Mental Illness Analysis of Film Session 9 (2001)

Mental Illness Analysis of Film Session 9 (2001) Erica Moghtader Session 9: Mental Illness Analysis Deemed as one of the major cult films of all time, Session 9 invokes terror in the most realistic way possible- through abnormal psychology. In the end of the story, the character Mary Hobbes’ evil personality alternate, Simon, chillingly states when asked where he lives to the psychologist: â€Å"I live in the weak and the wounded, Doc (Anderson, 2001). Statements such as this lead to the notion that anyone could end up in a situation with, or actually like, the main character Gordon. In this paper I will discuss the various characters’ mental illnesses shown in Session 9 along with their symptoms, portrayal, and treatment amongst peers. This intense psychological horror film, directed by Brad Anderson, is centered on the restoration of a large mental asylum, built in 1871 and closed in 1985. Gordon Fleming (Peter Mullan), owner of an asbestos removal company, agrees to restore the building in an impossible turnaround time of one week. Gordon hires a crew: Phil (David Carusoe), Hank (Josh Lucas), Jeff (Brandon Sexton III), and Mike (Stephen Gevedon). Mike, secretly listens to nine old recorded therapy sessions that he found, which focused on patient #444 Mary Hobbes. Each employee has personal issues that get in the way of the job, and in combination with stress, it leads to the pinnacle of the story. The movie ends with all characters dead except Gordon, who has made patient room #444 his home. Considering the aforementioned synopsis, there are three characters that portray mental illness throughout the movie. Gordon, the main character, seems disturbed from the beginning of the movie. As the scenes unfold, symptoms of schizophrenia begin to arise. In one of the first scenes as Gordon and Phil tour the asylum for an asbestos removal bid, Gordon has his first auditory and visual hallucination. As Gordon intently focuses on a specific room, #444, he sees a shadow move across his face while hearing â€Å"Hello, Gordon† (Anderson, 2001). Both kinds of hallucinations go on throughout the movie, in particular when his hallucination eggs him on to kill his wife and baby: â€Å"Do it, Gordon!† (Anderson, 2001). In the final scenes of the movie, the voice reappears repeating the same statement as he murders all the employees. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema (2011) deliberates that schizophrenic auditory hallucination such as these â€Å"often have a negative quality, criticizing or threatening the individuals or telling them to hurt themselves or others† (p. 223). Persecutory delusion for ms towards the end of the movie when Gordon believes that Phil is lying about a certain phone call because he thinks Phil killed/hurt Hank. Catanotic excitement is also displayed as Gordon runs aimlessly throughout the asylum looking for Hank, whom had been missing for days. There were several scenes that contained avolition. Many times Gordon sat â€Å"daydreaming† in the cemetery, room 444, and in front of his home. Gordon also presented a symptom of sleepwalking, or somnambulism, when he gave Hank a frontal lobotomy. Dr. Prakash Masand (1995) associated sleepwalking with schizophrenia: â€Å"The prevalence of somnambulism is 1 to 6 percent in the general adult population, although a higher incidence has been reported in patients with schizophrenia, hysteria and anxiety neuroses.† Not only did Gordon suffer from a mental illness, so did his nephew Jeff. Jeff, a young chap who needed a job, suffered from situational phobia. In particular he suffered from nyctophobia or in layman’s terms, fear of the dark. On his first day in the asylum, the breaker flips and in turn Mike asks Jeff to go down in the basement to turn it on. Jeff directly tells him he has nyctophobia and will not go down. When he is forced to go down in the basement the first time and has to walk through a slightly dark room, he hurriedly remedies the problem. At the end of the movie in the tunnels, as the lights slowly go out putting Jeff in complete darkness, he has a severe panic attack. The DSM-5 states that Specific Phobia disorder can be diagnosed if the individual shows immediate fear, avoidance and out of proportion reaction to the phobic situation (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011, p. 119). By the same token, patient Mary Hobbes also displays mental illness in the film. Although former, deceased patient Mary Hobbes never physically appears in Session 9, she makes quite an impression. Mary Hobbes was admitted into the asylum and diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. She had been traumatized by her brother Peter after he scared her causing her to fall on her porcelain doll, which in turn severely cut up her chest. At this point Simon took over Mary and killed Peter with his new hunting knife. In the taped sessions of Mary’s therapy, she does not remember anything that happened, even hysterically stating: â€Å"Nothing happened! No! I can’t remember!† (Anderson, 2001). Susan Nolen-Hoeksema (2011) explains that people suffering from dissociative identity disorder usually report significant periods of amnesia when the other personalities are in control (p. 163). Mary displayed three different identities: the Princess as the child alter, which is often associated with the development of dissociative identity disorder; Billy, the protector alter, who protects the individual from trauma; and Simon, the persecutor alter, who often inflicts pain or punishment (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011, p. 162). Subsequently, the treatment amongst the mentally ill characters was different than the sane characters. Depending on the situation, characters Gordon, Jeff and Mary were stigmatized or treated with compassion, At first Phil empathizes with Gordon over his fight with his wife. Phil then quickly takes advantage of the situation to get a bigger bonus; he discusses with Mike that they should force Gordon off the project due to his behavior/health. Phil knows Gordon is not in the state of mind to handle being removed, and even says so when he’s smiling to himself on the roof: â€Å"It’s gonna get ugly† (Anderson, 2001). Jeff is stigmatized from the moment he announced his phobia. Mike was irritated and called him names like â€Å"Mullet Head.