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To kill a mockingbird character development jem
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In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee argues that because Jem is able to act with integrity despite potential risks, he should be seen as a courageous young man. In the middle of the night, Jem decides he wants to sneak into the Radley’s backyard to retrieve the pants he had left. Prior to this decision, Mr. Nathan Radley states that he has a gun, and threatens to shoot the next person he sees in his yard. While trying to explain his reasonings to Scout, Jem says, “‘Maybe so, but-I just wanna keep it that way, Scout. We shouldn'a done that tonight, Scout.’” Jem uses the phrase “shouldn’a.” Not only does this phrase show regret, but in thim s instance it shows knowledge and maturity. Throughout this novel, Harper Lee depicts the respect
Jem’s perception of bravery has changed throughout the course of the book. His maturity is a result of Atticus’s actions around him. At the beginning of the book, Jem is dared by his neighbour Dill to touch the door of the Radley’s; the Radley house symbolizes fear in the minds of the children. Jem does so thinking the act is courageous while Scout remarks, “In all his life, Jem had never declined a dare.” This shows that like most children, Jem is often more idealistic than realistic. His reactions are instinctive and often unplanned and reckless.
Doing the right thing is not always easy. In the classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee the characters Atticus, Boo, and Jem are faced with many of life’s obstacles. Each character must dig deeply into themselves to truly discover the difference between right and wrong. It takes a great deal of courage to face inner fears and make the right decision. Some of the character’s behavior is typical while some is atypical. Throughout the novel Atticus, Boo and Jem demonstrate, through actions, the important theme that everyone is brave in their own way.
What does it mean to be a good parent? The most common definition of a good parent is one who makes their children feel valued and loved, by teaching them the difference between right and wrong. At the end of the day, the most essential thing is to create a nurturing environment where your children feel like they can mature into confident, independent, and caring adults. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird defines what a true parent really is thought hardships and struggles throughout the book. The story is set in the Depression era of a little town in southern Alabama that is struggling with thick prejudice on a colored rape case. The story is told through a character
Jem begins to mature, or understand life more, after Scout, Dill and himself enter the Radley’s yard and attempt to peek through the shutters. He loses his pants and decides to go back for them he justifies doing this by saying, “Atticus ain’t never whipped me since I can remember. I wanna keep it that way.” There is an understanding or maturity in what he says there. Atticus would whip him because of the fact that Jem had been told numerous times to leave the Radleys alone and by confessing to Atticus that he had lost his pants while trying to escape the Radley’s yard, Atticus would find out that Jem had disobeyed him yet again. Jem could not allow something he did to lower the opinion that Atticus had of him. So Jem, with his new understanding, knew he had to get his pants back before Atticus could find out that he lost them, or Atticus would whip him and by doing so express his disappointment in Jem.
Scout Finch, the youngest child of Atticus Finch, narrates the story. It is summer and her cousin Dill and brother Jem are her companions and playmates. They play all summer long until Dill has to go back home to Maridian and Scout and her brother start school. The Atticus’ maid, a black woman by the name of Calpurnia, is like a mother to the children. While playing, Scout and Jem discover small trinkets in a knothole in an old oak tree on the Radley property. Summer rolls around again and Dill comes back to visit. A sence of discrimination develops towards the Radley’s because of their race. Scout forms a friendship with her neighbor Miss Maudie, whose house is later burnt down. She tells Scout to respect Boo Radley and treat him like a person. Treasures keep appearing in the knothole until it is filled with cement to prevent decay. As winter comes it snows for the first time in a century. Boo gives scout a blanket and she finally understands her father’s and Miss Maudie’s point of view and treats him respectfully. Scout and Jem receive air guns for Christmas, and promise Atticus never to shoot a mockingbird, for they are peaceful and don’t deserve to die in that manner. Atticus then takes a case defending a black man accused of rape. He knows that such a case will bring trouble for his family but he takes it anyways. This is the sense of courage he tries to instill in his son Jem.
So, one day the children took the time with Dill to search on his property to see if he can come out of his house. However, Scout was nervous and asked Jem to not go along with it. In addition, they all went on the Radley’s place and got a rude awakening. They got shot at by Nathan Radley. With that, irony was being presented. The children thought they would not be able to escape. However, a shotgun was not a joke in the matter and they barely made it out alive. With their rare escape of going under the gate and running back home, Jem had to go back to fetch his pants. Thinking from Scout’s point of view that Jem will be harmed in this action, Jem came back fully alive and with his pants. All of a sudden, Jem realizes that his pants were waiting for him, folded and ready for him to take it back then it being back on the gate stuck when he tried to escape for his life. “He came up the back steps, latched the door behind him, and sat on his cot. Wordlessly, he held up his pants. He lay down, and for a while I heard his cot trembling.” (Harper Lee 76) With what had just happened with these children, that was one the scariest moments to have happened. How ironic that they all survived when they could have been dead on the property of the Radley’s
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” takes place during the 1930’s in the fictional and quiet town of Maycomb, located in Maycomb County, Alabama. The town of Maycomb is described as a tired old town that moves very slowly and its residents have nothing to fear but fear itself. Being in set in the South during the 1930’s the story does tackle racism and inequality for African Americans as racism was becoming more and more prominent in the 1930’s. The fact that the story takes place in a backwater county in Alabama makes the the injustice even more prevalent. The story goes through the early years of the main characters Jem and Scout so the exact time is always changing, however, the more important and intense parts of the story takes place
Jem becomes more mature by discovering the evil in the world when the hole in the Radley tree is filled in and when Tom Robinson is convicted by the jury. Also, his respect for his family is strengthened after his father shoots the mad dog, and when he and Scout are attacked. Finally, through Atticus’s determination to help Tom, and the reading Jem is forced to do for Mrs. Dubose, Jem’s maturity considerably increases when he learns the genuine value of bravery. As Jem’s thoughts change throughout these events, so does the way he views life. His innocence is lifted, and he matures first in respect to his family, and later to other people in his life. He is influenced by his thoughts and he shows his maturity through his actions. Jem’s example shows that the events one experiences in life will shape the kind of person they become. The more one experiences, the more he or she will develop, whether or not it is for the
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is an emblem of racial jurisdiction. All throughout the book it shows how the law applies to blacks as opposed to whites. Lee shows how unjust the treatment of blacks is and the disregard for their human rights. Though through the actions of the characters in the book; it can be said that their actions show a glimmer of hope for this very prejudiced society.
