Jem Finch Coming of Age Essay

Mental change is another type of change that Jem goes through. Jemstart to think like an adult as he gets older in the book. He shows it at thetrial of Tim Robinson when the jury is in the jury room and he starts to talk toReverend Sykes. He starts saying thing about the trial and Reverend Sykes askhim not to talk like that in front of Scout. Which shows that he knows whathe is talking about. (see page 208-209). There is also the time when he had togo and read to Mrs. Dubose which he later finds out about her drug addictionwhich he fully understands. So those are ways he changes mentally. Jem changes physically in many ways in the story. His hair stuck upbehind and down in front, and I wondered if it would it would ever look like aman’s-maybe if he shaved it off and started over, his hair would grow backneatly in place. His eyebrows were becoming heavier, and I noticed a newslimness about his body. He was growing taller. (225) There was also when Jemtried to show Scout his hair on his chest which shows him growing upphysically. (see page225) So these things show how he changes physically tobecome more of a man as he hits puberty. Another change that Jem goes through is his feeling toward himself andhow he starts to feel better about himself. When he gets home one day fromschool he shows that he is all confident about making the football team and howhappy he is to be old enough to play. But even though he doesn’t get to playhe still remains happy with just being the waterboy and just being able to bethere watching. During the trial ‘It was Jem’s turn to cry. ‘ which shows thathe was not afraid to just let his feeling be show even though most peoplewouldn’t have. 212) So these show that Jem can feel good about himself andalso feel bad but he can still let it out if he has to. One of the most important change that Jem goes through is taking andadult role in Scouts life. He walks her to the school play and he protects herfrom Bob Ewell when he tries to kill them. This is the main one because if Jemdid try and stop Ewell Scout could have died and it would have show that Jemdidn’t really have an adult role. Also another reason is when Jem tells Dillthat he shouldn’t touch Boo’s house because if Boo kills him no one will bearound to keep an eye on Scout. 13) As you can see those where all ways that Jem shows his coming of age inthe book To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. By changing socially he becomesmore likable. By changing emotionally with himself he becomes more confident. By changing mentally he starts to under stand more compicated things thatbefore he would have never knew about. By changing physically he becomes moreof a man and is more older. And finally by changing to be more of an adult tohis sister he becomes more aware of what an adult has to face.