There are many key scenes in To Kill A MockingBird that could be considered a “coming of age” scene. One major key scene that contributes to this is in the beginning of chapter 25. In the scene, Scout and Jem are sitting outside on the porch when Scout sees a Roly Poly . She was about to smash it when Jem told her not to. She asked Jem why she couldn’t and he told her, “Because they don’t bother you…” When Jem said this, Scout didn’t really care. She had thought “Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not I.” Jem seems to have hit his coming of age moment because in the particular scene, he seems more obvious to the world than he was before. This helps set up a theme that causing harm to the innocent is wrong until they are proven guilty of something bad. …show more content…
How the character is told and developed majorly helps the theme advance. For example, when Jem is scowling at Scout concerning the roly poly, he seems to be maturing in character which pushes the coming of age aspect of the novel. To further this, Scout thinks, “Jem was scowling when I went to mash it. This was probably a part of the stage he was going through, and I wished he would hurry up and get through it.” This shows how Scout thought he was going through some stage too, which could possibly his coming of age stage. Also, Jem tells Scout not to mash the bug, furthering the theme that I picked from the novel stating that causing harm to the innocent is wrong until proven guilty. Notably, Jem tells Scout not to mash it “because they don’t bother you.” Which pushed Scout to state, “Jem was the one who was getting more like a girl every day, not
Jem is maturing to a point that he gets exasperated with Scout’s immaturity. Lee writes, “… Jem hollered, “It’s time you start bein’ a girl and acting right!” … ” (Lee 153). This shows that Jem is maturing, but not to a point at which he learns to not worry about the way Scout acts, since she is only seven or eight. One of the reasons that Jem is maturing is that he is in middle school and realizes that being childish and immature is not common, but frowned upon.
on going to the jail when he senses that his father may be in danger.
To start with, the first coming of age experience Jem faces is Conflict. In chapter 11 of To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Mrs. Dubose have a person vs. person external conflict with each other. Referring back to the book, it says “She put her hand to her mouth. When she drew it away, it trailed a long silver thread of saliva. “Your fathers no better than the niggers and trash he works for!” (P.117)
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the author illustrates that innocence is lost and molded into maturity as one traverses and faces the realities of life. Innocence is the wonder and ignorance that children still possess. In part 1 of the book, Jem's character development is evident as he witnesses various events around the town. These experiences contribute to his newfound sense of maturity. In Chapter 10, the author displays that Jem is still relatively unaware of the acerbity of the world.
The key coming of age scene i am doing is when Jem stood up to his dad and when Scout uses her brain instead of using her fists.This is apart of coming of age because it is about how Jem finally told his dad no that he wasn't leaving instead of how he would normally just do what his dad said and not argue about anything. This was in chapter 15 when Atticus was down at the jail house and he was protecting Tom Robinson from the lynch mob.
Maturity is not a quality you see everyday from children. Most of the time children are running around playing with friends and family, asking silly questions, and even fulfilling their imaginations. This is the case for Scout and Jem too, initially at least. Scout is the son of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama. Scout’s brother is Jem and they have a fairly close relationship. In the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee Scout and Jem endure and encounter many life-changing events that cause them to mature, from experiencing racism and almost being killed to witnessing their father defend a black man accused of rape in the South during the early to mid 1900s. The theme of maturation significantly applies to the novel as Scout
In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” there are numerous coming-of-age events with Jem and Scout, who are brother and sister. Scout is a different type of girl, she wears clothes that make her look like a tomboy, has her hair cut short to her shoulders and is innocent and naive. Although, as the novel goes on Scout doesn’t fully mature or understand all of it but does learn valuable lessons about life. Jem on the other hand is changing physically and mentally, he's growing up. Scout and Jem grow up in a time of racial discrimination and segregation in Maycomb, Alabama. Yet, have a father who shows them a disparate perspective of thinking.
“Maturity is not measured by age, it's an attitude built by experience. ”(Unknown) In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, maturity is shown in many ways as the characters are growing up. Being a child is about having fun, but learning the challenges of the real world requires you to grow up and mature in many ways. In Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression, racism, poverty and injustice are portrayed in the novel.
Jeremy “Jem” Finch is a leading protagonist in Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mocking Bird” published in 1960. Jem matured greatly throughout the duration of the book, starting to resemble and idolize his father, achieves the status of a guardian to his sister and introduces a whole new set of ideals in his lifestyle. He embodies the themes of growth. Throughout the novel we see how perceptions of things such as courage, respect, tolerance, and cruelty changes Jem as he matures.
Leading the reader to the realisation that maturity is one theme the author wants to express, is the presentation of maturity in various shapes and forms. The way Scout describes Jem as “[someone who] had acquired a set of values” (Lee 153) implies the evolution which Jem was subjected to. As it is deductible by Jem’s reaction to the news of Mrs Dubose’s death, how “[he] buried his face in Atticus’s shirt” (Lee 148) and cried, the event impacted Jem enormously, which consequently is the reason of his sudden growth. Additionally, it is possible to see Jem maturing by him breaking “the remaining code of [Scout, Dill and Jem’s] childhood” (Lee 187) and telling Atticus about Dill running from his house. Also how he separates himself from Dill and
In chapter 12, Jem changes is that he become difficult to live with, inconsistent, and moody. On page 131, it stated” Jem was growing. I must be patient with him and disturb him as little as possible.” This show that the cause of Jem changing has to do with the accumulated experience over the course of his life as he is growing up. This can make us know why Calpurnia started calling Jem as Mister Jem because he is no longer a young boy who go play around with his little sister, but a young gentleman that can protect his sister.
“Maturity is the ability to think, speak and act your feelings within the bounds of dignity. The measure of your maturity is how spiritual you become during the midst of your frustrations.” is a quote from Samuel Ullman. This describes the struggles that Jem went through by taking part in the community and trial and by also taking the risk of losing some of his friends and family in Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. Through Jem’s interaction with the racism of Maycomb, he became aware of the things around him. We all learn that it takes a strong person to overcome the barriers of society.
As To Kill a Mockingbird progresses, Jem takes definitive steps toward maturity with his actions in the tire and flower incidents, for example. He would later go on to repair the flowerbed he destroyed, and take greater care to protect Scout. Through his actions, we can see Jem develop a sense of morals and responsibility that would prove to be a lifesaver.
Continuing, as Jem is seeing things from others point of views, he grows in his maturity which leads to him to act as adult. An example of this is when Scout and Aunt Alexandra, who is very determine to keep a good reputation to the family name, get into an argument regarding the
In part one, Jem gets mad at Mrs. Dubose and decides to kill some of her flowers. When Atticus finds out, he makes him read to the sick old woman on a regular basis until she passes on. Atticus tells Jem that she was addicted to morphine and she was very sick. Jem realizes that what he did is wrong. Maturation can even be seen here when he understands the situation Mrs. Dubose was in. Also in part one, Scout gets into several fights at school. Every time someone makes fun of her or someone in her family she beats them up. Atticus tells her it is wrong to solve her problems this way and to stop fighting no matter what someone says. She doesn’t listen until part two when she stops fighting people altogether. This shows tremendous maturation on her part because she has gotten past the childhood habit of fist fighting when she had a problem with someone. Both of these acts show the children’s progressive maturation.