“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” (Lee 119) Jem and Scout Finch are siblings who grew up in Maycomb, Alabama during the time of segregation. Throughout the book, Jem and Scout are taught many valuable life lessons. Both characters have different outlooks on life. It is important to have more than one outlook on the book because the audience experience the changes Jem and Scout go through. Even though they are from the same family with the same education, their perspectives on life are different. Jem experiences many changes. Towards the beginning, Jem cared about touching the Radley house and never declined a dare. This changed as he grew older. As Jem started transitioning into a young adult, he gets bossy with Scout. “Scout I’m tellin’ you for the last time, shut your trap or go home. --- I declare to the Lord you’re gettin more like a girl everyday.” (Lee 69) Jem sees himself playing the role of the older sibling and starts to take charge. He later realizes that Scout is a girl and leaves her out of activities to go swimming with Dill. During Tom Robinson’s trial, Jem seems to be more affected than Scout. At his age, Jem sees the reality in discrimination. He comes to find that Tom’s verdict was found guilty. He leaves the courtroom in fury. “It ain’t right, Atticus,” (Lee 284) The trial affects Jem as he knows this is wrong and begins to understand how serious the trial is affecting him. He leaves his childhood and begins to understand the harsh reality of Maycomb. Scout has always been told by Atticus to do the right thing. In the beginning of the book, Scout is a little girl who takes everything said literal. Scout is still a young girl and doesn’t understand much of what is happening in the town as oppose to Jem’s knowledge. As Scout grows, she starts to learn lessons and have a voice. “Ain’t nobody gonna do Jem that way.” (Lee 204) Scout stands up for Jem as Atticus tells them to go home. Scout begins to realize that she is maturing in a way similar to Jem. As Scout’s maturity progresses, near the end of the novel she interprets all her lessons into one while standing on the Radley Porch. “One time he said, you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in
through Boo Radley. Her transformation can be seen when comparing her mindset at the beginning and end of the story. In chapter 3 Atticus tries to teach her about this topic in which he says: "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." (pg. 30). Atticus explains to Scout that she needs to try and see things from another's viewpoint even when they don’t see eye to eye. In Scout’s case, she learns to not judge people before she has a chance to see thing from their perspective. At the end of the book, Scout finally learns this lesson, as she says: "Atticus, he was real nice" which indicates her realization that some people are not what rumors say they are. Atticus the replies to her: "Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them." (pg.376).
“We're paying the highest tribute you can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It's that simple.” quote from Harper Lee . To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee portrays the characters in the story in such a way that the reader almost feels as if they are best friends with the character themselves. Three of the main characters stand out to the reader: Jean Louise Finch, otherwise known as Scout, Jeremy Finch, known as Jem, and Atticus, plain old Atticus. These three characters show a great amount of loyalty deep loyalty to all their friends and family. The characters not only show loyalty to all around them, but fight for their loyalty. Out of many characters in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, Jem, and Atticus, display loyalty to all around them.
He implies if one does not follow their conscience will, they will live overwhelmed by guilt. Here, the moral of human beings is threatened by the recurring subject of racism, as well as discrimination issues. Jem is an epitome of a corrupted person as he justifies that Atticus is wrong because everyone else thinks so. Nevertheless, he finds himself after the testimony is given. When it comes time for the trial, Jem follows it closely. Having grown up in the home of a lawyer, Jem understands the workings of the courtroom, besides its racial bias. Once the judge goes over the evidence, Jem becomes increasingly confident that Atticus won but his belief that Tom is innocent contrasts with what actually occurs: Tom is found guilty. While looking at Jem, Scout sees how his “shoulders jerked as if each ‘guilty’ was a separate stab between them.” By comparing Jem’s reaction to a “stab,” Lee not only shows Jem receiving blows of devastation over the case and feeling physically attacked but also points to the broader attack on things that Jem thought were once true. This is something that causes him great emotional pain as he has a hard time coming to terms with general unfairness. Jem has counted on the strength of bigotry but in
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
As To Kill a Mockingbird progresses, Jem takes definitive steps toward maturity with his actions in the tire and flower incidents, for example. He would later go on to repair the flowerbed he destroyed, and take greater care to protect Scout. Through his actions, we can see Jem develop a sense of morals and responsibility that would prove to be a lifesaver.
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.
Mockingbirds will only sing their hearts, not cause any damage or give their lives to pleasing others. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird great examples are shown of different types of mockingbirds. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Arthur (Boo) Radley are great examples of representing a mockingbird.
