Maturity is a coming of age when a person is growing emotionally and mentally. Maturity is gained by experiences and decision-making, thus learning from mistakes. This is evident in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Through characterization and symbolism Lee displays maturity. Jem Finch demonstrates growing maturity throughout the novel. After Tom Robinson’s trial, Scout reveals Jem’s feelings. “It was Jem’s turn to cry.” Scout uncovers, “His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd,” (TKAM 284). Jem understands the trial is not fair because of race. He is mature enough to realize this while Scout is not. Another example of Jem’s maturity is exemplified when he is fulfilling his …show more content…
The slice of cake symbolizes Jem maturing and becoming a young adult. “There should have been three little ones. It was not like Miss. Maudie to forget Dill, and we must have shown it.” Scout conveys, “But we understood it when she cut from the big cake and gave the slice to Jem,” (TKAM 288). The event of Jem receiving a slice of cake from the big cake symbolizes Miss. Maudie recognizing Jem as an adult. Likewise, the symbol of the roly-poly also represents maturity. “ ‘Why couldn’t I mash him?’”, Scout questions, “ ‘Because they don’t bother you’ Jem answered,” (TKAM 320). Here, Jem is not allowing Scout to hurt something that does not hurt her. He believes that if something makes the world better, then why would you harm it. Again this is portraying his growing emotionally and mentally. Finally, the cemented knothole represents the maturity of Jem Finch. “Someone had filled our knot-hole with cement.” Scout explains, “ ‘Don’t you cry, now, Scout…don’t cry now, don’t you worry-’ (TKAM 83). Jem is trying to put on a strong front so Scout does not cry and get upset about the hole. Once more Jem is illustrating maturity by protecting his sister’s feelings. All through the novel there are symbols of
This passage of the story displays coming of age as an internal force through Jem’s character, conflict, and setting. This event led Jem to see situations in a different perspective. He learns that people might come out as rude. But, as hard as it is he must remain respectful, because he would not know what kind of battles they must be facing. He uses this coming of age experience as a life lesson more throughout the
In the beginning of the story, Jem enjoys the childish games of fantasizing about Boo Radley, taking any dare, and . Scout tells the reader that Jem becomes more and more moody as the story progresses, due to his aging. He thinks more; he shows more compassion; and he is appalled by the unfairness that rears its ugly head in his hometown. While Scout recounts the events of her childhood, the reader fails to notice that “To Kill a Mockingbird” is not a story about the narrator (Scout) maturing, it is actually about Jem maturing, and becoming an adult.
In the beginning of the book Jem is ten. He is innocent and is kind of oblivious to what is happening in the town. In the book Jem represents courage and how that courage is represented changes the older he gets. In the beginning Jem‘s courage is shown when is dared to touch the Radley house, he does that because he never backs down from a dare. That is the Jem‘s and the kids idea of courage. As the story continues Jem sees how courage is not the naive idea of touching the Radely house. He sees Atticus shot a mad dog and Mrs. Dubose fight with morphine addiction. Jem is made to read to her and when he asks why Atticus says: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand.“
At the start of Part Two, Jem starts to grow to be a more mature person and develop a want for wisdom and knowledge. “In addition to Jem’s newly developed characteristics, he had acquired a maddening air of wisdom.” (116) In this quote, Calpurnia is speaking to Scout letting her know that the reason for Jem’s sudden changes is that he is growing up and is almost a young man. Jem is beginning to mature mentally. Jem wants to become more ...
... Jem become more intuitive and gain insight into how to develop into more mature people. Jem and Scout gain exposure to the adult world and lose innocence through the Tom Robinson trial. In today’s society, as in To Kill a Mockingbird, children are often exposed to the adult world at an early age. Today, children are swimming in an endless stream of media, whether it is the 24 hour news cycle, or social networking, or conversing with friends. In today’s world, any child could walk into a room with a television and hear about murder or rape, unspeakable crimes. In the 1930’s it would be much harder for a child to hear about events the way we do today. Gaining maturity at a young age can either work out to be a positive influence in a child’s life or, it can be detrimental to them.
