In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper lee, the characters traits are influenced by the cultural, physical, and geographical surroundings. there are many characters of whom you see this happen to but this essay will only talk about Jek Finch.
Physical surroundings like living in a small town in Alabama and being in a neighborhood with a lot of black people influenced the moral traits of Jem Finch. For example Calpurnia was a black maid that basically was the mom to Jem and Scout because their mom died. Calpurnia’s skin color didn 't bother Jem so naturally, he tended to treat black men and women with the same respect as a white man or woman. When Tom Robison went on trial and was ruled guilty by the jury, it was somewhat of a surprise
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in Maycomb, Alabama. In the book it describes the town; “Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.” (Pg6) In the south a lot of people owned black slaves. Jem’s family had Calpurnia. Taking place in the south beings meaning to the book because when Tom Robison is convicted and tried guilty, it emotionally affects the reader. Especially because he is a black man and was innocent in the first place. Setting the book in Maycomb, being a very isolated town, is important. Maycomb was kind of off the grid, this way, Jem and the other characters weren 't affected by worldly issues. Everyone knew everyone. This means that Jem didnt previously know about the way black people were treated, he only knew about how his family treated Calpurnia. So throughout the book Jem gains knowledge about this issue. The geography of Maycomb is very crucial in shaping Jem’s idea of black people.
Jem Finch in the book To Kill A Mockingbird is shaped throughout the story. He is influenced geographically, culturally and physically. He learns about racism and finds out for himself how unfair the world can really