During every person’s childhood, an event, person, or lesson changes their view on the world. This circumstance provides them with knowledge about what it means to be an adult and what humanity and society really are. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scout Finch are growing up during the 1930’s-a time where racism was very prevalent in Southern American society. The two children live in Maycomb County with their father Atticus. At only twelve years old, Jem is encountering experiences such as Tom Robinson’s trial. . During this trial, Tom Robinson is being accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Even though there is subsequent evidence to prove that he is innocent, the jury decides that he is guilty.Through Jem’s childlike viewpoint …show more content…
When the jury makes the decision on whether or not Tom is guilty or innocent, Jem is certain that he is going to be proven innocent. He believes that the jurors will not decide the verdict of the case simply based on the color of Tom’s skin, but on the facts that were presented during the trial: “Jem smiled. ‘He’s not supposed to lean, Reverend, but don’t fret, we’ve won it,’ he said wisely. ‘Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard—’” (212). Jem is very confident that Tom will win after what they heard during questioning. When Lee describes how Jem talks she uses the word wisely, indicating that Jem spoke confidently and thought he knew all the information about the trial. Telling the Reverend not to fret means that Reverend Sykes thinks that he will be proven guilty because the color of his skin. Jem did not know how big of an impact the color of one’s skin had on the decisions that happen in government and everyday society. When he is thinking about the outcome of the trial, he did not take into account Tom’s race, he only focuses on the facts of the trial. Because Jem is only focusing on the facts, he does not know that racism has such a big impact on decisions. He is naive to believe this:“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd; “It ain’t right,” he muttered, all the way to the corner of the square where we found Atticus waiting.” ( 215 ). After Jem finds out about the verdict of the trial, he is crushed. He was positive that Tom would be proven innocent, but instead, he was found guilty. Jem thought that race would not matter in this court case, but it was the deciding factor of the case. Even though Jem does not believe that race was important in the court case, other people did and he was aware of this now, and because he knows this, he is no longer as naive and innocent as he once was. His perspective on how society works
Tom Robinson Found Guilty Last weekend, despite his lawyer’s attempts, Tom Robinson was found guilty of taking advantage of Mayella Ewell. Robinson was accused by Robert Ewell of raping and beating his daughter Mayella Ewell. Robinson is a Negro and lives by the town dump with his wife and children. The witnesses called to the stand were Heck Tate, the county sheriff, and Bob and Mayella Ewell.
Based on the facts provided by each witness, the verdict of this trial should be: Not guilty. The following witnesses that prove Tom Robinson’s innocence are Mr. Heck Tate, Mayella Ewell, and Bob Ewell. The Evidence from Mr.Tate’s testimony contradicts with Reverend Sykes’ inside story. When Mr. Tate was elaborating on Mayella’s bruises, he mentioned: “there were definite finger marks on her gullet” (226) and “were all around” (226) her neck.
Jem was not happy about Tom losing his trial, he was the first one to cry about the loss and then sniffled, “It is not right Atticus.” Jem also grew in strength and bravery, this is shown when Bob Ewell attacks Jem and Scout, and Jem was willing to fight Bob in order to protect Scout from his knife. He is also not afraid to stand up for his family, and Tom when people are tearing them down. Jem develops from a stubborn, curious child to a mature, brave, and knowledgeable teen throughout the book, all because he made the right
Writers can’t help but be influenced by the events and people that they see around them. This is because they can communicate their feelings and/or beliefs about the world around them through characters, setting, and the scale of events in a given text. The influence becomes a part of the work that they write because, like a limb, a writer’s story is a part of them – their mind and imagination. This is clearly portrayed in To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) by Harper Lee, who has made extensive use of a microcosm within her characterisations to thoroughly explore a wide range of societal issues. Within TKAM, the essence of the Deep South in the 1930’s is explored through the experiences of a girl named Scout.
