Harper Lee′s portrayal of Jem’s naive, childlike personality is shown in many instances throughout the novel. One scene in the novel that perfectly captures Jem’s naivety, is when Dill dares Jem to go and touch the Radley house. Jem is stalling and fearful because of the imaginative thoughts running through his head about the house. “I’m going,” said Jem, “don′t hurry me.” (Lee 18), Jem states as he imagines various scenarios. Jem overthinks when “He walked to the corner of the lot, then back again studying the simple terrain as if deciding how best to effect entry”(Lee 18). His naive imaginations take over and cause fear to settle in him. Jem’s actions show the kids and us readers, how he truly thinks. One other scene in the novel that perfectly illustrates the naivety of Jem is when Jem finally realizes how messed up the world is by how the jurors call Tom Robinson guilty. He realizes that even with magnificent evidence, racism wins the vote. The words “Guilty…Guilty… Guilty…Guilty”(Lee 282) ring through Jem′s ears and he reacts by “his hands were white from gripping the balcony rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each guilty was a separate stab between them”(Lee 282). He faces reality’s harshness through truth and essentially loses a part of himself while trying to cope. The author writes Jem’s character with such naivety and youngness while revealing a side of him we can relate to.
