How Does Jem Mature In To Kill A Mockingbird

Jem and Scout’s maturity over the story is comparable to a caterpillar, in the way that one develops over time. Jem and Scout are the children of Atticus Finch, the lawyer that represents Tom Robinson on trial. Although Atticus instructed Jem and Scout to not go to the trial, they still go and watch. The hearing is about a black male, Tom Robinson supposedly raping and beating a white woman. The children are the protagonists of the novel due to the way that over time they mature more and develop more helpful personalities. In To Kill a Mockingbird the novel takes place over several years and mainly during the summer months when the kids are out of school. Throughout time the readers notice how Scout and Jem change their perspective on events that happen in life. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird she shows how Jem and Scout Finch grow and develop through the use of a flashback, characterization, and similes. Harper Lee uses a flashback at the beginning of the book to give the reader a sense of how Jem and Scout evolve over the time of the novel. When Jem and Scout look back on the events that happen Scout “maintains that the Ewells started it” but Jem disagrees and claims that it started when “[he] first gave us the idea of making [the neighbor] come out” (Lee3). Even as adults Jem and Scout find

Scout declared that Jem has been “moody” and even remarks that Jem was “difficult to live with” (Lee 53). The readers and Jem know what is happening but Scout just thinks her brother is “moody” and not acting normal (Lee 53).Scout eventually expresses that she is fed up with the way Jem is acting and starts a fight with him. Jem begins to fight back and Scout then claims that Jem is her “equal” (Lee 53). Harper Lee uses this characterization the way she does to show how much Jem begins to have a better understanding of the changing world around