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To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

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Discussion Topic

Jem's Influence on Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Summary:

Jem influences Scout by acting as a role model and protector. He helps her understand complex social issues, such as racism and injustice, and encourages her to be brave and empathetic. Through his actions and guidance, Scout learns valuable life lessons and matures throughout the story.

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How does Jem influence Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird"?

Jem probably influences Scout in a number of ways in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird. He is her older brother and thus models behavior for her on a daily basis.

The example that first comes to my mind shows Scout picking up and using Jem's vocabulary. He repeatedly comments on how she's acting like a girl when he want to criticize her for being cowardly or complaining. Scout clearly takes this comment to heart, and she tells Jem at least once, when it's her turn to be angry at him, that he's acting like a girl.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, how does Jem influence Scout?

Scout is influenced by her brother in a variety of ways.

First, Scout wants to do what her brother does, even at the risk of her own safety. For example, Scout goes to the Radleys late at night with Jem and Dill even though she doesn't want to. She does it because the boys start to call her a girl and treat her like she is scared. She refuses to be pushed around or out of their circle of friendship. So, in spite of being afraid, she goes.

Secondly, because Scout doesn't have a mother, and spends most of her time with Jem, she likely gets her "tomboy" tendencies from this relationship. The two like to play in their treehouse together and the two are excited about their air rifles from Uncle Jack at Christmas together. These boy activities influence Scout to act more like a boy than the girl that she is forced to play by the end of the story at the Missionary Society Circle.

Scout is affected by Jem's every emotion. When she can tell he is being dared by Dill to go touch the Radley's house in the beginning, Scout senses his apprehension but knows he won't back down from a dare. Throughout Jem's quiet times and moody times Scout knows to leave him alone because he is either thinking about his mother or the trial.

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How does Jem influence Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird?

How does Jem impact Scout.  This is a very big question. As her big brother, Jem is Scout’s “hero.” Again and again we see Scout wanting to be as “tough” as he is.  When playing with him and Dill, Scout wants to be “one of the guys.”  All Jem has to do is call Scout “Miss Priss,” and Scout is ready to do whatever her brother wants. Several times we hear Jem tell Scout “not to act like a girl.” She thinks he knows just about everything, as we see, for example, when she is sure that Boo Radley was stuffed up the chimney by his father “because  Jem” said so (43). He also gives her possible interpretations of life that she can accept or reject, such as when he concludes (after the trial) that Boo doesn’t come out of his house because he doesn’t particularly like the world outside. And then, of course, Jem tries to save the life of his sister when she is attacked at the end of the novel.

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In To Kill a Mockingbird, how does the trial affect Jem and Scout?

Scout's narrative reveals far less about her own opinions of the Tom Robinson trial, and especially the aftermath, than it does about Jem's. Scout seems to be more upset before the trial begins, using her fists to retaliate when she and Atticus are called "nigger-lover" by her antagonistic friends. Although much of the trial is over her head (she has to have the term "nigger-lover" and the definition of "rape" explained to her), she does manage to recognize that Tom's crippled left arm could not have possibly inflicted the damage done to Mayella Ewell, and she sees that Tom is innocent of the charges--something the adult jury could not admit. At Aunt Alexandra's church tea, Scout wishes she were the governor of Alabama so she could

... let Tom Robinson go so quick the Missionary Circle wouldn't have time to catch it's breath.

Jem is more affected by the verdict. He sees the injustice in Tom's conviction as well as the dishonesty of the jury. He sympathizes with Tom, and he feels his father has been deserted by the townspeople that he serves--standing alone among the people Jem once thought were "the best folks in the world." Every little thing affects him for a while, from Scout's near-squashing of a doodlebug to her mere mention of the courthouse. Through his tears he tries to make sense of the verdict, but he can only repeat

"It ain't right, Atticus... How could they do it, how could they?"

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Does Jem help Scout learn anything important in To Kill a Mockingbird?

To Kill a Mockingbird has several themes which are developed through several story lines.  On one level, To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of a little girl growing up in Alabama during the Great Depression.  She spends most of her time, when not in school, with her older brother, Jem, who is often explaining to her how things are, as older siblings tend to do.  And, as younger siblings tend to do, Scout is not wildly impressed with Jem's expertise on the issues of the day.  Since the story is told in Scout's first person point of view, we see changes in Jem's character through her eyes.  Scout is particularly annoyed when Jem enters the phase of life that we would probably describe as puberty; he becomes moody and irritable, and Scout is not pleased about it.  "Reckon he's got a tapeworm?" she asks Atticus at one point while expressing her displeasure.  Despite Jem's attempts, Scout probably learns more from her Aunt Alexandra, who she (Scout) also regards as a questionable source of information for quite awhile.  We see how Scout has changed, however, toward the end of the book when she is serving tea and behaving like a lady after Atticus shares with Alexandra, Maudie, and Scout the devastating news of Tom Robinson's death.  She has learned the importance of maintaining one's social manners and graces, important virtues of Southern womanhood that Alexandra apparently had taught her after all. 

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