Character Analysis Of Jeremy Finch In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

Atticus is guarding the jailhouse to make sure no one hurts Tom Robinson before his trial, when he is approached by Walter Cunningham and his fellow goons. Atticus shows his bravery by standing his ground for what he believes is right in front of his son. When Scout lashes out to her father’s side, Jem holds onto her and tries to stop her from interfering. Then Jem refuses to go home and stands up for his father’s side although the odds were against them, while trying to protect his sister from harm. In page 152, chapter 15, Scout says, “... but from the way he stood, Jem was not thinking of budging.” This shows us that Jem has matured from the boy who would do anything if dared, to a young man who can barricade his emotions and proceed with reason in difficult situations.

Over the course of the novel, the reader watches Jem mature from age 10 to age 13, growing up from a brave and playful boy, to a calm, collected young man similar to the likes of his father Atticus. One of the most important life lessons that Atticus teaches Jem is to always do the right thing even if it’s the hardest thing to do. Atticus Finch is known as a man who is “the same in his house as he is on the public streets.” (Lee, pg. 61) He lived by morals, and always abade by them. After Atticus took up the court case of Tom Robinson, a coloured man, he had many people insult him and make fun of him. Atticus knew that he couldn’t refuse the case, as he stated “before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”(Lee, pg.140) Atticus took the job that no person wanted, especially knowing that he was going to lose the case before it even began. In doing so, Atticus shows Jem that you should always be a man of your morals, that you should always do the right thing even if it is the hardest thing to do. Although he has a hard time understanding Atticus’ actions at first, Jem begins to comprehend his father’s values in the world around him, with more mature eyes.

During the process of the trial, Jem experiences his coming of age and lost innocence moment by opening his eyes to the racism he is constantly surrounded by. When Tom Robinson lost the trial, Jem instantly matured and realized how racism in Maycomb was the only reason Tom lost. After Tom was declared guilty, the kids walked with Atticus, “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’” (Lee, 1960, p. 284). Throughout the entirety of the trial, Jem was blinded by his innocence and thought there was no possible way that Tom could lose the trial. It was the moment when the jury declared Tom Robinson guilty that Jem lost his innocence and started opening his eyes to the world. This quote illustrates how frustrated Jem was by the unfairness of the trial. Jem now understands the only reason Tom Robinson lost the trial was because of his skin color. Due to his young age, he had not yet succumb to the disease of Maycomb and realized racism is not right. Furthermore, when Tom Robinson lost the trial, Jem’s perspective of Maycomb changed Jem is left to understand the reality of people’s biased opinions. When talking to Miss Maudie, Jem described to her, “‘It’s like bein’ a caterpillar in a

The author, Harper Lee, said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”. The citizens in To Kill A Mockingbird do not follow that quote. Some of the characters are very judgmental to those they don't know and make assumptions about them.Harper Lee uses the character Jem to prove to us the power of integrity,courage, and being true to yourself will help you in a racist town.

Atticus decides to take on a highly controversial case in Maycomb, where Mayella Ewell, a 19 year old white female, accuses Tom Robinson, a black man in his thirties, of rapeing her. During the trial, Mayella, Bob, and the sheriff state that Robinson hit her on the right side of her face; however, Atticus contradicts the Ewell’s story by showing the jury that Tom Robinson only has one useful hand. Jem then whispers, ‘We’ve got him’” (Lee 202). Although, Maycomb’s society would never allow for Tom Robinson to win the trail, Jem’s innocent perspective enables him to believe that race does not come before the facts. Shortly after the trial, Jem says, “‘Doesn’t make it right. You can’t just convict a man on evidence like that-—you can’t’” (Lee 252). Jem displays an understanding of the racism and divisions in society within Maycomb in this quote. He knows that the conviction of Tom Robinson is bias and that the treatment of all blacks is unfair. Jem shows moral growth in this quote and has a more mature mindset about equality than most of the folks in Maycomb.

Jem, as a child, has little respect for life or Scout his younger sister. When Jem, Scout, and Dill are on the hill Jem takes revenge on Scout by “pushing the tire with all the force”. As a child, Jem does not realize how important life is. He pushes Scout extra hard because she made him mad not knowing she could get seriously hurt. As Jem matures he has compassion for life and a realization of how important life is. Scout was going to “mash” a roly-poly but Jem asks her to spare it “ Because they don’t bother you.” Jem does not want Scout to kill the roly-poly because it is innocent. Jem’s statement is very reminiscent to Atticus telling the children to never kill a mockingbird because “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.” The court case brings out Jem's adulthood as he starts to understand the unfairness of life and has a newfound compassion for what is right. Jem tells Atticus “that it ain't right” when he hears the guilty verdict, although knowing he is innocent. At this moment, Jem loses his childhood innocence as he realizes that the case should have been innocent but it was not because of the people in his town. Jem loses his childhood belief that everyone will treat others fairly and now has a compassion for what is right. The decisions Jem is faced with like the roly-poly and the court case brings out Jem's compassion in his coming of age.

