How Is Jem Being Mature

Jem, a young, caring, and smart boy plays an important role as Scout’s older brother in the novel To Kill a MockingBird by Harper Lee. Jem tries to stay composed and calm like his Father, Atticus, does in negative and hurtful situations, but Jem still has more to learn and when all the pressure of being mature and being a responsible example for scout builds up he breaks down and loses his temper. For example when Jem and Scout both get insults thrown their way repeditally by Ms. Dubose, their old neighbor who is not afraid to speak her hurtful opinions, Jem and Scout ignore the insults until Ms. Dubose hits a soft spot and insults their father. Jem could not control his anger any longer and was blinded by revenge to the point where he decided
to ruin what Ms. Dubose cherished the most; her camelia flowers. Scout says that “Jem did not calm down until he had cut the tops of every camelia bush Miss Dubose owned.”(Lee 118). To add on to this when Scout tries to help him he shoves and pushes her around completely changing from the caring brother he was. Furthermore this revealed something new about Jem; that after his anger and pressure of keeping calm catches up to him it becomes too much and he loses his composure and is blinded by his anger and will only be calm when he has had his revenge. Although Jem is growing and learning to be more mature he still loses his temper quickly and can’t stay as composed as Atticus does in similar situations.