How does Jem mature in To Kill a Mockingbird?

Answer 1

Although Scout learns a few lessons through out the story, Jem is the one who matures and learns. You can see this as his opinions about the court case change and he sees the bigger picture of why Tom really is innocent and what is wrong with the jury/ society in determining Tom's fate. Also how he treats Scout, his actions and words change throughout the book all indicate that he's maturing throughout the story.

Answer 2

Scout may or may not be a lover, but she's definitely a fighter. Especially at the beginning of the novel, fighting is her solution to everything: she goes after Walter Cunningham after she gets in trouble on his behalf on the first day of school, she beats up Dill when she thinks he's not paying enough attention to her, and she kicks a member of the lynch mob (in the balls, no less) when he grabs Jem. When news of Atticus's defense of Tom Robinson percolates down to the schoolyard, it's no wonder that she responds with her fists to the kids' parroting of their parents' insults.

Why is violence almost always Scout's first response? Well, for one thing, she does seem to win her fights most of the time, so it's a technique that's working for her. For another, if might makes right, then it skips over the trickier business of thinking about the moral right: righteousness goes to whomever is the better fighter. Scout's fighting shows her quick temper and lack of self-control, but it also suggests her simplicity when it comes to moral matters, and her desire for a quick fix to complicated questions.

While Scout doesn't see a problem with her Mortal Kombat approach to dealing with people, Atticus thinks otherwise, and tells Scout not to fight any more. Scout has difficulty obeying him, but manages it at least some of the time, starting with her classmate Cecil Jacobs.

I drew a bead on him, remembered what Atticus had said, then dropped my fists and walked away, "Scout's a cow- ward!" ringing in my ears. It was the first time I ever walked away from a fight.

Somehow, if I fought Cecil I would let Atticus down. Atticus so rarely asked Jem and me to do something for him, I could take being called a coward for him. I felt extremely noble for having remembered, and remained noble for three weeks. (9.30-31)

And so Scout learns the pleasure of moral superiority, though she does eventually understand that there are more reasons against fighting than obedience to Atticus and getting to feel noble. Even then, however, she does maintain a few private exceptions.

After my bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch wouldn't fight any more, her daddy wouldn't let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn't fight publicly for Atticus, but the family was private ground. I would fight anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and nail. (10.6)

Why will Scout not fight Cecil, whom she has to see every day, but will fight Francis, whom she sees only a few times a year? Perhaps it has to do with her desire to do right by Atticus - fighting her schoolmates would be publicly going against his command, while hauling off at Francis is all in the family, so to speak.

Scout as TomboyAs all this fighting suggests, Scout doesn't have much interest in stereotypical girl things, like dolls and dresses. Her tomboyish nature drives her prim Aunt Alexandra crazy, and Aunty comes to stay with her brother and his family in part to try to make a proper little girl out of Scout, which means first of all giving up her overalls.

Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches; when I said I could do nothing in a dress, she said I wasn't supposed to be doing things that required pants. Aunt Alexandra's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave me when I was born; furthermore, I should be a ray of sunshine in my father's lonely life. (9.74)

Scout takes Aunt Alexandra's crusade against her pants as also against her freedom, and she doesn't seem too far off. For Scout, being a lady-in-training means giving up all the things she likes to do and replacing them with what others expect her to do, and Scout is having none of it: "I felt the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me, and for the second time in my life I thought of running away" (17.24).

While Scout doesn't ever renounce her tomboyish ways, she does come to recognize that being a lady has some value. When Aunt Alexandra puts her game face on to return to her tea party after hearing of Tom's death, Scout takes pride in following her lead: "After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I" (24.93). While she still isn't comfortable with the rules ladies have to follow and the skills they have to cultivate, Scout does pick up on the examples of the strong women in her life (not only the formidable Aunt Alexandra, but also her sharp-tongued, no-nonsense neighbor Miss Maudie) to make some kind of peace with her gender.

Boo Radley and Scout's Coming of AgeFrom the beginning, Scout is more terrified of Boo than Jem or Dill are. While the two older boys push at the edges of their fears by attempting to make indirect contact with Boo, Scout hangs back, not wanting to bring the monster's wrath down upon them. When she does get drawn into their schemes, she pays for it with sleepless nights.

Every night-sound I heard from my cot on the back porch was magnified three-fold; every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley loose and after us; insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley's insane fingers picking the wire to pieces; the chinaberry trees were malignant, hovering, alive.(6.84)

In Scout's fevered mind, Boo expands into a dangerous world, where every sound signals a threat. And later, when Scout realizes that it was Boo who brought her a blanket, she's nearly sick, as if realizing that she had just walked along the edge of a cliff in the dark and only survived by chance. While part of Scout's fear of Boo she shares with any kid who ever thought there was a monster under the bed, it also seems linked to a fear of unknown dangers lurking in the seemingly familiar.

As time passes and Scout faces down more real threats, her fear of Boo lessens. He lurks in her imagination not as a monster but as a neighbor, who feels familiar even though she's never actually laid eyes on him.

But I still looked for him each time I went by. Maybe someday we would see him. I imagined how it would be: when it happened, he'd just be sitting in the swing when I came along. "Hidy do, Mr. Arthur," I would say, as if I had said it every afternoon of my life. "Evening, Jean Louise," he would say, as if he had said it every afternoon of my life, "right pretty spell we're having, isn't it?" "Yes sir, right pretty," I would say, and go on.It was only a fantasy. (26.5-6)

This shift in Scout's interest in Boo reflects her growing experience with different kinds of people; having seen the likes of Bob Ewell, poor Boo doesn't offer much in the way of chills anymore. Having faced the evil of real people, perhaps Scout doesn't see the unknown as scary in itself. Or perhaps her changing view of Boo has something to do with post-trial shifts in her ideas about community, and what makes for good neighbors.

When Scout finally does meet Boo, it causes yet more upheaval in how she thinks about not only him and her community, but also herself.

Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad. (31.23)

Seeing Boo makes Scout see herself differently, and she's not entirely pleased with what she sees. This moment of self-examination suggests that Atticus stopped too soon with his advice that putting yourself in another person's shoes allows you to understand them better - it also has the potential to let you understand yourself.

While Scout may be exaggerating a bit when she thinks, "as I made my way home, I thought Jem and I would get grown but there wasn't much else left for us to learn, except possibly algebra" (31.31) - what about calculus? - she has learned a great deal, not just this evening, but over the four years of the book. The question is, what will she do with this knowledge? What kind of person will it enable her to become?

Answer 3

Jem matures in "To Kill a Mockingbird" by experiencing various challenges and injustices in his community. He learns about empathy, courage, and moral integrity through his father, Atticus Finch, and his experiences with racism and prejudice. By the end of the novel, Jem shows a greater understanding of the complexities of the world around him and the importance of standing up for what is right.

Answer 4

Jem definitely matures more. He starts separating himself from Scout to stay out of mischief, and tries to be more and more like his dad Atticus.

Answer 5

Jem gets more and more mature as he gets older and older in the novel.

Answer 6

Jem matured when he protected Scout from Bob Ewell when he attacked them. He also matured a lot after he went to Tom Robinsons trial.

Answer 7

Scout - gets more mature