How Is Jem Presented In To Kill A Mockingbird

Jeremy Atticus Finch, or Jem as he is called by Scout, is the narrator’s brother in To Kill a Mockingbird. Jem is an athletic ten year old boy. Everyday during the summer he will play outside with his sister, Scout, and their friend Dill. As well as being athletic he is adventurous and highly spirited. He will run through the streets and climb trees, until Calpurnia, the cook, tells him to come inside. Jem is courageous and daring,“in all his life, Jem had never declined a dare” (Lee 12). He can be quite the troublemaker as well. During the summer when the children needed a game to play, Jem came up with the game of pretending to be the mysterious neighbours, the Radleys. “I know what we’re going to play. Something new, something different” (Lee 38). His father Atticus, would’ve been very mad with the children if they were caught pretending to be
Jem is scared yet also fascinated with Arthur (Boo) Radley. Boo is mysterious and this interests Jem. Jem wants to know more about him yet is still scared when walking past the Radley’s house. The only reason he touched the house in chapter one was to complete Dill’s dare and even then he was utterly terrified. As Jem gets older, however, he starts to believe that maybe Boo is just frightened as they are and he and Dill write a letter to Boo. “We’re asking him real politely to come out sometimes, and tell us what he does in there—we said we wouldn’t hurt him and we’d buy him an ice cream (Lee 47). This shows that although Jem wants to know more about Boo, he is considerate enough not to put him in a situation that could be uncomfortable. The same can also be said when Scout asked Dill about his father. Jem could see that Dill did not want to be questioned about his family and stopped Scout before she could make Dill even more uncomfortable than he already was. This show that Jem values privacy and respects other people's privacy