Jem in "To Kill a Mockingbird" Quiz

Answer: He was not upset once he knew it wouldn't affect him playing football

It is only at the end of the book that the author tells us exactly how the injury to Jem came about. If you read the story for the second time, knowing what is going to happen, you realise that Jem seems to have inherited his father's level-headed approach to most things in life.

Answer: He would sigh and then go off and play by himself for a while

Jem is not really that demonstrative in his character. His reaction to the memory of his mother is muted. It is not really something that he can share directly with Scout, for she was too young to know her mother at all. On the other hand, Scout seems to have a sympathetic understanding of Jem's need to be by himself.

Answer: He told Scout to hush when she questions Dill about his missing father

Jem understands that Dill doesn't want to be questioned about his father. He realises that death isn't the only thing that can split up a family.

Answer: Miss Stephanie Crawford

Miss Stephanie is an inveterate gossip. She takes delight in all the melodramatic details of the Radley story. It is only later that Scout and Jem understand that her version of events is not always to be trusted.

Answer: Dill dares him to and Jem is too proud to run out on a dare

Scout comments that Jem had never declined a dare in his life. He also feels that he has to uphold the honour of Maycomb people and of the Finch family. It takes Dill three days to wear him down so that he gives in to the dare.

Answer: He tells her to stop and invites Walter home to dinner

Jem tells Scout quite reasonably that she is bigger than Walter. He then points out to Walter that Atticus and Walter's daddy are friends. He also points out that Scout won't attack him any more, and this proves to be the truth.

Answer: She believed that nothing could ever stop Jem from getting the books he wanted

Scout was suffering from the fact that Maycomb County appears to have revised its educational system just as she started school. She considers that Jem was educated on a half "Duncecap" and half "Dewey Decimal System" basis and that nothing could ever crush his spirit for learning. She felt that she was on a treadmill.

Answer: He told her to spit them out right away

Jem tries to enforce the general rule that you don't just eat the things that you find. Later he worries because the gum came out of a tree on the Radley lot. He even uses the threat of Calpurnia in order to get Scout to obey him. This is unusual because they mostly settle their differences between themselves.

Answer: He decided to wait until school starts and ask everybody who they belong to

Jem is both careful and honest over the business of the pennies and the other objects he finds in the knot-hole of the tree. He tries to explain to Scout that someone has taken a good deal of care over some of the objects.

Answer: He was offended with Scout for contradicting him over "Hot Steams"

Jem had told the creepy story of "Hot Steams" and mentioned the rhyme that you need to say to protect yourself from them. Scout declared that Calpurnia said it was "nigger-talk" and that Dill shouldn't believe a word Jem said. However, though annoyed, it is pretty certain that Jem never meant his sister to go into the Radley lot.

Answer: her scissors

He needed to the scissors in order to play out the scene in which Boo is reputed to have attacked his father. One day Atticus catches them in the middle of the game and takes the scissors from Jem.

Answer: a fishing pole

All three children get involved in the plot to deliver the letter, and once again Atticus catches them and understands immediately what has been happening.

Answer: If Boo Radley killed them they would miss school instead of vacation

Jem and Dill believed that it was easier to see inside a dark house in the night-time than it was in the daytime. They also knew that Atticus would be so deep in a book he would not notice anything.

Answer: girl

It is not until much later in the book that Scout realises that there is a special kind of skill in becoming a "lady". She wants to play with the boys and she wants to dress like a boy. Thus she is always upset when Jem says she is becoming more and more like a "girl". It seems like an offence to her pride.

Answer: He doesn't want to give Atticus a reason for "whipping" him

Jem realises that what he did that night was wrong and he doesn't want Atticus to have to punish him. It isn't that he fears the pain; he just doesn't want to lose respect in Atticus's eyes. Scout comments that this is when Jem and she first began to "part company" or to look at the world in different ways.

Answer: He got fascinated by the Egyptians and adopted a funny walk

Scout's education is constantly presented as year after year of boredom. She describes the second grade as "grim". Jem's temperament is different and he develops enthusiasms that he enjoys for a while.

Answer: He stays out on the porch for a long while and Scout knows he has cried

Jem is careful to use his father to verify that the tree didn't really need to be patched. He has understood that any attempt by Boo to contact the children will be frustrated by his brother.

Answer: That Atticus' skill was not as important as his modesty about it

Jem is proud of the fact that his father is a dead-shot, but he understands that it is more important that Atticus never ever tries to boast about this talent. He admires his father more for his modesty than for his skill. At the time of the incident Scout does not take this in, but in her narration the reader is made aware of it.

Answer: twelve

Having previously accused Scout of being a "girl" in order to make her do what he wanted, he now starts demanding that she now should behave more like a girl. He becomes very moody and shows an alarming increase in appetite.

Answer: When he told Atticus about Dill and his running away

Dill has run away from home and not told his mother nor his new father where he has gone. Jem is now old enough to understand just how much the grown-ups will be worried. Scout feels that Jem is a traitor when he informs Atticus of the true situation.

Answer: His stays in his room and reads football magazines

The real world has become more compelling for Jem and he starts to get frightened by the onset on the trial. No longer is he content to live in the world of his imagination with the games he played with Scout and Dill.

Answer: He is confident that Atticus has won the case

Jem is convinced that the jury must see the truth after the way in which Atticus has conducted the case. It is plain to the eyes of a child that Mayella and her father were lying and that Tom Robinson was telling the truth. He has yet to see the depths to which the influence of racism can take the town of Maycomb.

Answer: His shoulders jerked as though he were being stabbed by each "guilty" declaration

Scout also tells us that Jem's hands were white from gripping the rail in front of him. One verdict of guilty is bad enough, but the process of polling the jury means that Jem reacts to the same word over and over again.

Answer: He unbuttoned his shirt to show her his new body hair

Jem tries to explain things to Scout in the way that Atticus used to do. He considers that his father has enough troubles on his mind without Scout causing friction with Aunt Alexandra.

Answer: He noticed that the ground felt cooler

It is yet another example of Jem noticing things and storing up experiences so that he can deal with the world. Scout learns from her brother and repeats the story to Heck Tate later after the dreadful attack by Bob Ewell.