Jem Finch Reflection

Improved Essays
For most, puberty and growing older is a complicated and confusing time, but this is the stage of life where you learn about who you are and learn lessons that will stay with you as you progress through life. Jem Finch, Scout’s older brother and protective companion throughout Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, struggles with becoming a young man and realizing the harsh realities of the world around him. Even though he experiences many changes and realizations, he continues to grow into a young man with strong values like Atticus and remain resilient. Throughout the novel, Jem showcases noble and heroic courage when put in intimidating situations, an imaginative and inventive mindset, and conviction or passion for things he strongly believes …show more content…
When it snowed in Maycomb County, Jem had a plan to build snowmen but Atticus warned that there would probably not be enough snow. As Jem and Scout pondered on what they could do, Jem “produced the garden hoe and began digging quickly behind the woodpile….he went in the house, returned with the laundry hamper, filled it with earth and carried it to the front yard” (Lee 88). Since there’s not much snow to make the traditional snowman, Jem comes up with the idea to make the figure with dirt and cover it with snow. Jem has an inventive mindset. When Atticus returns home and sees the snowman he praises Jem on his craftsmanship and says, “I didn’t know how you were going to do it but from now on I’ll never about what’ll become of you, son, you’ll always have an idea” (Lee 90). Jem’s creativity and resourcefulness helped him come up with a resolution to their problem of low amount of snow , which all in all helped Jem and Scout succeed in their goal of making a …show more content…
When the trial for Tom Robinson was coming to an end, Judge Taylor began polling the jury. He continuously murmured the words “guilty”. As Jem was listening “his shoulders jerked as if each ‘guilty’ was a separate stab between them” (Lee 282). When the verdict came back guilty for Tom Robinson, Jem left the courtroom with “his face streaked with angry tears” (Lee 284). Jem is visibly unsettled and shocked about the outcome of the trial because, he was confident that based on the evidence Tom wouldn’t be found guilty. Jem is upset over the trial. As the Finches walked home after the trial, Jem mutters to himself the whole way home, “It ain’t right” (Lee 284). Once they all arrive home, Jem asks Atticus, “How could they do it, how could they?” (Lee 285). Jem is still in disbelief that Tom Robinson was found guilty and that the people of Maycomb would declare him guilty when it’s apparent that he’s innocent. Jem’s passion for the trial shows his beliefs and humanity. He thought that Maycomb was filled with fair and good-minded people like him but now, he isn’t so sure.
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem manifests courage and heroism, a creative and inventive mindset, and strong passion for the things he believes in. Jem represents bravery and what it really means to be courageous, it’s not about guns or violence; it’s about the strength

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    To begin, the author of the story To Kill A Mockingbird expresses her theme of “coming of age” through many ways. These ways include the development of the characters, symbols used, imagery, tone and motifs. Despite the fact, that she presents numerous themes, such as racism, and social class in the South, it is the coming of age theme that is most apparent in two characters Jem and Scout. As these characters are under the control of their principled father, Jem and Scout have to encounter events that test their beliefs, faith in father’s teachings and to understand the nature of human actions/behavior.…

    • 137 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, Lee puts the spotlight on 2 young children named Jem and Scout Finch who were, out of the few children, growing up in Maycomb County, Alabama. Throughout the plot, the pair with goes many coming of age experiences. Scout, being the protagonist, tells us her point of view about the external conflicts that she encounters such as conversing with Jem about how she labels people in the world of racial unjust that the book takes place in. Thus the conversation leads to the children's realization of why Boo Radley won’t leave his home due to the way society is labeling people and how society mistreats people with colored skin. This chapter is key to Scouts coming of age experience that was developed by external conflicts, point of view, and the growth of the plot.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Maturity is a flower that doesn’t grow in everyone's garden. Take me for example, in first grade I would chase the people and give them hugs on the playground every recess. In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Jem finch starts without a flower of maturity and empathy in his garden. Over the course of the book “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Jem Finch changes from a boy into a young man by developing a feeling of empathy and developing a sense of maturity.…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout the novel, Harper Lee displays various prime themes that array the segregation and setting in Maycomb, a fictional town in the heart of Alabama. This unforgettable story of a childhood in a quaint town and a watershed that changes everything, is compassionate, dramatic, whole hearted, and courageous. The coming of age symbolizes one of these many themes throughout this novel and is crucial to how the characters come together. Jem Finch is one of the significant examples that resembles the coming of age and matures over the course of 3 years. During the events in chapters 1- 31 in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem has signifficantly grown from a childish, playful boy that he was from the begining of the novel, to a more calm, composed…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jem is finally exposed to the prejudice in Maycomb towards people who are different. His illusions about justice and the law have been shattered by the reality of the court case. Up to this point in the book, Jem had been an innocent mockingbird. Although the forces of hatred and prejudice do not take his life, they strip him of his childhood and youthful idealism. Later, Scout wants to kill a small roly poly bug that was inside the house, but “Jem [scowls] ……

