Jem prides himself on being brave and athletic. But he is frustrated that Atticus is too old to play football and show more athleticism. Atticus is his father, someone he looks up to. So, initially, this is a challenge to Jem. How can Atticus be a hero to him in this way? In Chapter 10, he witnesses Atticus killing a rabid dog. And this one moment of action redeems Atticus in Jem's eyes. He admires...
Jem prides himself on being brave and athletic. But he is frustrated that Atticus is too old to play football and show more athleticism. Atticus is his father, someone he looks up to. So, initially, this is a challenge to Jem. How can Atticus be a hero to him in this way? In Chapter 10, he witnesses Atticus killing a rabid dog. And this one moment of action redeems Atticus in Jem's eyes. He admires Atticus' skill but also develops a new understanding of what a gentleman is: one who doesn't brag.
Jem is profoundly affected by the guilty verdict in Tom's trial. In the wake of the trial, Jem's notions of fairness and justice are challenged. It takes a long talk with Atticus to make him understand how a jury could be so willfully unjust. In Chapter 23, Atticus tells Jem that if the jury had been made up of twelve boys like him, Tom would be free. Atticus then explains how twelve reasonable men can let racism interfere with that reason.
The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.
In this novel, Jem is maturing and that in itself is a challenge to his identity simply because he is changing. So, while Jem experiences revelations in the social world of Maycomb, he is also going through personal changes as he becomes a young man.
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