"To Kill A Mockingbird" by Nell Harper Lee.

Essay by tubbycowHigh School, 11th gradeA-, May 2003

download word file, 3 pages 4.0

In the classic book To Kill A Mockingbird, the reader is introduced to a, collage of varying characters. By telling the story through the eyes of the innocent Scout Finch, Nell Harper Lee, is able to portray a true sincere person in all of her characters. In a town where everyone's lives are touched and in some way changed by the trial of Tom Robinson, it is interesting to delineate between good characters, bad characters, those with opened or shut minds, those who have feelings, emotions, and consciences, as well as those who have the ability to be changed and affected by such events. Perhaps no other character seems to be as fascinating, and can offer the reader a deeper description of his true feelings and beliefs as Scouts older brother Jem. Through the events that take place in this novel, and the reactions he takes towards them, it is clear that Jem is a model of maturity, morality, and a character who is easily affected and thus able to be changed.

Perhaps the biggest event which portrays Jem to be very mature is when Dill returns to Maycomb from his mothers house. Dill who has escaped the unpleasantness of spending the summer with his ungrateful Mother and Stepfather, so that he can spend time with Scout, is discovered when Scout felt him in the dark. When Jem became aware of this, he knew what he had to do: "Dill's eyes flickered at Jem, and Jem looked at the floor. Then he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood. He went out of the room and down the hall. Atticus, His voice was distant, 'Can you come here a minute, sir?' " (141) This event is very important in realizing what kind of person Jem is. Scout...