    • 1082 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jem sees that courtroom didn't change what people though of black people and in the end, convicted an innocent man. To Jem, the Tom Robinson Trial did not deliver justice and was a shining example of the problem with the Jim Crow Laws. Jem's definition of justice would be something along the lines of, people, no matter their background, should be treated equally in all situations. A black man would have the same opportunities of a white man but also face the same consequences of him too.…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scottsboro Boys Trial

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages

    When Scout, Jem and their friend Dill go to the courthouse to watch Tom's trial they over hear people talking about Atticus while they wait outside. The kids learn that Judge Taylor appointed Atticus to defend Tom and that he had no choice in being on the case. Harper Lee describes the children's reaction saying, “This was news, news that put a different light on things. Atticus had to, whether he wanted to or not.” (Lee 218).…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jem strongly sided with Atticus’s beliefs and ability to defend, and was very confident that Atticus will be successful. Jem wishes to follow his dad’s footsteps, so this trial is very important to him. Jem’s passion is one of his most prominent…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jem Finch starts off as his sister’s partner in crime. During their youth, Jem, Scout, and Dill run through the neighborhood, playing games and exploring with Jem as their fearless leader. As a ten year old boy, Jem has the innocence of a mockingbird and wants to grow up to be just like his father. When Atticus takes on the Tom Robinson case, Jem is forced to grow out of his naivety a little too quickly. Throughout the novel, Jem becomes more mature and develops a “…maddening air of wisdom…”…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Amazed and concerned about Dill’s actions, Jem shows a sign of growth and maturity by informing his father about the situation. Although both Dill and Scout see Jem as a “traitor” for telling Atticus, the young man recognizes that he did the right thing. He says, “Dill, I had to tell him… You can’t run three hundred miles off without your mother knowin’” (161).…

    • 2133 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, this innocence was taken away from him mainly because of Tom Robinson’s trial, due to the fact that he was deeply immersed into it, believing that there was no possible way that Tom could be found guilty. When Tom inevitably loses the trial due to the fact that he was a ‘Negro’, Jem was understandably crushed and bitter about the trial. “It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd. ‘It ain’t right,’ he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting.”…

    • 1640 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, the process of losing one’s innocence is shown to the readers. When a black man named Tom Robinson is accused of raping a white woman, he must go to court. Because of a detriment he possesses, his skin color, it is Tom against the white skinned people of Maycomb. One white man, different from the rest, knows that Tom is innocent so he decided to defend Tom during his trial.…

    • 1671 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A significance to To Kill a Mockingbird is the path Jem Finch takes to mature. We first see signs of Jem maturing on Scout’s first day of school. Scout and her teacher didn’t get along. Her teacher, Miss…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The children were shocked on the way it turned out. Jem had full confidence in his father and had no doubt that they were going to win. During the trial Jem was confident in saying “...but don’t fret, we’ve won it... don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard”(pg.279). Jem didn’t think that the…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Character Progression in To Kill a Mockingbird In the shadows of the Great Depression, everyday life for both children and adults alike must carry on. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jean Louise Finch, dubbed Scout by her close friends and family, recounts the tale of her brother Jeremy Finch, nicknamed Jem, and how his arm is injured. However, through the recollection, the children encounter prejudice, appearance vs reality, and grow as people.…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays