To begin, the author of the story To Kill A Mockingbird tells the life of brother, Jeremy Finch and his sister, Scout who grew up in the era of racism and social inequality. Jeremy Finch, better known as Jem, is a typical young boy who grew up in a small Alabama town of Maycomb. He was described has someone who had an interest in sports, guns and being tough. The author, Harper Lee develops the character of Jem, who encounters many conflicts (internal and external) and shows how many of them were handled with using the theme of coming of age. With Jem’s voice and characterization, Lee shows how a young immature boy can grow into a mature, independent man.…
Jem specifically matures throughout the process of the Tom Robinson case and learns a positive lesson from the trial. After seeing the unfair way Tom Robinson was treated, Jem wants to protect and care for people no matter their age, skin color, reputation and personality. Jem also learns a few lessons from Atticus regarding the judgement of others. At the beginning of Chapter 25, His sister Scout is about to kill a roly-polly bug, Jem stops her and she asks why, Jem responds, "Because they don't bother you." (Lee 320) This quote relates to when Atticus teaches Scout and Jem about the importance lesson of…
When you first walk into a room filled with people, what are your initial thoughts? Usually, it would be to judge someone. If you realize that your initial thoughts about someone was negative or mean, then the next step would be to put yourself in their shoes. Throughout Part 1 in To Kill A Mockingbird, this idea is shown in various scenarios, to prove that empathy is the solution to racism and prejudice.…
As Jem, Scout, and Dill become older, they become more empathetic. ‘"Have a chew, Scout.’ Jem dug into his pocket and extracted a Tootsie Roll. It took a few minutes to work the candy into a comfortable wad inside my jaw” (301). Aunt Alexandra annoys Scout, so she starts crying and throwing a fit. Instead of Jem yelling at her in anger, he offers her a candy. Jem most likely learned from Atticus that is better to be kind. As Jem gets older he…
Many things can influence a child’s life. Today a child may suffer from stress all the way to learning life lessons through a breakup. In “To Kill a Mockingbird”, two children, Scout and Jem had to deal with a less common stressor. They dealt with the trial and conviction of an innocent black man in their town and to make things worse, their own father Atticus was the appointed defense for Tom. Scout and Jem were six and ten at the beginning of the novel; throughout the next three years that it took place their maturity goes on to be influenced by many experiences and people. The two children learn valuable lessons from adults during events surrounding the trial such as empathy, courage, honestly, equality and justice. The main characters…
In the grand scheme of things, each of us is working hard to see ourselves prosper. When we are fighting for survival, why should any of us take the time to feel for our fellow human beings? In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee implies that having the ability to feel for others or to show empathy not only benefits others, but can lead to personal gains as well. This is best demonstrated through the characters of Atticus, Jem, and Scout Finch.…
As Jem and Scout are watching the judge convict, Scout starts to cry, but Jem does the opposite. “‘It ain’t right’ he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where he found Atticus waiting”(pg.284). When readers examine this passage, they are able to sense this feeling of Jem transitioning into Mr.Finch. As he is hearing the convict, a feeling of anger overpowers him, enabling him to see how racism is affecting the South deeply. This contributes to the theme by showing Jem’s turning point from a kid to a mature man. Also, his perspective plays a huge role in this, as his anger is controlling his actions. Since Scout hasn’t realized the power of racism yet, her emotion are just for Tom, not for the movement. Another example of tone in the novel is when Jem is trying to tell Atticus that Maycomb County needs to understand that Tom Robinson didn’t do nothing to the girl. “‘He didn’t kill anybody even if he was guilty. He didn’t take anybody’s life”’(pg.293). This quote shows how Jem’s tone towards helping Tom has changed from anger to reason. The theme supports this by showing how the perspective of Jem is beginning to see the trial from all the different sides. Although he is too young to even participate in this kind of situation, he is beginning to understand the concepts of the kind of people there are in this world. Altogether, Jem’s coming of age for becoming a man can be seen in…
While Atticus is worrying about the Tom Robinson trial, Scout asks why he is worrying and with Atticus’ response, Jem explains to Scout “‘it’s something you wouldn’t understand.’” (Lee 131). She is then provoked by this, leading to her yelling at Jem because she is embarrassed and angry that Jem has changed and he understands more than her since he actually does. Additionally, Scout seems very angry as Atticus treats Jem more adult like, therefore allowing him to comprehend situations better. To Scout, it feels to her as though “Jem had acquired an alien set of values overnight” because he is now developing the mindset of a man as he has almost evolved from his childish ways (154). Furthermore, Scout is not used to Jem acting more adult-like so she is incredibly confused about Jem’s new personality. During the second half of the novel, he frequently tells Scout she is younger so she is not able to grasp the true meaning of things because he has changed from his older age and Scout has not. While doing this, Jem also reminds Scout “‘[she] can’t hold something in [her] mind but a little while’” and this shows her and readers that he is different now (226). After Jem mentions that to her, he elaborates by telling her that because he is older, it is different for grown-ups as they can have many things on their mind…
