Indirect Characterization In To Kill A Mockingbird

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“Lawyers, I suppose, were children once” (Charles Lamb). To Kill a Mockingbird features a 10 year old boy, Jem, who matures because of his experiences throughout the book. Jem lives in the early 1930s in Maycomb County, Alabama. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses indirect characterization to reveal that coming of age gives you a deeper understanding of society’s intolerances and expectations.
In the beginning of the novel, Jem is innocent. He does not even fully understand the teacher’s method of teaching when he tells Scout that he’s “just trying to tell you the new way they’re teachin’ the first grade, stubborn. It’s the Dewey Decimal System” (Lee 24). Jem’s use of “stubborn” is meant to give him power over Scout. He thinks that he is mature and understands the world, when he is far from that. Jem also pretends to be Boo Radley. When Scout tells her story, she looks back on Jem as having a head that “at times was transparent: he had thought that up to make me understand he was not afraid of Radleys in any shape or form, to contrast his own fearless heroism with my cowardice” (51). Jem again tries to get power over Scout by acting as though …show more content…
Calpurnia, aunt Alexandra, and Atticus all do not want him there, but being exposed to rape and racism can be an important life lesson. Jem is twelve years old at this point, and he is old enough to understand real world problems. Jem is deeply upset by the outcome of the trial, and scout even says that “It was Jem’s turn to cry” (285). Jem crying shows that he has given up his childish fake bravery, and now is able to maturely express his emotions over real problems, instead of childish rage.
Jem is able to go from an innocent boy in chapter one to someone who is mature and able to understand society throughout the novel. Society’s actions are something all children should learn to understand, so that they can better react to their
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