Why Does Jem Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

She described to the readers that “…our neighbor’s image blurred with my sudden tears. ‘Hey Boo’, I said” (270). This is the first and definite indication that Boo is a good man. Even though Scout had never seen him before, she realizes who he is. Scout is brought to tears because this is the first time that she realizes that the man that she used to fear the most had cared about her and saved her life. The fact that she notices this shows her mental growth undoubtedly. After Boo had saved the children, Mr. Tate explained to Atticus that they should cover up for Boo, the man who had just stabbed Bob Ewell, and Atticus finally agreed. He wasn’t sure if Scout had understood all that was said and done until Scout describes,

Coming of age is a young person’s transition from childhood to adulthood. The coming of age passage that I picked in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is from chapter 23, pg. 292. In chapter 23, Jem is trying to make sense of everything, after the jury found Tom guilty. Jem starts to cry, and can’t believe the injustice of his townsfolk. He barely ate and was taking little interest in normal activities. Atticus starts to notice and ask Jem what's the matter. Jem is mad Tom got convicted on circumstantial evidence even though Atticus defended him well. Aunt Alexander calls Scout’s friend, Walter, trash which upsets her. But Jem is there to help her get through. Jem says there are 4 types of people in Maycomb county. People like

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.

In the book, Scout and Jem are inadvertently deceived about Boo Radley. Boo is a shut-in whose reclusive lifestyle is viciously commented on by the residents of Maycomb. The gossip spurs Scout’s and Jem’s fascination with Boo Radley and drives them to incorporate Boo into their games and activities.

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.

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.

For example, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” (317). “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.” (321). “An’ they chased him ‘n’ never could catch him ‘cause they didn’t know what he looked like, an’ Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things . . . Atticus, he was real nice . . .” (322-323). Scout finally understands Atticus’s words. She now views Maycomb differently through Boo’s eyes. Able to see the good and evil of Maycomb county and understands why Boo Radley stayed inside his house for many years. His house was his protection from Maycomb’s Disease. Scout understands the innocence of Boo Radley. Also, she realizes that he was never a monster and had come to understand that Boo Radley was a

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)

When Atticus gives the children a gun during the novel, he reminds them to “‘shoot all the bluejays’” they want “‘but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’” (Lee 93). Shooting a mockingbird is as cruel as taking advantage of a defenseless person. When Boo Radley kills Ewell in an attempt to save Scout and Jem, Atticus wants it to be known that Jem killed Ewell in an act of self-defense because he believes it to be the truth. Instead, the sheriff states that the public’s notion of the occurrence will be that Ewell confusedly fell on his own knife. He formulates the idea with much consideration for Boo Radley, not wanting Radley to receive a tremendous amount of attention from the people in town for knowing that he truly murdered Ewell. Atticus understandingly fears that his children’s respect for him will dissipate if he follows through with the plan, but Scout consoles him. Shooting a mockingbird is as cruel as taking advantage of a defenseless person. Therefore, as Scout says, creating a hero out of Boo would similarly “be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird” (Lee 282). Her statement is an extremely climatic moment, allowing the reader to understand that she has fully absorbed the

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a book thick with symbolism and metaphors. It is a debatable fact that Scout, the female protagonist, is a symbol for innocence. Though the validity of her symbol is in doubt, I am certain that the symbol in this novel for injured faith, or broken innocence, is Boo Radley. That puts in question the reason why Boo continues to amble down the same road of apathy while Scout is being led down the path to unbiased maturity. I believe that Atticus, the father figure in the novel, is the subtle influence that raises Scout to be aware of the immoral actions around her but not to accept them. Prejudice corrupts a child’s progression of innocence to maturity, but Atticus keeps his children from assuming the attitude of the townspeople.

As the novel progresses, both Jem and Scout are shown to mature, this is due to "To Kill A Mockingbird" being a bildungsroman novel. Through this coming of age process, we are actually shown Jem’s new found maturity enabling him to find empathy and acceptance regarding the Boo Radley myths, as he finally took his father’s advice to “climb into someone else’s skin and walk around in it” when he was explaining to Scout his epiphany that he “[is] beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut in his house all this time. It’s because he wants to stay inside.”

After the trial Jem realizes that there are some bad people in this world, understanding how things actually work. You can tell Jem was affected because “His face was streaked with angry tears”(Lee 284) and he was obviously surprised by the way people can really act. Later after Jem was becoming more and more aware of the way things work in the world around him, which make him question the way he was raised. He is also confused about the things he was told and taught by Atticus. Once Jem was finally able to figure out “ There’s four kinds of folks in this world”(Lee 302) he can fully understand what was going on, and why Tom was convicted. Jem now is totally aware that things are not as they were made out to be. As soon as Jem was exposed

Scout’s maturation and non-judgmental attitude that develops throughout To Kill a Mockingbird help her mature into an individual with integrity. Contrary to the beginning of the novel, Scout establishes herself as a wise character in the latter portions of the book. After an incredulous Atticus is told that Jem did not kill Mr. Ewell, Scout reassures Atticus by saying, “Well it’d sort of be like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?” (Lee 276) Taking Atticus’ advice into consideration, Scout climbs into Boo Radley’s skin and finally respects Boo’s decision to remain indoors and not be proclaimed a hero. Additionally, Scout matures into a very open-minded

Scout and Jem were given air-rifles by their uncle Jack. With these new toys Jem started to have an interest in guns but Atticus wanted no part in the whole ordeal. Atticus says, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”(90). Lee uses this to point out the symbolic mockingbird and its deeper meaning of true innocence. When Atticus tells the children that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird because they do no harm it can be traced to Tom. Tom had been falsely accused of rapping a woman and when a mocking bird dies so does its its innocence. As time swifts buy the children still have dirt on them because of the trial, this dirt causes both Jem and Scout to get attacked but luckily they are saved by a man known as Arthur “boo” Radley. This man had been cooped up in his house his whole life so when Atticus finds out what he killed the children's attacker he didn’t know what to do. Scout says, “Well it’d be sort of of like shooting a mockingbird”(276). Scout was replying to the ideas of not telling the town what Mr.Radley had done. When Scout says this it shows that she understands the depth behind this issue and the fact that she understood shows that this childhood blindness and innocence she had once had was now gone in a

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a book thick with symbolism and metaphors. It is a debatable fact that Scout, the female protagonist, is a symbol for innocence. Though the validity of her symbol is in doubt, I am certain that the symbol in this novel for injured faith, or broken innocence, is Boo Radley. That puts in question the reason why Boo continues to amble down the same road of apathy while Scout is being led down the path to unbiased maturity. I believe that Atticus, the father figure in the novel, is the subtle influence that raises Scout to be aware of the immoral actions around her but not to accept them. Prejudice corrupts a child’s progression of innocence to maturity, but Atticus keeps his children from assuming the attitudes of the townspeople.