Initially, he sees courage purely as being daring and taking risks, as shown in the fact that, “In all his life, Jem had never turned down a dare” (Lee ##). While Jem doesn’t necessarily stop thinking of this as courageous as he grows, he does realize that it is not the only way to express bravery. For example, Atticus shooting the mad dog had a major effect on Jem, especially at his young, impressionable age of ten. For the weeks following, Jem saw Atticus in a completely different light; instead of being just their father, he became the deadest shot in Maycomb county. Atticus was Jem’s personal epitome of bravery simply for holding a gun and facing the mad dog. This new encounter expanded upon his previous ideas and helped him to grow in his morality. Another clear example where Jem underwent moral growth in regards to courage is his experience with Mrs. Dubose. Though his visits felt torturous at the time, it is undeniable that Jem took away valuable moral lessons. When explaining to the children why he made them read to Mrs. Dubose, Atticus says, “I wanted you to see what real courage is… it's when you know you're licked before you begin anyway but you see it through no matter what” (Lee 149). Throughout the remainder of the novel, Jem is seen applying this concept to every obstacle he encounters. When he and Scout are attacked by r. Ewell, Jem does not think twice about putting his life on the line for his sister.Though he ends up badly hurt, Jem shows no regret after the incident. The fact that Jem was willing to potentially risk his life exemplifies his growth as a character. Even though Jem doesn’t abandon his earlier beliefs about courage, the addition of this final belief is what gives him the morality of a young adult. To summarize, Jem’s ideas about bravery do not change; instead, they build on top of one another to form…
Unlike his brother, Atticus is an expert in dealing with little children. His wise and firm opinions and deeds have had great influence on the characters of Jem and Scout as the novel proceeds. Miss Maudie says that “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets”. He deals with Scout and Jem as if they are adults. For instance, he does not hesitate to answer Scout's question about the meaning of "rape", and he makes deals with his children and is committed to them. At the same time, Atticus understands that Jem and Scout are still children and they are bound to make childish mistakes. He finds excuses for their bad deeds and that makes him more patient with them than his sister Alexandra. For example, he says to her when she criticizes the language Scout uses that "bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it." Atticus is eager to teach his children good values and practices through people’s mistakes and poor behaviour and their own mistakes in real life situations rather than by giving them instructions. He does not rebuke or punish Jem and Scout for attending the trial of Robison or for secretly following him to the jail where Robinson was kept. He is always aware of what his children secretly do. For example, he has known that it was Jem at whom Mr. Radely once shot his gun. Yet, he frequently draws their…
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, empathy is an essential theme because the author has the characters learn to understand from other people’s aspects which impact their decisions. Throughout the novel, the children, Jem and Scout, learn to empathize and Harper Lee writes about how they incorporate empathy into various decisions, allowing them to make the right choice. Empathy helps Scout develop a better understanding of her peers because she sees the experience through others’ perspectives; her development of empathy allows Scout to treat those around her better.…
Jem displays values like compassion and tolerance by believing that all men are created equal no matter which race, religion, or attitude they have. He shows this when he hears the verdict of Tom Robinson’s trial. “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,’ he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus” (212). This is the first time he realizes that there was injustice in the world. He slowly matures and begins to understand that there are such thing as prejudice and racism.…
The story takes place in a town called Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. Despite the whites treating the African Americans like subordinates, the townsfolk treat each other like family, with the exception of the Ewell family. In the beginning of the book Harper Lee illustrates empathy is learned through each character passing it on to each other as if it were a tradition. In one of the scenes where Scout(Jean Louise Finch) our protagonist has a confrontation with her teacher Miss Caroline , Atticus gives her the most important advice. Atticus promptly tells scout can get better along if she can view though Miss Caroline point of view: “‘first of all, if you can learn a simple trick, scout, you’ll get along alot better with all kinds of folks.…
Furthermore, in chapter eleven of To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem has to repent his wrongdoing by reading to Mrs. Dubose. Jem's moral obligation takes precedence over his failure, revealing that Jem is a strong character and allows himself to be punished. While being disciplined, he responds benevolently but with quite a bit of quiet resentment -- an idiosyncrasy that Jem carries with him throughout the book. Jem Finch has many qualities of a three-dimensional character: he is able to restrict human fear for success, and is penetrable easily by situations which effect honor and morality, but understands proper courses of action; all carefully…
His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right’” (242). Jem was upset that Tom Robinson was sent to jail for something that he didn’t do, while others thought it was great since Tom Robinson insulted what they thought was a picture of a “good southern white woman”. Jem’s personal belief that people should get a fair trial broke the status quo because most believed that an African American man such as Tom Robinson, didn’t deserve as such, since they were racist. “Face was streaked with tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd” (242). Racism is a problem where a person of one race has prejudice and believes in stereotypes of the other, usually believing the other is lesser, and Jem could see this, however some might not see it that way. Others may say the only reason that Jem was crying, is because his dad lost the court case, this, however, is not the case. Jem is quite clearly quoted saying that “It ain’t right”, so he believes the outcome is not fair for Tom Robinson, and has empathy for him, as he has pity and knows how Tom Robinson feels.…