How Does Lee Present Jem's Death In To Kill A Mockingbird

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One night Atticus goes to the Maycomb jail to check on Tom Robinson as he heard about a lynching that was going to occur from a mob. Atticus ends up leaving the house in the dark to go deal with what is happening at the jail and Jem is determined to go to protect his father. His sister, Scout, tags along and when they reach the jail they find a mob out front surrounding Atticus. Jem and Scout race to help their father and Atticus tells Jem to go home. Lee narrates, “Jem shook his head. As Atticus’s fist went to his hips, so did Jem’s, and as they faced each other I could see little resemblance between them: Jem’s soft brown hair and eyes, his oval face and snug-fitting ears were our mother’s, contrasting oddly with Atticus’s graying black hair and square-cut features, but they were somehow alike …show more content…
Mutual defiance made them alike” (Lee, 203). In this instance Jem is showing a characteristic of courage and determination to protect his father. Even though his father tells him to leave the area he decides to stay and fulfill his task. In this instance Jem shows how courageous he is as he decides to put himself in harm’s way to protect his dad, where others would run or not show up. Jem goes into the armed mob and protects his father even though he himself could be harmed. Thus, through his courage he ends up preventing the mob from hurting his father with the help of his sister. Next, Jem and Scout discover a roly poly-bug in their house. Scout wants to kill the bug. Jem instantly yells at Scout not to kill the bug. Scout states, “Why couldn’t I mash him?” I asked and Jem replies, “Because they don’t bother you,” Jem answered in the darkness. He turned out his reading light” (320). In this scene Jem has matured and understood the lesson on never killing an mockingbird. In this case he teaches his sister not to kill the roly-poly as the bug has never done anything to her. This relates to the killing of an innocent bird that Atticus was teaching the children
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