Jem Coming Of Age Analysis

Scout begins to notice the change in Jem’s personality and feels offended because she doesn't quite understand. On page 153 the text reads, “Over night, it seemed, Jem had acquired an alien set of values and was trying to impose them on me: several times he went so far as to tell me what to do.” Jem gets older and begins a long path of puberty. This, Scout does not understand yet. Jem moving towards a more adult like personality upsets Scout. Jem’s loss of innocence is a change but also begins to creates a new daily understanding for both Jem and Scout.

          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

Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird Jem and Scout change tremendously. They do not change physically, but rather mentally. Their maturation can be seen as the novel progresses and by the end of the story they seem to be two completely different people. As the novel goes on, the reader can see that Jem and Scout mature even when the rest of the town does not.

The first change we see in Jem is when he is able to see the good in people despite what others have said about them. “I wanted you to see something about her - I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a

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.

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)

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

Throughout the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem matures through three important stages of his life. Within these stages Jem’s experiences such as creating plays about Boo Radley, reading to Mrs. Dubose, and processing the Tom Robinson trial all taught him

Jem had changed throughout the story from acting like a child and doing things that children do to becoming more mature and taking part in the

In To Kill a Mockingbird Jem is no longer childlike because he no longer thinks and acts a child and shows compassion for others and the truth. Jem comes of age because he now thinks and acts like an adult and can be considerate of others. The experiences showed him compassion for life the need to do the right thing and the understanding that not everything in life is

Throughout the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, main characters, Scout and Jem, matured greatly. In the beginning they were both very innocent, but by the end, they came to a knowledgeable understanding of Maycomb and society. Though Jem and Scout both undergo pivotal moments, they affect them differently and both characters react in separate

At the beginning of the book, Jem was extremely immature. He was intent on getting Boo Radley to come out of his house. Jem claimed Boo “. . . dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch . . . there was a long jagged scar that ran along his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (16) Jem created the Boo Radley game, in which him, Dill, and Scout acted out their rumor-filled version of Boo’s life story. Jem also did not question any of Maycomb’s social conventions, and barely even recognized their existence. He had utter faith in Maycomb and did not realize that there was an ugly side to the town he knew and loved. During the trial, Jem said with

As the novel progresses, both Jem and Scout are shown to mature, this is due to "To Kill A Mockingbird" being a bildungsroman novel. Through this coming of age process, we are actually shown Jem’s new found maturity enabling him to find empathy and acceptance regarding the Boo Radley myths, as he finally took his father’s advice to “climb into someone else’s skin and walk around in it” when he was explaining to Scout his epiphany that he “[is] beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut in his house all this time. It’s because he wants to stay inside.”

Jem, the eldest, is often the leader of the two and at a young age, they relied on one another as playmates, so he utilized his greater authority to make fair and peaceful decisions. Later, as Jem grows up, he craves independence and believes himself superior to Scout, mainly for reasons of gender and age. He bosses her around, because her actions contradict his beliefs of right and wrong, superior and inferior. Eventually, Jem learns to accept and respect her difference, and although they are no longer codependent, they can still function as a team. From this, it is clear that Jem has grown apart from Scout, but his values allow him to support her regardless of their

In addition to Jem’s childish, protective, and playful nature- he is also scheming and possesses a clever mind. He demonstrates this with his knack for avoiding conflict, finding loopholes in regards to the rules Atticus has set for him and Scout, and luring out Boo Radley. This mischievousness sometimes causes Jem to be a troublemaker. Despite his cunning nature- as the novel progresses, Jem changes and develops into a more mature and responsible character as