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Examples Of Jem's Transformation In To Kill A Mockingbird

907 Words4 Pages

Kadie Casalino
Ms. Kelly
10 Honors English
10/29/15

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, main character Jem Finch undergoes a substantial transformation from childhood to adulthood. As a child, Jem displays innocence and ignorance to reality. During his transformation period, he begins to understand the things he was previously oblivious to and he begins to think more like an adult. “This change had come about in a matter of weeks, overnight it seemed Jem had acquired an alien set of values and was trying to impose them on me” (154). He is recognized as an adult at the end of the novel, as it is evident that his transformation is complete. Jem Finch reaches maturity as a result of his many life lessons. At the start of the …show more content…

“In addition to Jem’s newly developed characteristics, he had acquired a maddening air of wisdom” (155). Jem’s rapid change is the result of his maturation and rapid understanding of reality during his transformation into adolescence. These changes begin to appear as early as the first mockingbird scene, when Atticus shoots the mad dog. Contrary to Scout’s desire to share her father’s heroic feat, Jem understands the reasoning behind Atticus’s actions and feels it is more gentleman not to share the details of this incident. Jem also learns about courage from Mrs. Dubose, as well as about drugs and addiction. He puts himself in her shoes and grows a respect for the old woman he has hated so very much. In addition, when he speaks to Reverend Sykes at the trial about the events that occurred, Reverend asks Jem not to speak in these terms in front of Scout, as it is not appropriate for her at such a young age. This displays Jem’s fading innocence as he is learning and understand adult topics. After the trial, when he weeps about the verdict, it is evident that he fully understand the injustice in the world and it no longer ignorant to Maycomb’s negative

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Jeremy Finch (Jem) ages from ten to thirteen in the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird. This substantial fragment in his life displays the many ways he has changed both mentally and physically. His sister, Jean Louise Finch (Scout) has a distinct way of influencing his growth. Jem starts the novel by disagreeing and starting conflict with Scout, however, we realize that towards the end of the book Jem is more loving and helpful towards his sister. The coming of age shown by Jem is also influenced from the amount of experience he has gained.

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For example, Jem Finch, the gullible child who believed his society was flawless, isn’t the same person by the end of the novel. In her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates Jem’s maturity through his behavior and speech. To begin with, Jem exhibits his maturity through his actions. Lee demonstrates Jem’s advancing age when he tells Atticus about Dill hiding in their house.

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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.

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The best teacher is always experience. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem, one of the main characters, undergoes many significant personality changes. Jem’s character changes through several experiences, the most prevalent of those being when Jem turns twelve, when he destroys Mrs.Dubose’s flower bed, and when he learns of the town’s racial bias. Jem’s personality underwent significant changes when he turned twelve years old. His new behavior was noticed by Scout, who described him as,”...

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As the novel progresses, Jem becomes less defiant and more understanding of adults. Jem witnesses the physical and moral courage of his father before and during the trial of

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Jem starts to mature the most after the case. His [Jem’s] face was streaked with angry tears as we make our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain't’ right," he muttered all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting… “It ain’t right, Atticus,” said Jem. No son, it’s not right.” We walked home.

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Ryan Talley Mrs. Malone English 9H Period 5 05 March 2023 Jem’s Journey Coming of Age “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view --until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”(Lee 39). This is what Atticus Finch tells his kids that start their coming of age and worldview in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, which takes place in the small fictional town of Maycomb in the 1900s. Although one of the protagonists Jem is fairly young in the novel, his actions and growth significantly show how far he has matured in these years of his life.

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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.

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“Maturity is that time when the mirrors in our mind turn to windows and instead of seeing the reflection of ourselves we see others.” As one matures throughout his/her lifetime “the mirrors in our mind turn to windows” we become aware of our surroundings, therefore “instead of seeing the reflection of ourselves we see others.” In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem displays an increase of maturity in several ways. Jem shows maturity in the book not only by acting physically but also by listening to the wisdom and experience that Atticus talks with. Jem matures throughout the book by going from being naive and not questioning the things he does not understand, to admiring Atticus, understanding that he has to take more responsibility

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This is when he went out of control and lost all of the maturity he had. He could no longer take Mrs.Dubose’s insulting comments. This was a terrible decision yet others would have been tempted to do the same thing. As a punishment, Jem is forced to read to

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Scout has been living with her very mature father all her life, for her mother died when she was very young. Jem has also had to lose his innocence at a young age, too. After the trial and the jury finds Tom Robinson guilty, Jem freaks out. “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd.

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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.

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Atticus said no, Jem was growing” (pg 153). As Jem is dealing with more complicated issues, one being puberty, he is starting to grow up and develop a more

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“In a 2012 study titled Playgrounds and Prejudice, researchers from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network asked a national sample of elementary-grade teachers if they included LGBT examples when teaching about family. Eight of 10 said no.” It has been six years from this from this study and stereotypes are still a prominent in the classroom. Racial or ethnic stereotypes, gender stereotypes, and Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, (LGBT), stereotypes are just three examples of the stereotypes that could be identified in a classroom. Ethic stereotypes are apparent the case study that 285 students were asked to read.

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