“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”-Helen Keller. Helen Keller’s idea about how only with suffering will someone grow up, is relevant to the characters Jem and Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Scout and Jem are siblings growing up in the same county at the same time. This being said though, each child interprets the events in Maycomb in a different way. Jem grows up because he experiences and understands important issues and trials that Scout, his younger sister, does not.
One of the first things that helps Jem grow up occurs when Dill, a friend, shows up at the Finch's house after he ran away from his own family. Scout and Jem are trying to go to bed
…show more content…
This trial is another event where Jem grows up. The trial is about a black man named Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a white girl named Mayella. Jem and Scout’s father, Atticus, is Tom’s lawyer. At the trial Atticus is providing lots of evidence that to any unbiased jury, would claim Tom Robinson not guilty. Unfortunately in the 1930’s, a white man’s word is always taken over a black man’s. Because of this, the jury declares Tom guilty. When the verdict comes out, “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheering crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered” (Lee 284). After the trial, Scout doesn’t understand why it is such a big deal that Tom Robinson was declared guilty, compared to Jem who cries and is very upset. Scout just goes with the crowd and never questions why it is so devastating to Jem that Tom was declared guilty. Jem has a much harder time taking in that Tom is guilty and questions Atticus why the jury could convict Tom. This circumstance also shows how Jem is growing up because he understands this important event which Scout does