Preview

What Do Jem and Scout Learn Throughout the Course of the Novel. Essay Example

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
996 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Do Jem and Scout Learn Throughout the Course of the Novel. Essay Example
What do Jem and Scout learn during the course of the novel?
Jem and Scout are two caring siblings who look out for each other. At the start the children are not aware of a few things such as what real courage was.
Boo Radley, to them a very strange man, lived at the corner of the street in a shabby house with his father and mother. The children’s assumptions about Boo were very strange, they thought that “he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch” and that “his eyes popped and he drooled most of the time”. However the children find gifts in a big tree in front of the Radley house which, they assume, are for them. The children find two strips of chewing gum, a pocket watch and a few other small gifts. When Jem and Scout trespassed on the Radley property and got shot at by Mr Radley , Jem snagged his trousers on the fence and they tore, but when jem went back for his trousers he found that they were badly sewn up and folded over the fence as if Boo was expecting him to go back for them. The children do not appreciate his kindness until the end of the story.
Atticus, Jem and Scouts father, was nice man he was a lawyer for Maycomb County. The children say “Atticus was feeble. He was nearly fifty”. However when the children see Atticus shoot a mad dog in the street they find out that he is “the deadest shot in the county”. Miss Maudie, the town gossip, says that Atticus “put his gun down when he realized that god had given him an unfair advantage over most living things”. Jem and scout only understand that Atticus was trying to hide his talent for shooting. Near to the end of the story, the children look up to Atticus much more than at the beginning of the book. The children think Atticus is a great role model.
Mrs Dubose, a lady who usually shouts abuse at the children, has, what it seems, a lovely garden. Atticus even comments on how nice her flowers are. However when Jem gets sick of the way she treats the children, he picks all of her flower heads

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Jem has already started to grow and scouts begins to get a notion of fairness and what is right when she is condemned by her teacher for knowing how to read. This doesn 't make sense to her because she can read, which she thinks is good, but her teacher gets mad. Jem defends the teacher by saying she 's trying a new way but scout and Jem both know that it 's a good thing to read. This is the start of Scouts growth because Kohlberg believes that events shape the morality level and it is natural to ascend these levels as you grow. One of the big things that helps form the children 's morals throughout the book is Boo Radley. The children play games that portray their beliefs about Boo but Atticus scolds them for this and they might start to see him in a different way.…

    • 809 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Boo Radley symbolises a beautiful, but tortured mockingbird that is misunderstood and ostracised by both his family and the wider community. He is kept as a prisoner in his own home, kept in confinement by his god-fearing Baptist family. Despite this treatment Boo remains gentle and harmless. However, people tell stories about how he eats squirrels and cats and poisons the pecan nuts in the school yard. To the community Boo is a "malevolent phantom". Gradually Scout and Jem begin to see things from Boo's perspective. Like the mockingbird Boo gives pleasure and comfort: for example, the gifts in the tree, the blanket placed around their shoulders as they watch Miss Maudie's home go up in flames. Finally, he saves Scout and Jem's lives. In turn, Scout realises to drag Boo into the limelight would be like "shootin' a mockingbird" and a cruel betrayal of all the inherent goodness Boo symbolises as a mockingbird.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jem is Atticus' son - also Scout's brother. During the course of the novel, he profoundly and rapidly matures. Scout being the little sister, always relying on her older brother, notices these transitions greatly. She slowly starts understanding her brother and also starts to live life with a different perspective. Jem finally recognizes true courage in none other than Atticus. He then becomes more mature and does not find childish things nor…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over a couple of weeks Jem had been harassed by an old woman called Mrs. Dubose. Jem had remained calm and had proceeded for weeks to ignore her, however, on one day she insulted his father Atticus for defending in court a negro man named Tom Robinson. This insult outraged Jem, and on that day he returned to Mrs. Dubose’s house and cut the heads of her roses.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the novel, Scout starts out as an ignorant boyish girl. She had no knowledge of the world and relied on her brother. At the end of the novel, she becomes more ladylike and less selfish. The lessons she learns are all in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. One of them is to judge a person, you have to look at things from their point of view.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jem and scout are young and have not experienced the world very much but they are not too young to be exposed to evil. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s dad, Tries his hardest to make sure Jem and Scout don’t have to ever experience evil but he knows that there is no way to not too. At the time, Atticus is defending a black man, Tom Robbinson, and a lot of the town disagrees with it. Since Atticus is defending Tom, A lot of the kids give Jem and Scout a hard time because of what their parents tell them. In the book, Atticus says, “What bothers me is that Scout and Jem will have to asorb some pretty ugly things soon.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All through the book, Scout, her brother, Jem, and their friend, Dill rack their brains, trying to understand why Boo doesn’t leave his house. After walking Boo home, Scout begins to look back on past events, but this time, from the Radley’s home. “I had never seen our neighborhood from this angle” Simply from this, Scout was able to imagine the world from Boo’s perspective. From meeting Dill to having their hearts broken by the Tom Robinson trial verdict, Boo had been watching. Scout begins to understand what Dill had meant long before, when he proposed that perhaps Boo stayed at home because he wanted to. From his home, he could watch over Scout and Jem, and for that, Scout was…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The mysterious neighbor to them, never seen but always there watching. When they first introduced Boo, they feared him until they became to ridicule what they did not know. Scout and Jems maturation process is facilitated by how they handle and overcome their fear of Boo Radley, the towns “boogey man”. When Miss Maudie’s house flamed up Scout and Jem stood by the Radley fence, throughout the night someone came and covered Scouts back with a blanket; it was Boo Radley. That was the first night that Jem started to realize Boo is as pure as a mockingbird, just misunderstood. In the conversation- “Mr. Tate was right…’what do you mean?… 'Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?'" (Scout, p.276) took place, it showed insight to a deeper level of thinking that the kids had developed- metaphoric understanding. Jem knew they were wrong about Boo when Boo had stitched up his pants leaving them on the fence for Jem to find and when he did, he cried an emotional silent cry of remorse for they had contributed to the ridicule Boo endured. With this new understanding in chapter twenty three Jem enlightens Scout why Boo doesn’t leave his house; he doesn’t want to, it’s a confusing corrupt world he’d rather not live in. In a way Boo had taught Scout how to empathize with people. As she was escorted by him to his porch she stood there with tears filling her eyes for the man who saved their lives. Empathetic as she gazed the yard “in his shoes” watching memories from the past three…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maturation is a long, tedious process, as exciting as it is challenging. Each stage of life poses its own set of unique challenges: the toddler taking his first clumsy steps, slowly progressing towards the capability to walk; the first grader reciting the alphabet with eagerness and pride; the high school student writing, editing, and re-editing countless essays. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the character that matures and changes the most of all is Jeremy Finch – or Jem, as he is called for most of the novel. He goes from a juvenile boy to an established young man throughout the course of the novel.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Unlike his brother, Atticus is an expert in dealing with little children. His wise and firm opinions and deeds have had great influence on the characters of Jem and Scout as the novel proceeds. Miss Maudie says that “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets”. He deals with Scout and Jem as if they are adults. For instance, he does not hesitate to answer Scout's question about the meaning of "rape", and he makes deals with his children and is committed to them. At the same time, Atticus understands that Jem and Scout are still children and they are bound to make childish mistakes. He finds excuses for their bad deeds and that makes him more patient with them than his sister Alexandra. For example, he says to her when she criticizes the language Scout uses that "bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn they're not attracting attention with it." Atticus is eager to teach his children good values and practices through people’s mistakes and poor behaviour and their own mistakes in real life situations rather than by giving them instructions. He does not rebuke or punish Jem and Scout for attending the trial of Robison or for secretly following him to the jail where Robinson was kept. He is always aware of what his children secretly do. For example, he has known that it was Jem at whom Mr. Radely once shot his gun. Yet, he frequently draws their…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jem and Scout encounter contradistinctive prospects when they are judged for what their father does, and how they act. Scout witnesses what it’s like to see her father be considered “trash like the people he works for,” as a result of Atticus defending a black man. In a different situation Scout wants to show Cecil Jacobs shouldn’t call her parent a bad name. “and I was far too old and too big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be.” Scout is taking pressure from the trial, Mrs. Dubose comments, what she shouldn’t do.…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus Finch Classic

