Examples Of Jem Coming Of Age In To Kill A Mockingbird

Jem on pg 231 that is wasn’t right for Tom Robinson to be convicted of a crime that he did not commit, Jem asked his father is they could do away with the juries because he knows that there was no way the Tom Robinson should have been convicted of that crime, and it was because of the juries that he was sent to prison. On Page 240 Atticus says to his son Jem that “In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black mans, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life”. Atticus said this to Jem because the society that they lived in was always going to treat ‘black’ people in

In chapter 12, Jem changes is that he become difficult to live with, inconsistent, and moody. On page 131, it stated” Jem was growing. I must be patient with him and disturb him as little as possible.” This show that the cause of Jem changing has to do with the accumulated experience over the course of his life as he is growing up. This can make us know why Calpurnia started calling Jem as Mister Jem because he is no longer a young boy who go play around with his little sister, but a young gentleman that can protect his sister.

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.

One other sign of maturation can be seen in the children’s level of respect for Atticus. In part one, Jem and Scout love Atticus but think he is old and not very exciting. Jem is always upset because Atticus will never play tackle football with him. Scout is always getting into fights and doesn’t listen immediately to Atticus when he tells her to stop. A huge change is seen in part two when the children realize how great of a man and a parent Atticus really is. Jem no longer minds that Atticus

There is a time in everyone’s life when they reach a certain age where they go through a period where they come of age. To come of age means that a person reaches an age when they discover something they didn’t know before and they learn it when they come across something significant. In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, author Harper Lee uses the theme of coming of age with her character Jem Finch. Throughout his coming of age experience Jem encounters the tree, the gun, and the camellias which teach him some important lessons that he will benefit from in the future.

As people get older they go through experiences in their life that can change them in bad ways or most of the time change them in good ways.This good change occurs usually by the experiences teaching them important lessons they should know in life.These changes are very important in ones life because it matures them into an adult. This transformation happens to certain characters in every novel and it is called coming of age. In the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, both Jem and Scout go through this coming of age and learn what it means to be courageous, the unfairness of the world, and to look at other people's perspective before judging them.

Atticus displays these characteristics of positive morals, dignity and fairness by defending rape accused Tom Robinson and trying to provide him with a credible defence against the wishes and social norms of the community, however Atticus Finch abided by the social norms of the community while livingin a racially segregated community, carrying on with his day to day life in such a community, while using “white only” parks and white only buses without directly challenging the racist legal system and Atticus Finch did not dispute the fact that Tom Robinson is tried before an all-white jury and that it was fairly reasonable to assume that they would convict him of rape as a predetermined outcome on the mere fact that he was a black man and she was a white

There are many key scenes in To Kill A MockingBird that could be considered a “coming of age” scene. One major key scene that contributes to this is in the beginning of chapter 25. In the scene, Scout and Jem are sitting outside on the porch when Scout sees a Roly Poly . She was about to smash it when Jem told her not to. She asked Jem why she couldn’t and he told her, “Because they don’t bother you…” When Jem said this, Scout didn’t really care. She had thought “Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I.” Jem seems to have hit his coming of age moment because in the particular scene, he seems more obvious to the world than he was before. This helps set up a theme that causing harm to the innocent is wrong until they are proven guilty of something bad.

To start with, the first coming of age experience Jem faces is Conflict. In chapter 11 of To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Mrs. Dubose have a person vs. person external conflict with each other. Referring back to the book, it says “She put her hand to her mouth. When she drew it away, it trailed a long silver thread of saliva. “Your fathers no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (P.117)

Atticus speaks to Jem about the Tom Robinson case and says; “I don’t know (how they could convict Tom Robinson), but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it – seems that only children weep”. This refers to how white people have more authority than the blacks. Tom Robinson was the perfect example of how innocent people can be injured or destroyed through contact with evil. A great life lesson was learnt and racism could be eliminated if we all took heed of Scout’s simple but powerful quote towards the end of the novel “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks”.

When many people are children, their parents, grandparents, or anyone who poses as a parental figure tell them that they will become more mature with age. However, psychological maturity is mainly learned rather than simply accompanying a person’s ascent into adulthood. Inevitably people grow, but this statement proves the experiences a person has in their life, whether good or bad, will change the path he or she takes while growing up or even continuing his or her adult life. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jean-Louise “Scout” and Jem Finch are six and ten in the beginning of the book, respectively. Although they gain only three years by the end of the novel, the children develop even more mature mindsets than many of the physically grown-up people in the town. Three events that prompt this early maturation are a conversation that takes place between Atticus and Scout, Tom Robinson’s death, and the ordeal with Mrs. Dubose.

Atticus is a man with morals. When he sees a person, white or black in need of justice he is always there to help, no matter the cost. In Maycomb County when a black man is on trial he is automatically seen as guilty. When Atticus was chosen to defend Tom Robinson many of the people in the community took it upon themselves to pay him a visit. It was understood by everyone that Tom had no chance and some of the men in the county went to Atticus to see if he would drop the case. Atticus knows though that Tom is innocent and deserves to have a fair trial. “Link, that boy might go to the chair, but he’s not going until the truth’s told” (Lee 146) . Atticus demands justice no matter who it is or what they’ve been accused of. He understands what needs to be done to give those who have been wrongly accused an honest hearing.

Tom Robinson’s case, in which we see in that time period how a white man’s word goes against a black’s, is perceived as unfair by Scout, Jem, Atticus, and many of their neighbors. As Atticus says to Jem, “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it–whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”(295) This quote explains that there is great injustice and extortion for personal gain. This is disturbing in its own right; The fact that Atticus needs to even make a comment like that is disturbing in its own right, let alone that any person would do that to another, also tells Jem this: “So far nothing in your life has interfered with your reasoning process. Those are twelve reasonable men in everyday life, Tom’s jury, but you saw something come between them and reason. You saw the same thing that night in front of the jail. When that crew went away, they didn’t go as reasonable men, they went because we were there. There’s something in our world that makes men lose their heads–they couldn’t be fair if they tried. In our courts, when it’s a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins. They’re ugly, but those are the facts of life.”(295) Even a man like Atticus, a sort of rebel in that time period, accepts that the system is

“ As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men everyday of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t forget it whether a white man does that to a black man, no matter who [or what] he is … That white man is trash” (297). Atticus is saying that every man should respect and accepting of all men including the blacks. The truth of the matter is that man is a man and prejudice is never the answer but a choice of those who don’t want to try to understand but they pre-judge making a stereotype. Prejudice still exist but we need to bring awareness and extinguish it.

Jem is exposed to the racism and prejudice of the South through Tom Robinson’s trial, and it makes him question what he never thought twice about before. [insert lead-in] “‘...if the jury’s still out, you can wait with us. But I expect it’ll be over before you get back.’ ‘You think they’ll acquit him that fast?’ asked Jem. Atticus opened his mouth to answer, but shut it and then left us.” (p.277) Jem sees Tom Robinson’s trial through eyes untainted by prejudice and discrimination. To him, Tom is obviously innocent. Atticus, on the other hand, is older and more cynical. He knows about racial discrimination, he knows it strongly influences a person’s judgement, and he knows Tom will be found guilty. Jem realizes this when Tom Robinson is convicted. As a result, he learns that racism can cloud a person’s judgement to the point that they will convict an innocent man. Jem’s loss of innocence