He gets very upset about things he thinks should have a certain outcome, but doesn’t because he learns that life isn’t fair. This is shown on page 284 when Jem starts crying after the court trial. He thought it was very unfair that Tom didn’t win because everyone knew he was innocent, but Jem doesn’t understand that Maycomb is a racist town and Tom never stood a chance. This is an example of symbolism because the tears symbolize his innocence, and this shows us how Jem still had his innocence and becomes wiser when he realizes that Tom was never going to win. The choice of Jem being like this makes this story much better because it gives us another example of how losing your innocence gives you more knowledge.
After hours of waiting, the jury came back in. Scout explains how “A jury never looks at the defendant if it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson… Judge Taylor was polling the jury; ‘ Guilty...Guilty...Guilty’”(211) When Scout and Jem hear the verdict, they are distraught. As they were walking home, “It was Jem’s turn to cry.. ‘It’s not right, Atticus’”(212)
Jem's realization that the outcome of the trial
Jem is obviously upset about the outcome of the case. For one, Jem has grown up seeing his father work as a lawyer for many people in many cases, just not like this one. So when Atticus lies it all out there and Jem is satisfied with his father’s work, he does not even really consider the idea that his father would lose this. But when the jury displays its’ biased opinion Jem’s world is flipped upside
In the small town of Maycomb, a little girl named Scout believe that everyone was good, until she figured out that the town wasn't as innocent as she thought. The town seems like a nice and quiet place to live. it's very small and everyone throughout the community know each other very well. News travels fast And so does gossip. word got out that a man by the name of Tom Robinson, assaulted a woman and ran from the scene.
Jem, a young and smart boy develops and matures through many unique situations in the novel. Jem is exposed to the harsh belief, judgement and circumstances of the court at a very young age. Following his father, Jem involves himself in the trial between Tom Robinson and Mayella Ewell yet takes Tom’s side due to his father's involvement. Jem slowly loses faith in the justice system and is faced with a loss of innocence as explained by Scout“It was Jem’s turn to cry. His face was streaked with angry tears as we made our way through the cheerful crowd.
Children are very impressionable people. Almost everything around them changes them in some way. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main characters, Scout and Jem, start out as little kids who spend their days making up stories and playing sill games. Then their dad, who is a lawyer, takes on a case defending a black man who has been charged with rape. Since they live in Alabama, The whole family has to absorb some pretty ugly things, which forces Scout and Jem to grow up quickly, and it gives them a different and more mature view of the world.
After Tom Robinson’s verdict was guilty, Jem started to throw a fit because he knew that everyone knew Tom was innocent but didn’t understand that white men basically always won in court. He realized with his age that everyone says people are equal but that’s false. Through Jem’s life lesson, he loses his innocence by him seeing the world for how it truly is and not a perfect as he thought it was when he was a kid. This loss of innocence shows coming of age as Jem is now aware of the world around.
Knowing this, Jem concludes that the Maycomb County justice system needs unbiased people to join the jury. Here, Atticus is telling Jem that if he were on the jury, the outcome would have been different, “‘If you had been on that jury, son, and eleven other boys like you, Tom would be a free man. ’”(294) This shows that even Atticus, a lawyer, agrees with Jem that the justice system is wrong. With Atticus agreeing with him it shows that Jem is saying intelligent things and that he is not saying things that are random and
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about two kids, Jem and Scout, and their childhood in their small town Maycomb, Alabama. In the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout were two innocent kids playing in the summer sun, until school came along. Jem was about twelve throughout the novel and Scout was eight, and considering that Jem was twelve in the novel, he was changing. During the middle of the novel a rape trial occurred, which included a black man being accused by a white woman of first-degree rape. Atticus, the kid’s father was defending the african american man; Tom Robinson.
Though many people think that emotion helps make rational resolutions, often times it hurts one’s ability to do so. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout, the protagonist, and her family discover the need for logic when her father takes an important court case. Sadly, most of the people of Maycomb in the 1930s became corrupt because they do not use rationality in their lives. Throughout the novel, Scout and the reader both learn that one should not let their emotions rule their reason when making decisions. Even before the court case began, Scout learns about the recurring theme of logic being more effective than her feelings when forming opinions of others and in communicating.