The novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a novel about a children coming of age during the great depression in the Jim Crow south. A passage when jem comes of age is when Jem was protecting scout while someone was following them through the woods after Scout’s play. She had lost her shoes and dress in the school so they were late going home and there was nobody there. Scout is still wearing the ham costume and she cannot see or move well. As they walk home someone is sneaking up behind Scout and Jem and then eventually attacks them. Jem tells Scout to run away while he is fighting Mr. Ewell. The author uses the literary elements mood, dialog and imagery to show the theme that a hero does not stand down though the cost or risk is extremely high. Through Lee’s words the readers knows that Jem will not stand down or give up on protecting his sister. …show more content…
For example, at the beginning of the passage the author writes, “It was still black dark. The remaining cars were parked on the other side of the building, and their headlights were little help” (298). Here the author is showing that the children are in a situation where they are nervous because it is so pitch dark. Jem says while pinching his sister, “Hush a minute, Scout;” here, he is getting nervous about a noise that he is hearing while they are walking home from school.. A second example is when Jem and Scout stop to hear a noise, and they kept stopping. The mood in these two examples show that Jem is going to continue to take care of Scout even though he is scared because it is so pitch black out and he hears an unusual