We can also tell that Jem is changing, growing up when he says “Scout I’m beginning to understand something. I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in his house all the time… it’s because he wants to stay inside”. Jem is understanding that people have some sort of a choice to do what they want, meaning that if Boo doesn’t want to come out then he doesn’t have to he can do what he pleases. I think that Jem’s maturity mostly advanced after the Tom Robinson trial. Jem was furious after Tom Robinson was accused guilty as he thought there was not enough evidence
Jem like Scout realizes that Boo is not that bad of a person. Jem leaves his ripped pants laying in the Radley yard one night trying to peek into the window and get a glimpse of Boo. He runs back to get them and finds them folded neatly on the fence without a rip in them. Jem later finds out that Boo was taking care of him. “Scout, I think I am beginning to understand something. I think I am beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time..it is because he wants to stay inside.”(304) Jem then realizes Boo’s reasoning for not wanting to see the world. Tom Robinson’s trial has an effect on Jem’s ideas if empathy. He never pays attention to the actions of others from his own view, he just listens to what people such as Miss. Stephanie say assuming that it is true. When his father has to stand up for Tom on trial for “raping” Mayella Ewell and does not win, Jem can not believe that a group of men could make a decision based off of lies. He asked Atticus multiple times “How could they do that?” and Atticus simply said “they have done it before and they will do it
Firstly, Jem begins to show his social corrections, changes, and potential. Jem originally feels bad because he can't understand others like Scout , his sister, or the situation that is going on with such people. He starts changing when he begins to adjust social situations the way an older teen would. Example; Jem grows older and becomes distant because of his brain power. Scout gets jealous, “What had began as a fist-fight had become a brawl.”(184) They did
To begin with, Scout changes in the book by getting involved in the tom robinson. To regard Immediately after hearing Tom's guilty verdict, Jem breaks down and continually repeats, "It ain't right" (Lee 284). Witnessing injustice has a negative effect on Jem, and he becomes jaded about the prejudiced community members of Maycomb. Jem says.To explain, scout gets involved in the tom robinson case and by the end she realize that tom was not winning and jem starts to break down and scout sees how people treat each other differently. In conclusion, scout gets involved in the tom robinson case and see how the adults treat poorly with each other this changes scout to be
After Jem is exposed to the real southern town, full of racism, he gets angry and upset. Jem is also miserable, since his father lost the case. At the trial of Tom Robinson, he was so sure that Atticus would win, he was very shocked when almost all of the jury said “guilty”. Jem becomes wiser through his experiences, leaving some of his childhood innocence behind. Scout says, “‘That’s what I thought too,’ he said at last, “when I was your age.
Jem is just starting to lose his innocence and mature. Boo Radley has been leaving things for the children in a hole in the tree. Jem is so happy because he feels he has a connection with Boo Radley. One day Jem and Scout were gonna put a thank you note in the tree for Boo Radley, but when they went to drop it off they noticed the tree had been filled with cement. Mr. Radley told them they filled it with cement because the tree was dying. Scout just brushed it off, but Jem was very hurt and confused by this. Jem couldn’t understand why someone would do this to Boo. Jem later asked Atticus if the tree was dying and Atticus said No. They went back to the house and noticed something, “ When we went in the house I saw he had been crying; his face was dirty in the right places, but I thought it odd that I had not heard him” (84). This proves that Jem is losing his innocence because he was upset that someone would cut off Boo’s only connection to the world. This is showing Jem that the world is not a nice and fair place which helps him to start maturing. Another maturing point for Jem was the day of the trial. Atticus their father was defending an African-American, Tom Robinson, in court and trying to help him. At the time this upset a lot of people and most people would vote against the African-American. Throughout the trial Jem was very sure that that Tom would be proven not guilty because the odds were in his favor and there was no way he could have done it. When the jury had finally reached a verdict they determined Tom was guilty. Scout noticed that Jem was so upset, “ His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. “‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered” (284). This was a huge turning point for Jem. This case made Jem truly see that the world is unfair and things are never gonna go his way. This trial was the reason Jem completely lost his innocence. This trial showed Jem
Both Scout and Jem become acutely aware of the social divisions and discrimination in Maycomb during the aftermath of the trial, but each responds to it in a different way. While Scout begins the novel as a naive child who basically echoes the opinions of Jem and looks up to Atticus as a role model, she becomes more independent and shows signs of being a lady, just as Aunt Alexandra wanted her to be. An example of this is on page 237, when Scout says ““After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I.” to show her support for Aunt Alexandra, a dramatic change from the argumentative nature that Scout possesses earlier in the novel. Also, Scout begins to understand the true nature of malice when she sees Bob Ewell in court, and thus, Boo Radley seems to be less of a threat than before. Jem’s changes, however, are surprising because he becomes more emotionally aware and adult because of the trial, as opposed to his confident, idealistic attitude earlier in the book.
Despite the early introduction to this lesson, Scout doesn’t fully understand it, or at least learn it, until the very last chapter when she finally meets Boo Radley, and stands on his porch thinking about the compilation of events which make up the book, from Boo’s point of view, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” This shows the understanding Scout has finally had of the way people are perceived and the way they actually are. It shows that she has learnt what many