In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem grows from a little boy to an intelligent young man. Throughout the book, he discerns many things that shape his personality. As Jem grows, he learns how bad society is and that not everyone is perfect. Fortunately for Jem, this ends up helping him and he finds out that Atticus is a hero and that he should look up to Atticus. Through Atticus and the trial, Jem loses his innocence by learning about prejudice, bravery, and that the justice system is crippled.
After Tom Robinson’s verdict was guilty, Jem started to throw a fit because he knew that everyone knew Tom was innocent but didn’t understand that white men basically always won in court. He realized with his age that everyone says people are equal but that’s false. Through Jem’s life lesson, he loses his innocence by him seeing the world for how it truly is and not a perfect as he thought it was when he was a kid. This loss of innocence shows coming of age as Jem is now aware of the world around.
Being the older sibling, Jem realizes the long-held values of Maycomb, but only as he matures does he understand what it means to have moral integrity. There are many times in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in which the reader can see Jem’s maturity and his moral values. The first time Jem starts to understand moral integrity is when he is forced to read to Mrs. Dubose. After her death, Atticus explains just how much she was going through, and this information had a great impact on Jem. Jem furthers his knowledge of moral integrity during the trial.
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.
Jem was not happy about Tom losing his trial, he was the first one to cry about the loss and then sniffled, “It is not right Atticus.” Jem also grew in strength and bravery, this is shown when Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout, and Jem was willing to fight Bob in order to protect Scout from his knife. He is also not afraid to stand up for his family, and Tom when people are tearing them down. Jem develops from a stubborn, curious child to a mature, brave, and knowledgeable teen throughout the book, all because he made the right
Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scout 's perception of courage drastically changes their behavior as they mature. They learn a lot about courage throughout the novel from their father Atticus and what they learn from him influences their choices and opinions. Although Jem is older than Scout, they both experience change in their behavior. At the beginning of the novel, Jem is still a young boy. He is defiant towards Atticus, he plays all the usual childhood games with Scout and Dill, and he engages in the younger children’s obsession with Boo Radley.
Jems opinion on life changes a lot through the Tom Robinson case. He learns that people aren't treated equally just by the color of their skin. From this quote it shows just how much Jem cares about people's equality and how he's maturing. After the case and Tom Robinson's death Jem doesn't do anything to anybody or anything that doesn't deserve it. Like this incident in the story, A rolly polly has crawled in the house by Scouts bed she was going to smash it
Everyone Grows Up Sometime: Coming of Age in To Kill a Mockingbird Prior to the spring break of my seventh grade year, I didn’t know how harsh the world could really be. I mean I knew about sickness, violence, death, all that good stuff, but I just sort of blew it off because nothing in my life had happened to where I needed to face those things. When I was 12 during spring break, I was as happy as any child would be on their spring vacation, but one day my parents pulled me and my brother aside and told us some pretty devastating news. They had told us that our grandfather had passed away in a house fire a few days ago.
Jem grows up sheltered from the evil in the world. Once the trial comes around, however, he learns out imperfect the world is through the racism and prejudice, and he struggles to come to terms with this realization. After the trial he tells Miss Maudie, who is their neighbor, how it feels like “bein’ a caterpillar in a cocoon… Like somethin’ asleep wrapped up in a warm place. I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world least that’s what they seemed like” (Lee 288). Miss Maudie then tries to comfort Jem, but it still shows that Jem has been changed because his childhood view of Maycomb being perfect has been shattered.
Is Scout a Reliable Narrator? In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the protagonist, who happens to be the narrator, is Scout Finch a six-year old girl who lives in Maycomb, Alabama. Since Scout is a very young child the book contains many hyperboles, or a literary device in which an author uses specific words or phrases that exaggerate and overemphasize the basic statement in order to produce a grander, more noticeable effect. So is this a detriment or an asset to the book?
Jem, a young and smart boy develops and matures through many unique situations in the novel. Jem is exposed to the harsh belief, judgement and circumstances of the court at a very young age. Following his father, Jem involves himself in the trial between Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell yet takes Tom’s side due to his father's involvement. Jem slowly loses faith in the justice system and is faced with a loss of innocence as explained by Scout“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd.
In the passage Jem and Scout walk home during the dark hours,giving Bob Ewell an opportunity to stage an attack. As Bob Ewell attacks them Boo Radley rushes in to rescue Jem and Scout. After this Scout now understands what Atticus meant it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. The killing of a mockingbird is much like killing the innocent. It is beyond a crime and worse than the most heinous atrocities.
After reading the first chapter of Freakonomics, written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, I realized not only what similarities sumo wrestlers and teachers have in common, but also to what lengths they will go to receive an incentive and/or achieve their goals. It details how some teachers and sumo wrestlers cheat for their advantages. In the beginning of the chapter the authors describe the concept of incentives, initially when I began reading I thought to my self “isn’t this chapter about sumo wrestlers and teachers?” Even though it is, the authors decided to take explain some terms and back-story before diving into what they wanted to get across, which in my opinion was executed beautifully.
Through To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee teaches us the righteousness of empathy. Harper Lee 's technique of writing and coinciding Christian beliefs weaved through emphasizes the importance of the story 's moral and themes. It is through Scout, the young dynamic and protagonist, that Lee opens the reader 's eyes to a realistic world of prejudice and inequality during the 1930s. Though introducing many characters throughout the novel, it is through Lee 's wise father character, Atticus Finch, that she further helps teach her readers life lessons, one being empathy. While narrating in first person, Lee further details her novel with the setting and use of style and diction.
“The hardest part of growing up is letting go of what we are used to and moving on to something you are not”-Paul Walker Growing up is one of the hardest, as well as one of the most important parts in life. Growing up should be fun, but in Scouts case learning about the cruelty and the reality she is living in is no fun. As the novel advances Scout experiences various emotional changes because of different events that take place. She starts to realize the unfairness that exists between different races and the discrimination that is rounding at the time.