To Kill A Mockingbird Chapter 13 Analysis

Amongst all children, there is an untold rule; they can never tell on each other to adults. However, in Chapter 14 of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem violated the code when he told Atticus about Dill’s unannounced arrival. Dill felt that his parents did not need him in their lives and would be better suited without him. Therefore, he decides to leave Meridian and travel three hundred miles to the only place where he feels “at home”, which is at the Finch’s residence in Maycomb County. When Jem betrays the unofficial rule, he causes a crash in his relationship with Scout and Dill. Scout and Dill shune him and make him feel ashamed for what he had done. In the novel, Lee wrote, “Jem was standing in a corner of the room, looking like …show more content…
Nonetheless, at the end of the night, they forgive Jem of his crime, whether it was because they felt that Jem had suffered enough of his punishment or it was because Dill had to sleep in Jem’s room is uncertain, and resume speaking to him. What felt entertaining to read in this segment, was Jem, the oldest child, making a genuine apology to Scout and Dill, who are a few years younger than him. It is a rare occurrence for an older child, who is not pressured by an adult, to ask for forgiveness from younger children. As a result, one may think that Jem cares about what Scout and Dill think of him; that Jem prefers not to be thought of as the “awful” and “lousy” older sibling of Scout but, rather the “pleasant” and“caring” type. One may infer that Harper Lee included that to show the somewhat close relationship among Jem, Scout, and Dill. Although Jem told on Dill, Jem still felt some remorse about doing it. In addition, Jem felt bad about the fight that occurred earlier in the chapter between him and Scout. As a result, he agreed to look under Scout’s bed to not find a snake, but Dill hiding under her bed. Who knows how long Dill would have been under Scout’s bed, considering