Throughout the story, Jem shows sign of growing maturity. In the previous chapters, he was a childish boy who liked adventures and seeked to satisfy his curiosity about Boo Radley's reclusiveness. Jem’s childish side was presented when he and Scout built a snowman and sent a note to Boo Radley. It was only when Dill left, Jem began growing up. Dill was a symbol of childhood to the Finch’s family as he led them to childish plays in the summer. When he left, Jem began wanting to meet his father’s standards of growing up. A major scene that appeared to demonstrate Jem’s sense of responsibility was when he told on Dill to Atticus. After the siblings fought not to antagonize Aunt Alexandra, they found Dill hidden under Scout’s bed. Scout and Jem
How does one mature and grow? In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and her older brother Jem, live in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. Scout is a young girl struggling to understand the actions of the people in her small town filled with racism, prejudice, and violence. The cruel and unfair trial of Tom Robinson, a black man who is innocently accused of rape, causes Scout to question the behaviors of her neighbors. As Scout faces the insults and cruel disapproval of her town, she better understands the people of Maycomb as she grows and matures. To Kill a Mockingbird is an example of a Bildungsroman, a novel that depicts growth and maturity for the main character. Scout is evidently portrayed as growing and maturing over the period of the book. She learns to treat everyone with
Scout at the beginning of the novel is very curious, and stubborn. I know this because she doesn’t know how bad they are. It also means she hasn’t really matured yet either. Shes very curious about life, and Boo Radley. Scout also learns a very important lesson. She learns this because Aunt Alexandra takes her, and Calpurnia out of drama, and talks to them. She tells them not to say anything about Atticus, and nods at the accusations.
Some people will wonder who helps Jem, the protagonist, mature the most throughout the story. With only living with his father and a black made (calpurnia),and aunt Alexandra who tries to keep the finch name at its best. There are alot of people who play a big roll in Jem maturing throughout the story. Jem spends a lot of time with his father during this story. Which changes Jem a lot throughout the story. Harper lee splits the novel into two parts because Jem matures in huge amount throughout the book. And in the second half of the book he becomes more of a man. In To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee really exaggerates that part of the story by putting parts like“I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut
Throughout the book jem was growing and matureung as he was transitioning from schildhood to adulthood. Jem was introduced as a young prideful and innocent boy who took good care of his sister. But as the book progressed, he grew somewhat harsh, and was even abusive towards his sister at times. During the middle parts of the book, Jems mentality
When children grow up, they face difficult problems, and. they learn to cope and take responsibility. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, is a flashback about two kids that spans over a few years. Jem ages from ten to thirteen over the course of the novel, and undergoes much change, as his sister describes him. Over the years, he is exposed to issues adults face, and eventually shows an understanding of racism and innocence. As Jem grows up, his view on courage also changes. Jem follows his father's footsteps, and gets much of his knowledge from him.
Jem slowly matures in the story. He becomes accustomed to social classes and gender roles. This is shown when he tells Scout to act more like a lady. Jem shows his maturity when he tells Atticus
Aunt Alexandra is Atticus' sister. She moves to live with Scout and Jem because she wants to teach them the right way of growing up since their mom is dead. As she watches them grow up, she grows up mentally also. “People up there set them free, but you don't see them setting at the table with them. At least we don't have the deceit to say to them ‘yes, you are as good as we are but stay away from us’ said Mrs.
In the beginning of the book, Jem was friendly to Scout, and he was her sole playmate growing up. But as time went on, Jem would often ignore Scout and leave her for other boys, because she was a girl. He even spent more time with Dill, who was decidedly younger than both Jem and Scout. He would regularly scold Scout for being pathetic and girl-like, which was funny because she was just using her common sense, though she used that to rain on Jem and Dill’s parade whenever they wanted to do something like sneak into the Radley house. “I swear, Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl it’s mortifyin’(37)” Jem also began to display a different way of thinking, which confused Scout on many occasions. “Jem was twelve. He was difficult to live with, inconsistent, moody. His appetite was appalling, and he told me so many times to stop pestering him I consulted Atticus.(114)” This is an excellent example of how Jem’s sudden changes in behavior worried Scout. Jem was Scout’s big brother, the person who grew up with her all her life, and now he was acting strange and aloof. This would understandably upset Scout, especially because she wasn’t old enough to understand what was happening to Jem. You can see this when Scout says things like, “ Reckon he’s got a tapeworm?(114)”, and “He ain’t that old,” I said. “All he needs is somebody to beat him up, and I ain’t big
Jem is growing up all the time. This can be seen when he stops Scout