In Chapter 15, Scout, Dill, and Jem venture
downtown--without anyone's permission--to find out where Atticus is and what he's
doing. When they realize that Atticus is sitting outside outside of Tom Robinson's
cell, they decide that they should return home. Before they are able to leave, though,
a caravan of cars pulls up to the jail and men dressed in heavy clothing (despite the
fact that it is a hot summer night) get out and confront Atticus. When it seems that
there might be trouble, the children break through the mob and run to
Atticus.
Atticus immediately orders Jem to go home, and to
take Scout and Dill home with him. In his first act of defiance, though, Jem refuses.
Interestingly, Scout notices a resemblance between Jem and her father, and notes that
though their physical features differ, "mutual defiance made them alike"
(152).
Jem continues to refuse to leave the jail, as he is
old enough, and mature enough, to recognize that his decision to stay will probably
prevent the mob from causing Atticus harm and harming--or even killing--Tom
Robinson.
In chapters 12-14, we begin to see Jem's
maturation process; at this point in the novel, he is 12 years old, and he is beginning
to act more like an adult. Though Jem takes a risk by openly defying his father, he
realizes that the consequences of his defiance are much less severe than the
consequences of leaving would be.
Though Scout is too
young to fully understand the situation, it is her innocence, not Jem's defiance, that
ultimately makes the mob, led by Water Cunningham, leave. At the end of the chapter,
the naive Scout observes, "I assumed that Atticus was giving [Jem] hell for not going
home, but I was wrong. As they passed under a streetlight, Atticus reached out and
massaged Jem's hair, his one gesture of affection" (155). Obviously, Atticus is proud
of Jem for doing what he believed was the right thing--even though it was
difficult.
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