Schyler suzuki
Pd:2
Jem And Scout Coming Of Age
Although Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird presents a number of themes, such as racism and social class in the American south, it is the coming of age of Jem and Scout that provides perhaps the most powerful theme in the entire novel. The theme that arises from this coming of age of Jem and Scout relates to the essential nature of human beings more specifically, the novel explores in a very dramatic way whether people are essentially good and just or whether people are instead fundamentally evil and disinterested in objective notions of justice. As children, under the guidance of their principled and very moral father, both Jem and Scout are compelled to endure events that test their beliefs, their faith in their fathers teachings, and their very perception and understanding of human behavior. This essay will discuss how these characters reacted to events in ways that reinforced …show more content…
Jem functions in many respects as a weaker version of Atticus ideals and this manifests itself as a weaker version of Scout. Jem, for instance, tends to conform more to expectations specifically, he dresses and behaves like a boy and he has more difficulty than both Atticus and Scout in dealing with social criticism and social ostracism. He even teases and criticizes Scout at times for not conforming to expectations because she does not think or behave like a typical southern girl. It is not that Jem does not admire his fathers ideals and principles, for the novel suggests that he does, but unlike Scout he seems more traumatized by the racial and social divisions. He seems more constrained by social conventions even though he seems fairly proud of his own social class and peers. Indeed, at the end of the novel Scout sadly notes
Pd:2
Jem And Scout Coming Of Age
Although Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird presents a number of themes, such as racism and social class in the American south, it is the coming of age of Jem and Scout that provides perhaps the most powerful theme in the entire novel. The theme that arises from this coming of age of Jem and Scout relates to the essential nature of human beings more specifically, the novel explores in a very dramatic way whether people are essentially good and just or whether people are instead fundamentally evil and disinterested in objective notions of justice. As children, under the guidance of their principled and very moral father, both Jem and Scout are compelled to endure events that test their beliefs, their faith in their fathers teachings, and their very perception and understanding of human behavior. This essay will discuss how these characters reacted to events in ways that reinforced …show more content…
Jem functions in many respects as a weaker version of Atticus ideals and this manifests itself as a weaker version of Scout. Jem, for instance, tends to conform more to expectations specifically, he dresses and behaves like a boy and he has more difficulty than both Atticus and Scout in dealing with social criticism and social ostracism. He even teases and criticizes Scout at times for not conforming to expectations because she does not think or behave like a typical southern girl. It is not that Jem does not admire his fathers ideals and principles, for the novel suggests that he does, but unlike Scout he seems more traumatized by the racial and social divisions. He seems more constrained by social conventions even though he seems fairly proud of his own social class and peers. Indeed, at the end of the novel Scout sadly notes