Jem

Jem

• Jem is Scout's older, brother, nearly 10 years old at the start of the novel and nearly 13 at the end, just entering puberty.
• He is close to Scout: he is her constant companion at home. Although as he gets older he becomes positively allergic to Scout in public and spends more time with a football team than Scout, he always looks out for her and protects her.
• He loves and admires his father, which is one of the reasons why he was so furious with Mrs Dubose and beheaded all her camellias.
• He sees himself as brave and casts himself in the hero role in their games. Although, like other children, he is scared of passing the Radleys' house, he proves genuine bravery when he goes back to the Radley's place for his trousers after having been shot at, and when he and Scout are attacked by Mr Ewell on Halloween.
• He is intelligent and quick-thinking: he is the first to spot the mad dog and tell Calpurnia, who raised the alarm; he creates a snowman out of earth covered in snow; he knows that the ground is cooler under a tree as he leads Scout to and from the school pageant.
• Scout describes him as having "a naturally tranquil disposition and a slow fuse".
• He is more mature than Scout and so has a better grasp of the trial. He is convinced of victory and so his faith in the justice system and in human nature is shaken when Tom is pronounced guilty. Scout says "his shoulders jerked as if each 'guilty' was a separate stab between them".
• Jem's broken arm is the first thing that we hear about in the novel. This creates suspense - we want to find out how it happened, but we are not told until almost the end.