Jem And Scout Relationship Analysis

Out of all the relationship during the course of the book, the one that mainly is in focus is the one between Scout and her four-years senior brother Jem. Jem and Scout are siblings living in Maycomb together with their father Atticus and the housekeeper Calpurnia. They have the guidance of Atticus and can look at the world with open minds. They are very close at the beginning of the book but throughout the story, they start to drift apart because Jem wants to do things separately and Scout starts to behave more like a girl. I will first focus on the relationship at the start of the book and then progress with important parts that shows how the relationship changes.

The first point to make is that Jem and Scout are indirectly forced to form
He states that Atticus has never whipped him before. Scout doesn’t understand why he just doesn’t take his punishment but Jem insist on going back to get them. Atticus had told them to leave the Radleys’s alone and Jem was ashamed of his decision. He wasn’t really afraid of the whipping. He was afraid to disappoint Atticus. Similar events where Scout doesn’t really understand Jem can be found after this chapter. Another example is in chapter 14 when Dill appears in their bedroom at the middle of the night. Jem feels like he needs to behave in an adult manner and take his role as the big brother seriously so he tells Atticus. He “broke the remaining code of our childhood” (p.155) as Scout stated it. This was a sign that Jem wasn’t making childish decisions anymore but he was entering the adult word. He knew that Atticus would treat Dill fairly and he understood that Dill’s parents would be worried. Betraying his sister and knowingly breaking the code wasn’t however easy for Jem: “Dill’s eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor” (p.155). Jem simply acquires wisdom and learns how the world really is while maturing greatly. He starts to distance himself from Scout (he wants to do things separately) and constantly reminds Scout to start being a girl. This, of course, upsets Scout, and she doesn’t understand why Jem changes. When asking Atticus, she gets the answer that Jem needs to process what he learns. Despite Jem’s need for independence and Scout’s innocence, they are still