Jem is confronted with a situation just like this. When Jem, Dill, and Scout try sending a note to Boo Radley, Arthur Radley sees them and mistakes them for an African American and tries to shoot them. In the process of Jem, Dill, and Scout running away, Jem loses his pants when they get caught on the fence in the Radley’s yard. When Atticus asks Jem where his pants are, Dill covers him by lying to Atticus, saying that he won the pants from Jem playing strip poker with matches. While Jem is in bed he decides that he is going to take a perilous journey and try to retrieve his pants. He tells Scout why when she asks and he tells her, “I--It’s like this, Scout” he muttered. “Atticus ain’t ever whipped me since I can remember. I wanta keep it that way,” (75). In other words, he hasn’t been severely punished by Atticus for a very long time and he doesn’t want to be punished now. Jem’s apparent courage is actually just cowardly self-protection. Jem thinks that courage is the image that people have of you. He thinks that your reputation is really what you need to work on to steer clear of any bad marks. But it is actually the ability to own up to your mistakes and take ownership for the wrong that you have done. Atticus would like for Jem to see that courage is not about making no mistakes. It is not about preserving a perfect image of yourself. Courage is the
Throughout the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem Finch’s impulsive character fuels his actions. For instance, Mrs. Dubose, a nosy old lady, one day insinuates something about his father’s work that crosses the line. Mrs. Dubose constantly pesters Jem and his younger sister, Scout, about their father’s decisions and how she believes they should behave. Atticus, their father, preaches that Jem needs to keep his head held high and act like a gentleman even if she provokes him. Despite his father’s advice, out of frustration, Jem uses Scout’s newly bought baton to cut the tops off all of Mrs. Dubose’s prized camellia bushes. Scout, in disbelief, watches as Jem “did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves.
Jem, is different though. He shows his innocence and persecution in a form far more natural than any seen in the other characters; he matures. First, when the kids are walking by her house, Mrs. Dubose insults the entire Finch family including Scout and Atticus. Jem has never done anything to insult Mrs. Dubose; furthermore, Atticus is doing nothing wrong and is only defending an innocent black man. Because she attacks him without cause, he is a victim of undeserved violence. Second, after Jem is given multiple gifts from an unknown person in the knothole of a tree, Jem is on his way to put a thank you note in the knothole only to find that Mr. Radley has filled the hole with cement. Jem only wanted to make Boo, the giver of the gifts, happy. Furthermore, even though this is not a physical attack, it’s still an emotional attack to s rip from both of them their only means of communication. Jem realizes how terrible Nathan Radley is, to cut off Boo like this; and Jem is punished for being nothing but kind. Finally, when Bob Ewell tries to kill the Finch children, Jem pushes Scout out of the way of Bob, shouting “Run, Scout! Run!”(206) Jem is readily willing to die for Scout, bringing happiness as the mockingbird does. Jem has another staple of the mockingbird under his proverbial wing, being the victim of undeserved violence. Bob knows that the
Harper Lee in the 1956 novel, To kill a mockingbird, claims that innocence is lost in adulthood. Lee supports her claim by illustrating the growth and change in Jem’s personality as the . The author’s purpose is to point out the changes in the state of mind from childhood tp adulthood. The author writes in an infirmal tone so the readers can betterr understand the time frame the book takes pklace in.
“They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That is why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird”, said Miss Maudie to her neighbor, six-year-old Scout. One of Harper Lee’s main points in the book is that you do not kill a mockingbird because of their gentle nature. The novel heavily sits on the topic of racism and injustice and uses mockingbirds to show innocence. The book To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, takes place in the deep southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930’s. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates the idea that it is a sin to kill a harmless creature by using the metaphor through the characters of Boo Radley, Atticus Finch, and Tom Robinson.
“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 is a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 94). This quote, delivered in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, introduces the mockingbird which is incorporated symbolically throughout the novel. The mockingbird, in presenting its gifts of music and beauty, is the symbol of Atticus’s practice of altruism because he believes in society’s responsibility to protect those who are vulnerable and innocent.