In the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird Jem sees his father Atticus as different and lazy/boring compared to the other fathers in Maycomb. Jem’s psychological evolution on Atticus happens when gives his closing speech to the jury. After this Atticus changes to realizing he had been wrong on who Atticus was as a father. Jem’s father was actually courageous and deserved recognition. To Kill a Mockingbird is Jem’s bildungsroman because his outlook on Atticus goes from weak and embarrassing to strong and admirable.
At first Jem’s philosophy on Atticus is that Atticus is unalike to the other fathers and Atticus didn’t do work to get praise from the people of Maycomb. “..or do anything that could possibly arouse the admiration of anyone” (Lee …show more content…
“...start thinking, Jem. Did it ever strike you that Judge Taylor naming Atticus to defend that boy was no accident?...had his reasons for naming him”(Lee 289)? “Atticus Finch won’t win, he can’t win but he’s the only man in these parts who can keep a jury out so long on a case like that”(Lee 289). With Miss Maudie telling Jem all this and making Jem think hard about the choice of Judge Taylor, Jem starts to delete all the the negative views he had on his father. As To Kill a Mockingbird is coming to an end, Jem has witnessed the hardships Atticus has been through. Jem sees Atticus was admired by many people in Maycomb. Jem’s mind went from caring about admiration for other boys to caring about and learning that adults such as Miss Maudie and Judge Taylor all admire Atticus as lawyer/person. Judge Taylor demonstrates that he truly believes in as to prove a point to the jury. Miss Maudie as well strongly agrees with Judge Taylor’s decision of Atticus as defender of Tom Robinson because she advocates that Atticus was the only man in Maycomb that could make the jury really think. Jem now came to the realization that Atticus wasn’t lazy/boring, Atticus is a respected and talented