Jem is four years older than Scout. At the beginning of the book she is just five years old and he is nine. Not only is Jem her big brother, but they are really best friends in many ways. They are very close and as a result, Scout relies on Jem for many things, including helping her to understand the world.
As the book progresses, Jem begins to enter puberty and this marks his transition...
Jem is four years older than Scout. At the beginning of the book she is just five years old and he is nine. Not only is Jem her big brother, but they are really best friends in many ways. They are very close and as a result, Scout relies on Jem for many things, including helping her to understand the world.
As the book progresses, Jem begins to enter puberty and this marks his transition to manhood. He is maturing both physically and emotionally in ways that Scout is not yet. This means he is able to see more of an adult's perspective of Maycomb and the trial than Scout is able to, simply as a result of being a little older and more mature.
Harper Lee uses their relationship to show both a completely innocent and confused view of the world (Scout) and a slightly more mature view that is still confused at times (Jem). Their relationship helps to show how Harper Lee's own views of her world might have changed as she grew into Jem's age. By writing two young characters with ages four years apart she is able to capture and describe complete innocence and loss of innocence at the same time.
Scout is constantly trying to figure out the behavior of her fellow townspeople, and Jem already understands much (but not all) of their behavior. He understands what racism is better than Scout, for example. So by sharing both of their perspectives, we see Harper Lee also has both views. She wants to have an innocent view of the people of Maycomb like Scout does, and yet she really does know better, like Jem.
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