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To Kill A Mockingbird Moral Development Essay

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Jem’s moral development in chapters 1-16 in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem has significantly grown from a childish, playful boy that he was from the beginning of the novel to a more calm, composed and mature figure resemblance to that of his father, Atticus. Before maturity, Jem bore a childish concept of courage. His concept of bravery was through the acceptance of dares imposed upon him. According to Scout, Jem had "never declined a dare" throughout his entire life. This exhibited his stupidity, rather than his bravery, especially when it was in Jem's nature to "love honor before his head", signifying that not only does Jem accepts dares blindly, he does not think of the consequences of a dare, or about his safety in performing a dare. Also, his ignorance that he was the bravest of all three …show more content…

However, upon maturity, Jem possessed a different kind of courage: moral courage, which is to do what is right, even if it is not popular, or if it might anger those around him. An example is when he and Scout found Dill emerging from underneath Scout's bed in the middle of the night, and his first reaction was to tell the mother of Dill. This is very mature as it shows that Jem has finally been able to rationalize and analyze the situation, and to put himself in the shoes of Dill's parents should they be worried. Eventually, he "broke the remaining code of childhood", which shows that even though it was not in favor of Scout and Dill, he managed to muster his moral courage, and relate this problem to Atticus himself. Also, there are many instances where Jem tries to inculcate certain values or perspectives to Scout, even though Scout claims it as "maddening superiority". This shows that even though his sister will feel angry when Jem tries to "boss" her around, he

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem, or Jeremy Atticus Finch, is Scout's brother, and throughout the story he changes and matures a lot through a series of stages. First, you have the event that caused this, the trial, then you have the influence that it put upon Jem ,and lastly, how he had overall changed from the experience. After Tom's Trial, when Tom is deemed guilty and goes to jail, Jem is mad because he feels it's unfair. Jem realizes that his outlook on law was rather naive and that there's much more to it, and that his ways of thinking were childish as shown when he is speaking to Atticus, “How could they do it, how could they?’’

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An instance where he first exhibits young fearlessness and bravery as an older brother is when he and Scout first take interest in Boo Radley. He takes on the challenge to run up and touch the Radley house, and, thinking that he can do it again without being in any danger, goes back to the house with Dill and Scout for another adventure. Of course, they put themselves in great danger and in the midst of scrambling back home, Jem gets his pants caught in the Radley’s fence and is left with no choice but to leave them. Later that night, Jem forces himself out of bed to retrieve them, facing his fears so he won’t have to be ashamed of Atticus’s disappointment in the morning. This is a moment when Scout admires his bravery and begins to view him as an honorable older

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Jem also tries to fight a man that is much bigger than him, to save his younger sister, Jem. A quote from the book says, “In all his life, Jem never declined a dare.” , which suggests he’s not scared to do anything. Jem shows responsibility when he tells Dill, “You oughta let your mother know where you are.” This shows responsibility

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Atticus not only tells Scout and Jem what real courage is, but shows by defending Tom Robinson. Even though Atticus will probably lose the case, he “sees it though” anyway. Atticus attempts to teach his children the proper way to treat people as well. Atticus says, “cheatin’ a

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To begin, after the fire at Miss Maudie’s, Jem learns that Boo Radley put a blanket around Scout, he decided to come clean. “Jem seemed to have lost his mind. He began pouring out our secrets right and left in total discretion for my safety, if not his own, omitting nothing, knot-hole, pants and all”(Lee 98). This demonstrates Jem’s maturity because he did not have to tell Atticus everything about what they have done to Boo Radley, but because he felt bad because they had the wrong impression of Boo he told Atticus everything. The second time is after Jem looked like he would bother Boo Radley and Atticus told him not to Jem decided that he would leave Boo Radley alone.

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Throughout the story, Jem (taken from the word gem meaning a cherished and prized person) is used by Harper Lee as a representation of courage. In the beginning, Jem’s first act of courage occurs when Jem accepts Dill’s provocation to go and touch the Radley house. In the story, Scout says, “In all his life, Jem has never declined a dare” (Lee 16). This quote shows how Jem would never demur any sort of challenge, even if it involved stupid or childish acts like going to a forbidden place. Scout also shows how Jem even accepted a dare from her to jump off the roof of the house as a kid.

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In one instance he does not turn down a dare, For example. On page 18 it says I won't say you ran out on a dare an’ I’ll swap you The Gray Ghost if you just go up and touch the house. It is clear that jem Cares about what people think about him and his word and what weight it carries. In another event he cares about what his father thinks about him. On page 18 the author writes"I- it's like this, Scout”, he muttered.

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Still, everything he read he passed along to me, but with this difference: formerly, because he thought I’d like it; now, for my edification and instruction” (Lee 184). Jem feels as if he is much more superior and better than Scout just because he is older. This contributes to him acting as more of an adult figure to Scout just like Atticus. This shows Jem has some negative traits as well. Jem sometimes discriminates people like his sister based on gender and

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents the idea that in order to gain empathy one must go through many experiences because the more one morally develops the higher their ability becomes to understand others. Going through many experiences can help one to grow morally. In To Kill a Mockingbird the character Jem shows throughout the book to be going through the changes of moral development in comparison to Dill who is younger yet has already progressed faster. In the beginning of the novel he is a young boy who believes that those older should be respected. Foolish and naive, he believes whatever gossip is told to him and believes that whatever he thinks is the truth.

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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.

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“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. “It ain't right,” he muttered…” (Lee 242) This shows that Jem is finally of the age where he can make good judgments and even his own decisions.

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Throughout the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem learns to become mature in terms of behavior and attitude due to the influence of the people around him. “Jem, having survived Boo Radley, a mad dog and other terrors, had concluded that it was cowardly to stop at Miss Rachel’s front steps and wait…” (Lee 100). Jem has gone through lots of dangerous things like trying to get a letter over to Boo Radley, meeting Mrs. Dubose, the trail with Tom Robinson and others.

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As Jem starts to mature, his body language and use of words also start to show his overall maturity and his loss of innocence. Specifically, he acts exactly like his father,

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Today more and more people are going to college. Most people go to college to build their knowledge and to study a specific field that they want to get a job in some day. College is marketed to most people as a creative place where they will learn everything they need to know to get a job and enter the “real world”. As college students right now, don’t get us wrong we do learn many things but, we have found that in many classes we take, we just focus on getting a good grade or a passing grade. At the end of the semester we walk out of some class barely learning a thing because we retain information just long enough to do good on a test or exam and then forget it all together when the class is done.

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One lesson in the book that I feel Jem learns as a part of growing up is moral courage. Atticus once told Jem that “courage is [not] a man with a gun in his hand. It 's when you know you 're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” Jem had always seen bravery as important and often tried to show the courage in him but only learnt about what moral courage really was through a series events that took place in the book.

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