Jem and Scout at the Trial

In the reading in class we have just started to get into the case in chief. During this stage we will hear from the witness and they will testify. The first person we hear from is Heck Tate the sheriff. While reading we find out that Mr. Gilmer is the lawyer for the prosecution. The person I will talk about in this chapter is Jem. In this chapter we don’t hear a lot from Jem but I feel like his actions show a lot about himself and Scout. During the beginning and middle of Tate’s testimony Scout tries to get Jem’s attention but she gets a harsh shh from Jem.

This goes to show how attentive Jem is. It goes to show again how much Jem respects his father even if he broke the rule of going to the trail. I think that Jem is so attentive to the trail because of all of the hardships they have gone through because of it. People have disrespected Atticus and the rest of his family and even Atticus’s own family members think bad of Atticus. Now the day has come where Atticus has the chance to prove everyone wrong and end all of the hatred in people's mind. Another part of the reading that shows how Scout and Jem have changed is when Reverend Sykes tells Jem to take Scout and Dill home after Bob Ewell points out Tom and makes a scene. Jem responds by saying no and that Scout doesn’t understand any ways. Scout then says that she does and can understand anything that Jem can understand.

I took this in two ways. Scout is either saying that she is not stupid and making fun of Jem and, or she is saying that she really does understand what is going on and wants to stay. I think that Scout really does know what is going on and wants to stay. With all of the things that have happened in the year because Atticus took in the trail Scout has lost some of her childhood innocence and realizes why Tom is being accused and why Atticus will most likely to win the trail. I don’t think that it is sad that Scout and Jem have lost some of their childhood innocence. Every child loses some of their childhood innocence it is a normal part of life. I just think that the ways they have lost it makes the situation bad. Jem and Scout have lost their innocence so suddenly and they way it was lost gave them a lot of mentally pain. This has mostly affected Scout because of her age and not understanding the things that happen in society.