Throughout the book Jem almost becomes a whole new person. He matures both mentally and physically, showing everyone that he can be a good brother and son. Though Jem did many bad things, like cutting all of the camellias in Mrs. Dubose’s lawn, he did good things too, like not leaving Scout alone when they were getting attacked by Bob Ewell. Many things can be powerful. Violence is powerful, it brings whole communities together. Death is powerful because it shows everyone that they only have one life and we have to live it. Words are the most powerful though. They can make you happy, sad, angry, confused, or almost any emotion you can think of. Racism consists of violence, death, and words, making it extraordinarily powerful. Jem was affected by those three components of racism in different ways. He saw the violence when Tom Robinson was beaten, he heard of death when Tom Robinson was killed after the trial finished, and Jem witnessed the power of words when Mrs. Dubose yelled at Scout and him. Jem matured physically and mentally throughout the whole book, showing everyone that kids are affected by racism

As seen in this quote readers are able to see how discrimination pushes mindsets to choose herd mentality or individuality. Here readers can see that Jem understands the wrong and that he chooses to believe in his own thoughts and ideas about it. Though he is at a loss what to do about it. Another quote that shows he sees the wrong in the town's ways is when he is talking with Miss Maudie. “Who?’ Jem’s voice rose. ‘Who in this town did one thing to help Tom Robinson, just who?” (Lee 246). This shows how he feels about the trial and the prejudice that arises in the trial.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is represented as the stereotypical, all well-knowing fatherly figure to Jem and Scout, and more than oftenly teaches them moral lessons and how to behave as they are transitioning into young adulthood.  Three values that Atticus Finch heavily instills within his children is to live humbly, swear by equality, and have respect for everyone no matter what color your skin is or what you believe in.  These values shape and mold each Jem and Scout into independently minded children who learn wrong from right as the book’s plotline continues.

During the novel, Jem shows empathy to little Walter cunningham when he stops Scout from beating him up for not taking a quarter from their teacher and getting her in trouble for sticking up for him, Jem instead invites him home to eat lunch with them.Jem knows no matter what Walter couldn't have taken that money from their teacher , Miss.Caroline, in order to protect his family pride. Secondly, after years of making fun of Boo radley and even creating a game about him, while sitting at the table after the trial, he tells Scout that he finally gets why Boo Radley never comes out of his house. At this point, Jem is finally realizing that the people of Maycomb are not the best people in the world and have actually treated Boo very badly over the years. As a final point Jem shows empathy to his father,Atticus, when after being angry about Atticus not participating in the church football game Jem sees him shoot Tim Johnson,the rabid dog roaming the streets of Maycomb, he says “I wouldn't care if he couldn't do a blessed thing”.(Lee 131) Meaning Jem would not care if Atticus could not do a thing he was just happy he was his dad.Jem is showing empathy because he finally understands Atticus in ways he never did before.Jem just like Scout learns a lot over the time that this novel covers. Jem learns about empathy and how to treat

At the beginning of the book, Jem was extremely immature. He was intent on getting Boo Radley to come out of his house. Jem claimed Boo “. . . dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch . . . there was a long jagged scar that ran along his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (16) Jem created the Boo Radley game, in which him, Dill, and Scout acted out their rumor-filled version of Boo’s life story. Jem also did not question any of Maycomb’s social conventions, and barely even recognized their existence. He had utter faith in Maycomb and did not realize that there was an ugly side to the town he knew and loved. During the trial, Jem said with

In To Kill A Mockingbird Jem starts to understand the racism that is Maycomb county and how it affects everything. During the trial with Tom Robinson Jem starts to understand how racism is affecting the trial and the reason Atticus chose to represent to Tom Robinson even though Atticus thought he would probably be convicted cause he is black. Jem learnt that there is a lot of racist people in maycomb and that he will probably be convicted cause most of the jury were racists. Jems says “you just can't convict a man on evidence like that- you can’t” this proves that he understands that you can't convict a man just because you are racist and think black People always do bad stuff. Another example where jem realizes racism in maycomb is he notices the way

Experiences are what shape and define who people are, what they have done, and what they will do. Throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee writes about just what kind of experiences can shape the main characters of her novel. Not everyone will be influenced by others, but many personas will change drastically from beginning to end. This is true in the real world as well when we forget who we are and allow the public to change us to how they see fit. The main examples of this are shown in Scout, Jem, and many other secondary characters. Scout will change the most through her father, Atticus. Jem however, does more changing by himself when he sees the

Jem is young and carefree in the beginning of the novel. He is just starting to take on the responsibilities of an older brother: “Jem condescended to take me to school the first day, a job usually done by one’s parents, but Atticus said Jem would be delighted to show me where my room was.” (p.20). Atticus is trusting Jem to safely get Scout to school, and help her

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Mayella Ewell, a young woman as well as the daughter of Bob Ewell, lives a life of insolence and isolation in the town of Maycomb. As a Ewell, which they are familiarized as being vulgar, uneducated, and indigent, Mayella is disrespected by the people of Maycomb as well as by her father. During the court case, Atticus shows courtesy towards Mayella by addressing her as a miss and a ma’am, which is not surprising for his values of equality. Mistaking his manners with sarcasm, she replies with, “Won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mockin’ me” (pg.181). Harper Lee is demonstrating the amount of disregard Mayella faces in her life, so much that courtesy can’t be identified as just that. Mayella finds that Atticus is ridiculing her for what she doesn’t have, respect from others. With a reputation such as Mayella’s, people treat her like an outcast. Her lonely life can be a reason to explain why she always asked for Tom Robinson’s company, she wanted to experience friendship and perhaps love for the first time. Her loneliness was so clear to see, even Scout, who still has their childhood-innocent mind, can see through it. Scout compares Mr.Dolphus Raymond’s “mixed children” to Mayella because they both don’t know where to stand in their social class, “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her