hand leave me, felt him jerk backwards to the ground. More scuffling, and there came a dull crunching sound and Jem screamed” (351). Jem feels like it’s his job to watch over Scout and keep her safe, even if it means that he gets hurts. He tries to fight off the man in the dark, but unsuccessfully the man knocks Jem down, but to their rescue, Boo fights off the unknown man and cames Jem back home. Jem realizes that the world is not a nice place, and he feels like he needs to protect Scout from the