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Aunt Alexandra tells Jem and Scout they have to act like Finches. Initially, Atticus agrees with her, but says differently while he puts his children to bed, that “I don’t want you to remember it. Forget it.” (178). Atticus doesn’t want himself or his kids to act like the rest of their family. He likes everyone to think for themselves and be their own person. Again, Atticus is genuine when Heck is telling Atticus that Jem did not kill Bob Ewell, but in his shock, Atticus doesn’t believe him and thinks Tate is trying to cover up what Jem did. Atticus tells Mr. Tate that, “I don’t live that way.” (365). Atticus is an honest person, and he always tries to be honest and outright. He doesn’t act different around certain people or in certain social settings. As the Finches’ neighbor Miss Maudie Atkinson says, “Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets.” (61).…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jem Finch Trial

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Everyone in the town respects him because he’s is a wise and fair man. He teaches his children to treat everyone with respect, what true bravery is, and to be humble. When talking about Mrs. Dubose's death, Atticus says, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyways”(Lee 149). Although Mrs. Dubose was an awful old lady, Atticus always respected and admired her for her fighting until the end. Atticus was also a very firm believer in equality. Miss Maudie says after Atticus shoots the rabid dog, “I think maybe he out his gun down when he realized that God had given him an unfair advantage over most living things” (Lee 130). Atticus is very humble to the point where he lowers himself to be equal to everyone else. Jem and Scout mirror their father by learning qualities that are shown by…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atticus is the father figure for his kids, Jem and Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. The Finch family lives in Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. The kids spend much of their time playing with their gregarious neighbor, Dill, and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor Boo Radley. When their father, Atticus, who is a widowed man and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges against a white girl, he is in/at a detriment. The trial, events following and the people they have interactions with, expose Jem and Scout to racism and stereotyping. This completely changes their view of the world. The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, uses characterization to portray how a child’s…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout finally starts third grade, where she has become much wiser. She and Jem stop bothering the Radley residence as they empathize them, understanding what a nuisance it is to have children constantly trying to get Boo to come out, “I sometimes felt a twinge of remorse, when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley—what reasonable recluse wants children peeping through his shutters, delivering greetings on the end of a fishing-pole, wandering in his collards at night” (324). Scout finally understands from Boo’s perspective that it is bothersome to have children trying to get him come out even though he does not want to and has done nothing to them. She realizes that if she was in Boo’s shoes, she would not want to have children constantly bothering her. After Boo saves Scout and Jem, Scout walks him back to his house. Standing on the Radley porch, Scout imagines the events of the novel from Boo Radley’s perspective. He watches through the windows and can see everything, looking over his “children”, Scout and Jem. Scout refers to her and Jem as Boo Radley’s children because the entire time, Boo has been watching over them as if they were his own children, only coming out of his…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays