Everyone has friends who have acted out of character, who have said or done something that is not like them. When such a person is not acting like himself, we know him and how he or she should behave. A Mockingbird, for instance, defines a creature that does not do any harm or cause pain but gives pleasure, hence Jem’s character. In contrast to other mockingbirds of the story such as Boo Radley and Tom Robinson, Jem takes more time to mature to be a Mockingbird. He grows up in a society full of inequality and unfairness, but he matures through the novel because of the experiences he went through. This paper considers Jem’s psychology as well as the psychological concepts that define his character, including emotional intelligence, behavioral modification, and authenticity among other concepts.
Scout Finch, Jem’s sister and daughter to Atticus narrate the To Kill a Mockingbird. She starts to explain the situations that lead to Jem’s arm broken; she recounts her family history. Their ancestor Simon Finch, a successful farmer in the bank of River Alabama, fled England from religious perceptions. Atticus was the first person in their family to make a living outside farming. Atticus becomes a successful lawyer in Maycomb, a poor, tired, old city that is in the grips of great depression (Smith). The family lives on Maycomb’s residential street together with their cook, Calpurnia. Atticus’ wife passed away when Scout was two. By then, Jem was four years older than Scout and has memories of their mother, a condition that makes him unhappy many times.
To the consternation of the racist Caucasian community in Maycomb, Atticus defends a man of colour called Tom Robinson, who is suspected of raping a Caucasian woman. “Lemme tell you somethin’ now, Billy,” a third said, “You know the court appointed him to defend this nigger.” (p.44).
Atticus decision subjects Scout and Jem to abuse from the community even during Christmas celebration at Finch’s landing family compound. “Not only will you grow up to be nothing, but your father is defending a nigger! (p.27). Their cook, Calpurnia, takes them to a local church, a place where the close-knit and warm community largely embraces the children.
At his puberty, Jem slowly develops the intuition of comprehending many situations that his family face. He wants to be viewed as an adult and aspires people to be confident. “In all his life, Jem has never declined a dare” (p14). When Miss. Maudie’s house catches fire, Jem sees the men of Maycomb pulling out furniture. While pulling out Miss Maudie’s furniture, they were risking their lives. Their bravery is small and can go untouched despite it changed the way Jem viewed a small act of courage and the community at large. When he accidentally forgets his trousers on Radley’s porch, he goes back on the same day to collect them, and his sister is worried that he might get killed and advises him that it's better for him to get punished than going back. Jem defends his decision by saying that his father whipped him as long as he can remember and he would like to keep it away.
Psychology of Jem
At the commencement of the summer, Jem is a youngster who enjoys exploring and satisfying his curiosity about Radley’s solitude. He makes up fake stories about him and plays games to back up his stories, but slowly he starts to realize that he is not the beast that Scout and Dill made him be in their summer games. When his father loses a trial, Jem is hurt and loses trust in the goodness of the law. As he continues to grow, he protects his sister as he takes her to school performance, holds her hand during the nights, and fights for her safety. In the end, he becomes a man ready to undertake some of his father’s responsibilities.
Jem leaves his childhood (which he shared with scout and Dill) and becomes a young mature man. In the beginning, Jem was a playful and outgoing youngster, together with his sister and Dill, they played and participated in various unreasonable dares. At some point, they came up with a snowman and took part in role-playing. He fears his father’s anger when he sneaks into Boo’s property. When the trial failed, he lost his signs of innocence. Through him, the inhuman nature of Maycomb’s society is exposed. Unlike Scout, when his father shoots the ‘mad dog,’ he does not want to spread the incident to everybody. He makes some comments that point out him desiring to be a man like Atticus.
Behaviour Modification
Behavioral change or modification is the belief that people can change their behavior and actions as long as they are provided with the environment to do so, it mainly focuses on stopping negative behavior. At the beginning of the book, Jem constantly argues with Scout and commands her around. They have a normal brother-sister relationship, but due to Jem’s bossing behavior they always argue. “There are things you don’t understand,” he said, and I was too weary to argue (p.74), Scout narrates. Despite this Jem still cares about his sister and spends time with her. Scout admires his brother, and she believes in his words according to Boo Radley. As Jem grows up, he becomes more distant from her sister and spends more time with Dill instead (Bolan 27). Scout dislikes that Jem spends more time with Dill and this forces her to spend time with Miss Maudie. While Jem matures, he becomes authoritative to Scout and views her as an ignorant child. Jem regards that he knows more than Scout and tries to treat her like she is weak. Although he is growing, he still reasons like a child. This is seen in the way that he treats his sister.
Jem partakes the normal growth of a person; from being a child with childlike behaviors to becoming an adult who can make decisions and can reason. He is authentic and real. As explained earlier in the text, Jem used to play with Dill and Scout, and engage in foolish and childish activities like an ordinary child. However, after the Tom Robinson trial, Jem loses his innocence and infancy and begins to have compassion for others. He becomes a lot more understanding and views himself as a protector and guider for her little sister; he becomes more of his father, a morally-upright individual, he gives her sister a feeling of warmth when she gets upset and comforts her. Jem stops Scout from getting into an argument with Aunt Alexandra and also attempts to explain the Maycomb’s trial to Scout. He volunteers to walk Scout to the Halloween festival; he protects her from Bob Ewell attack.
“Mr. Finch, do you think Jem killed Bob Ewell? Do you think that?” “You heard what Scout said, there’s no doubt about it. She said Jem got up and yanked him off her—he probably got hold of Ewell’s knife somehow in the dark… we’ll find out tomorrow.” (p.96).
The more Jem matures, he treats Scout better and exercises compassion towards Scout; this displays his maturity and progress as a young man.
Another climatic scene where the audience observes a change of Jen’s attitude from childhood to adulthood includes the scene at Radley house and Mrs. Dubose’s definition of courage. He dared to touch Radley house, a death sentence. Contrary to his actions, he would have risked his bravery actions. To his audience, bravery is showing physical strength. He ruins Mrs. Dubose’s garden when she insulted his father.
“A lady?” Jem raised his head. His face was scarlet. “After all those things she said about you, a lady?” (p.41)
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence also referred to as empathy, is the ability to know one's emotions and manage your own emotions and that of others. It involves three skills, awareness to one's emotions, ability to apply them to tasks such as solving problems and critical thinking as well as the ability to manage the emotions by elevating the good emotions or rather not allowing the negative emotions take over. Jem understands the situation of other characters and what they might be thinking as well or how they may act. He understands the pain that Walter and his family go through every day.
In a display of anger, Jem smashes Mrs. Dubose’s flowers, which he later had to compensate for by reading to her. Scout had to follow along for moral support. After her death from addiction, Jem felt empathy for her suffering and desired that she died happy and free although he hated almost everything about her. The empathy impacted on them by Mrs. Dubose and Walter Cunningham allows both Jem and Scout to grow maturely, it enables Jem to grow in an Atticus-like way.
Authenticity
Later when the trials fail, he is disappointed in the judicial systems and loses his innocence through wanting to fight the justice system.
`Atticus—' said Jem bleakly.
He turned the door way. `What, son?'
`How could they do it, how could they?' (p.76)
He is not afraid of his thoughts being heard and believes in the decision he makes whether they are unpopular or not provided they are right. He changes his social circle as he grows older and more maturely; this is seen when he spends less time with his naïve sister, he asks Dill to let her mother know where he is after running away from home. He becomes more mature (being able to act, think and speak your feelings concerning dignity) and can take part in the society’s activities, through interaction with racial discrimination of Maycomb, he is aware of what his society is like and builds a strong personality to overcome the barriers placed in the society. “I ain’t never seen any jury decide in favuor of a coloured man over a white man…” (p.72)
He fences at night, and his father’s opinions are of significance. As a mature young adult, he begins to prioritize values. When Dill run away from home, he ends up in Scout’s bedroom. Dill’s actions force him to say that he should tell her mother that she is in Scout’s place.
He goes ahead and tells his father about the whole narrative despite the consequences. Even though Dill finds him a trustworthy individual, Jem was willing to do what was right and acceptable. “You oughta let your mother know you are here” (Lee 76). When the trial flops, he becomes angry and disappointed by the peoples and justice system’s inadequacy to administer justice; he vows to take down the entire judicial system. Jem continues to act maturely through the rest of the book, and at a different time he acts more of an adult and stands up for his sister and protects his father.
Atticus reassures Scout that Jem desires time to meditate on what he has learned. Jem is a representation of bravery in the novel. The presence of Atticus, Jem’s father, also plays a very crucial role in Jem’s life. He learns about bravery from Atticus’ encounter with the ‘mad dog,’ where he saves the neighborhood by shooting Tim Johnson, the rabid dog (Parks). He adamantly wants to emulate his father as well as intends to follow him to study law. He would rather incur injuries than displease his father. He takes on to pursue what is moral even when his choice is not agreed on by the mainstream.
Conclusion
Jem plays a very important role in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird; he is an interesting character to look into while examining the psychology of characters. He is a representation of growth, bravery, courage, and idealism through his actions and decisions in the book. He is a likable person as depicted by his sister who found him appealing. His true character takes shape when he stands up to his father. Through his father’s demonstration throughout the trial, Jem can stand up to what is moral and what he believes in thus a sense of maturity and responsibility (Boland). The two qualities have developed from adolescence to a mature adult. Behavior can thus be developed with the help of the environment as well as other people who surround an individual. However, he has contrasting characters that may seem immoral to society.
Besides, maturity defines the ability to think, act, and speak within the boundaries of dignity. An individuals maturity can be measured by he or she becomes spiritual in the midst of frustrations. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem takes part in the community, trial, and friendship risks (Bloom). He fights for what he knows is right and defend his friends. Through his interaction with Maycomb’s racism, he gains knowledge about his surroundings. It takes a strong individual to overcome the barriers of society.
Works Cited
Bloom, Harold. "Action Record - Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird." Gcc.On.Worldcat.Org, 2007, https://gcc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/70232276. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
Lee, Harper. "Action Record - To Kill A Mockingbird." Gcc.On.Worldcat.Org, 2010, https://gcc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/456180368. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
Boland, John. “Mocking Bird Sequel Very Much a Product of Its Time.” Belfast Telegraph, vol. 26, 2015, https://gcc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5862537510. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
Katz, Claudia Anne, and Sue Ann Kuby. “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Book Links, vol. 10, no. 5, 2001, https://gcc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5246007258. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
Lee, Danny. “A Drama with Enduring Appeal.” The Times, vol. 10, 2004, https://gcc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5469804155. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
Parks, Andy. “The Second Coming of Harper Lee.” The Northern Star, vol. 6, 2015, https://gcc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5731525332. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
Smith, Ross A. “Harper Lee Opened My Eyes to Racism.” The Ottawa Citizen, vol. A15, 2005, https://gcc.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5356755294. Accessed 6 Dec 2018.
