Tkm Coming of Age

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To Kill a Mockingbird Coming of age is well-known, and experienced through religion, maturity, and society. This process is a good thing yet a bad thing. It can signify growing up into a mature adult or losing someone or something that is close to you. Unfortunately but fortunately, it can also signify a person’s loss of innocence. In To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee revealed a theme that everyone experiences which is well-known as, coming of age. Lee reveals this process through Jem and Scout. Jem is a prime example of coming of age. His experience of losing his innocence comes relatively early in the book. He changes when he learns about Mrs. Dubois and her bad addiction to morphine. One can directed to believe that Jem would be more inclined to read to her to help her to stay clean. He loses his innocence when Mrs. Duboise dies and he never gets to really apologize for his actions. After this loss of innocence, he has another realization that life is unfair and it is not fun and games because of the verdict in the Tom Robinson case. He also realizes the mere fact of why Boo Radley never liked coming out the house which shows his intellectual maturity of realizing that the world is not that great. Jem says “If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time. It's because he wants to stay inside." (Lee 259). Jem looks up to his dad Atticus and is trying to be more like him and he takes on some of his morals. He also take a parental role in the lives of Scout and Dill. He teaches Dill how to swim. He also shows signs of becoming more like Atticus when Scout says before the pageant that Jem can comfort any one just

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