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What information is significant to Jem in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

The day after the trial, in Chapter 22 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Maudie gives Jem and the other two children of information that helps him see the trial and its outcome a bit more optimistically.

The day after the trial, Miss Maudie invites the children over for cake with the hopes of raising their spirits. One thing she explains to Jem is that Atticus is one of those men in this world "who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us," meaning to be the ones who take a stand and challenge society when no one else will. Jem's placid response of "Oh,  ... well" shows us that one reason why he feels gloomy the day after the trial is because he feels humiliated by his father's defeat, especially because he knows his father and Tom Robinson justly deserved to win. When Jem expresses his other reason for feeling gloomy, which is that witnessing the people's prejudices during the trial has awakened him to realizing Maycomb is not really "full of the best folks in the world" as has grown up believing, Miss Maudie further explains more information to give many of the people of Maycomb a more positive light.

One thing she explains is that there were actually many people in Maycomb who strove to help Robinson including the African American population, Judge Taylor, and Sheriff Heck Tate. The most revelatory information she gives Jem and the other children comes in the form of questions she poses:



Did it ever strike you that Judge Taylor naming Atticus to defend that boy was no accident? That Judge Taylor might have had his reasons for naming him? (Ch. 22)



Scout is the first one to realize the full importance of the meaning behind Miss Maudie's rhetorical questions. Scout realized that cases of Robinson's nature would have automatically gone to Maxwell Green because he is the youngest lawyer in town and, since he needs the experience, he is automatically the first lawyer to be given a case that he's guaranteed to lose. Hence, both Scout and Jem realize that Judge Taylor's decision to appoint Atticus was Judge Taylor's attempt to give Robinson a fairer trial than he would otherwise get, Judge Taylor's attempt to help Robinson.

Miss Maudie drives the point home by saying that, as she waited for the Finches to come home after the trial, she thought to herself, "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 in a case like that." She further thought to herself, "[W]e're making a step--it's a baby-step, but it's a step," towards a more just society.

Hence, Miss Maudie informs Jem that there are people in Maycomb other than Atticus who care about justice and who care about people like Tom Robinson. She further informs him that, just because Atticus lost the trial, doesn't mean that the outcome of the trial was pointless--the trial served as a small step towards creating a more just society, and the only reason why the trial made that step is because Atticus played his role as Robinson's defense lawyer. Seeing that Atticus's role was not futile and also no accident, rather he was selected very intentionally, helps Jem begin to feel a bit better about Maycomb and its people, making the information Miss Maudie shares with him very important information.

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