The Transition Of Childhood Adulthood

2. What does Jem’s response to Scout’s chewing the gum tell the reader about his feelings for her?

Anne Frank once said “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, it is a bildungsroman novel that follows Jem Finch as he grows up in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Over the course of several summers he, along with his sister Scout , face obstacles and challenges which consist of their mean old neighbor Ms.Dubose and the recluse Boo Radley. Although, in the beginning of the novel, Jem still is a child physically and mentally, and we witness him mature and grow up. We see Jem deal with problems that arise in a more mature manner. Lee shows that even someone as childish as Jem can grow up and learn to

In the novel, Atticus says “She said she was going to leave this world beholden to nothing and nobody. Jem, when you’re sick as she was, it’s all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn’t all right for her. She said she meant to break herself of it before she died, and that’s what she did.” (pg. 148) This means that she was infected with not only being a

Jem, when you're sick as she was, it's all right to take anything to make it easier, but it wasn't all right for her" (92).

To mature is to grow up and understand the world around oneself. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the character of Jem matures and learns many lessons from his father Atticus, neighbor Mrs Dubose, and the figure of Tom Robinson who help him to grow up. Over time, the reader sees Jem learn the life lessons of always doing the right thing, showing courage in the face of adversity, and learning that life is not always fair.

           Furthermore, on morals, Jem takes his father's advice and steps into other people’s places and sees things from their point of view. One example of this would be how Jem comes to the realization that Arthur Radley, the town shut in who is also known as Boo, stays in his home because he wants to. When realizing this, Jem not only creates a moral but also begins to think for himself instead of believing the lies told by the town gossips. In the beginning of the story Jem believes Arthur has stayed in his house all this time because he is forced to. Jem also believes that Boo is insane and has tried to kill his own family. Nonetheless, Jem does step into Arthur’s shoes and see the town from his perspective. By doing this Jem sees the town as a hateful place filled with judge full people and explains it to Scout that Arthur stays inside because he wants too. This actualization of Arthur ensures that Jem uses this technique with many other situations.

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 and Esperanza lose their innocence through various experiences, which ultimately leads them towards adulthood. However, Jem’s specific development results from his realization of his community’s true colors and his gaining of a greater sense of empathy towards others. His acquirement and understanding of sympathy results from his encounters

As the predominant idol to Jem and Scout over the course of the novel, Atticus demonstrates that the ambitions people achieve deserve commemoration, even if their activities and stances are contentious. After vandalizing the entirety of Mrs. Dubose’s camellia bush garden, Jem attempts to justify his stunt to Atticus. Citing Mrs. Dubose’s appalling insults directed towards his father, Jem firmly believes that he is vindicated from any form of punishment. Consequently, Atticus makes it mandatory for Jem to read for Mrs. Dubose for over a month. After Jem finished his exercise, Atticus informs his children of Mrs. Dubose’s death roughly one month later. Revealing that Mrs. Dubose had an addiction to morphine, Atticus highlights that she retained

To begin, Jem at the beginning of the book didn’t care about what he was doing/saying and the consequences that came with it. He just did whatever he pleased while trying

As the novel progresses in chapter 12 Calpurnia calls Jem or Mister Jem as a sign of respect,Cal understands that Jem is twelve and is beginning to understand the adult world.Jem begins to retreat from the childish games that he and Scout used to enjoy, becoming moodier and more withdrawn. Jem’s intense admiration for his father combined with his strong belief in justice.

Atticus’s son, Jem, finds trouble with Mrs. Dubose; this caused a change in her character. Jem becomes angry with Mrs. Dubose because of her comments about Atticus to him and Scout; out of anger Jem “cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves” (103). When Atticus became aware of Jem’s actions he sent him down the street to apologize to Mrs. Dubose for what he had done. As a punishment, Mrs. Dubose asked that Jem to come to her home and read to her every day for a month. As asked Jem did bringing Scout along each day. After a month had went by Jem was asked to continue coming to read to her. Jem was not a fan of the idea but he did not want to disappoint Atticus so he did as he told him. Later, after Mrs. Dubose passes away, Jem is informed of why the reading was important to Mrs. Dubose. She had a morphine addiction and reading to her was helping her to break her habit. Jem

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.

He is always watching over the people he knows, especially Scout and Atticus. One day, as Scout was walking home, she spotted two pieces of chewing gum in the nook of a tree. She checked to see if the gum was safe, then ate it. When she got home, she told Jem that she found the gum in a tree. He then becomes concerned for her safety and states, “‘Don’t eat things you find, Scout’... ‘Spit it out right now!’ ... ‘Don’t you know you’re not supposed to even touch the trees over there? You’ll get killed if you do!’ … ‘You go gargle -- right now, you hear me?’” (Lee 33-34). When Jem discovers what Scout has done, he shows that he will be protective of her, even over a couple pieces of gum, and make sure she stays healthy. In another major scene, Jem’s defensive actions saved his and Scout’s lives. As the two siblings were walking home from the Halloween pageant, Jem kept hearing footsteps following them. At first they thought it was their friend Cecil Jacobs trying to scare them again. However, when they stopped for the last time, the footsteps didn’t follow suit and stop with them. Jem tells Scout to run, but with her cumbersome costume on, she tripped and the wire around her was crushed. Jem got stuck with their follower, Bob Ewell, and was attacked. When he was flung back towards Scout, he immediately tried to rescue her from the costume and get both of them out of the fight. Unfortunately, Jem was pulled back by Mr. Ewell and severely hurt (Lee 261-262). Even though both Jem and Scout were in danger, Jem did everything in his ability to try and save her. The situation they were in was very dangerous but despite the challenges, Jem was sure to be protective of himself and his little sister. Someone who takes good pride in protecting you and others will always be good person to have around, especially if it is one of your

Firstly, Jem possesses amazing determination. In this intriguing novel, Jem’s determination pulls him through his life, through his childhood, the court case and the huge aftermath of court case. Jem, Dill and Scout devised methods of causing Mr. Arthur to show his face. Though none of them proved to be successful, the three constantly continued to think up ideas that would enable them to