the beginning of the story, Jem is a naive, enthusiastic child with a wild imagination. He subscribes to the unflattering rumors and legends surrounding Boo Radley and proceeds to give Scout a fanciful description of their reclusive neighbor. Jem becomes fascinated with Boo Radley and creates several schemes to communicate and get a look at him. He leads a raid into the Radley yard and attempts to leave a note on his window sill using a fishing pool. Jem also spends his leisure time playing the Boo Radley game with Dill and is perplexed when he begins finding small gifts in the knothole of the Radley tree.
As the novel progresses, Jem hits puberty and begins spending more time with Dill. He excludes Scout from most of their activities and begins arguing with his sister more often. Scout mentions that Jem develops a "madden superiority" complex and ends up getting into a physical altercation with him in chapter 14.
Towards the beginning of part two, Jem begins to mature and demonstrates...