Character Analysis Of Jem And Scout Finch In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Is a character’s first opinion on someone the opinion they keep throughout the book? Often a character’s opinion on someone else changes as the story progresses or the character ages and matures. This is seen with the characters Jem and Scout Finch in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In this book in follows the main character Scout, along with her brother, as they grow up in a small town in the South during the 1930s. As they get older, they start to experience that not everyone is like them or thinks like them. Their biggest influence is their father Atticus, who has to defend an African-American man who is accused of raping a white woman. They see what their father goes through and the outcome of the trail, which changes them

In the beginning of the book, Jem and Scout misjudge Boo as a creepy, violent man, who is forced to stay in the house by his family. “Jem said, ‘He goes out, all right, when it’s pitch dark. Miss Stephanie Crawford said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking straight through the window at her…’” (Lee 15-16) This shows how Jem and Scout misjudge Boo because they just believe what others tell them about certain people without question and this leads to them misjudging people. As the years go on, Jem and Scout’s opinion on Boo changes very little, but it does change slightly as the years pass and they get more mature. Even though they still find him strange, they start to realize they misjudged him when they start to find small things in the tree outside the Radley’s house. This changes their opinion because they realize if he was like they thought, then he wouldn’t have given them those small gifts. However, as the years pass, they think about Boo less and less until he is at the back of their minds, but the way they viewed Boo stayed with them. It wasn’t until Boo saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell that Scout realizes that she and Jem severely misjudged Boo and why he does things. “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley’s porch was enough.” (Lee 374) When Scout

Dubose, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, and Boo Radley. But as Jem and Scout mature and grow older, they realize that they have misjudged those characters and their views and opinions on those characters change. They first saw Dill as a show off but later saw him as someone who is ignored by their parents and just wants friends. They first saw Mrs. Dubose as a racist women who just wanted to make their life miserable but later saw her as a brave women who fought til the end. They first saw Dolphus as a drunk man but as they learn about him realize he’s just acting for the sake of the other white people to have a simple reason for why he does certain things. They first saw Boo as a crazy man who is forced to stay inside but later see that he is just scared of others and chooses to stay inside. All of these show how Jem and Scout mature and are willing to change their opinion on other people, which some people will refuse to do. Even though some people refuse to change, there will always be some else who is willing to change their