† Phil completely disregarded Jeff’s phobia, which forced him to go down into the basement to fix the breaker in the dark. Though Jeff’s mistreatment did exasperate his illness, the mistreatment of Gordon by Phil led the persecutory delusions of Phil hurting Hank. Though I do not condone the mistreatment, there are several other aspects I do enjoy about Session 9. Session 9 is one of the best independent horror movies, winning best director at the Catalonian International Film Festival in 2001. Considering myself a horror buff since my early twenties, this is one of my favorites. In my opinion, movies are the scariest if they could really happen. The realistic production and general plot make this movie even scarier. As I compared the mental illnesses of the characters to factual data, I realized that the symptoms portrayed were very close to being true to form. Every time I have watched Session 9 I find different aspects to debate or admire. Now that I added abnormal psychology to my mental list, there are even more to ponder! In conclusion, various mental illnesses symptoms, portrayal, and treatment amongst peers were shown in Session 9. From Gordon’s schizophrenia to Mary’s dissociative identity disorder, to Jeff’s nyctophobia, Session 9 accurately portrays the symptoms and typical mistreatment of the mentally ill. Many fans of the movie think that Mary Hobbes was possessed by Genius Loci, an ancient ideology that a spirit is attached to a place, and in turn possessed Gordon. And in all actuality, who is to say something like a Genius Loci does not exist? Maybe one day science will mesh with the supernatural, or at least get along with each other. References Anderson, B. (Director). (2001).Session 9[DVD]. Masand, Prakash. (1995). Sleep Walking.American Family Physician. http://www.drplace.com/Sleepwalking_-_includes_patient_notes.16.21241.htm Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2011). Abnormal psychology (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Implement Synthesizable Square Root Algorithm On Fpga Engineering Essay

Implement Synthesizable Square Root Algorithm On Fpga Engineering Essay The main objective of this paper is to implement synthesizable square root algorithm on FPGA. As square root function is not synthesizable on Silicon, this paper proposes optimized non restoring square root algorithm for unsigned 8 bit number on ED2C20F484C7 device in Cyclone II family. This algorithm is implemented in gate level abstraction of Verilog HDL. The basic building block of the design is CSM (Controlled Subtract Multiplex) block. It makes use of only subtract operation and append 01 which is an improvement over restoring algorithm. Keyword: FPGA,CSM,Verilog HDL,fixed point Introduction The square root function is a basic operation in computer graphic and scientific calculation application. Due to its algorithm complexity, the square root operation is hard to be designed in digital system. As known, digital system has been used in daily life or industrial purpose that may have been in need of square root operation to fully execute its functions. Scientists have developed various algorithms for square root calculation. But the implementation of algorithms is difficult because of their complexities and thus results into long delays for its completion. There are two main families of algorithms that can be used to extract square roots. The first family is that of digit recurrence, which provides one digit (often one bit) of the result at each iteration[6]. Each iteration consists of additions and digit-by-number multiplications (which have comparable cost) Such algorithms have been widely used in microprocessors that didnt include hardware multipliers. Most of the FPGA implementations in vendor tools or in the literature use this approach. Second family of algorithms uses multiplications. It includes quadratic convergence recurrences derived from the Newton-Raphson iteration [5]. The digit recurrence approaches allow one to build minimal hardware, while multiplicative approaches allow one to make the best use of available resources when these include multipliers. Also there are estimation method and digit-by-digit method. Digit-by-digit method is classified into two distinct classes: restoring and non- restoring algorithm [1]. In restoring algorithm, remainder is restored in the regular flow. So its implementation needs more hardware. Compared to the restoring algorithm, the non restoring algorithm does not restore the remainder, which can be implemented with fewest hardware resource and the result is hardware simple implementation. It is most suitable for FPGA implementation. Restoring and non restoring square root calculation Restoring Algorithm Step 1: If it is a 2n bit number then divide it in a group of 2 bits Step2: Subtract 1 from the first 2 digits (starting from MSB) Step3: Whenever the result of the subtraction is positive then the developed root is 1 otherwise 0 Step4: Whenever the result is negative, write it as it is. We have to restore the wrong guess by appending 01 and guessed square root. Step5: Now take the next two digits Step6: Append 01 (to be subtracted from next two digits of dividend) and guessed square root to subtract from the remainder. Step7: If the result of subtraction is negative then restore previous remainder by adding wrong guess by appending 01 and guessed square root. Step8: Every time guessed square root has to be updated while appending 01. Step9: Continue the steps until the group of two digits end 1 0 0 1.1 0 1 0 01 01 11 01.00 00 00 00 01 00 01 take next two digits from dividend 1 01 Append 01 Negative value 11 00 + 1 01 0 0 01 11 -10 01 11 10 Negative value + 10 01 01 11 01 10 00 01 11 00 00 10 01 01 01 01 1 00 10011 01 1011111 + 1001101 010110 00 010011001 000010111 00 100110101 1100100111 Figure 1: The example of restoring algorithm to solve square root B. Proposed Modified Non Restoring Algorithm A little modification in non restoring algorithm makes calculation faster. It uses only subtract operation and appends 01. It uses n stage pipelining to find square root of 2n bit number. The following algorithm describes the modified non restoring square root algorithm. Step1: Start Step2: Initialize the radicand (p) which is 2n bit number. Divide the radicand in two bits beginning at binary point in both directions. Step3: Beginning on the left (most significant), select the first group of one or two digit (If n is odd then first group is one digit ,else two bits) Step4: Select the first group of bits and subtract 01 from it. If borrow is zero, result is positive and quotient is 1 else it is 0. Step5: Append 01(to be subtracted next two digits of dividend) and guessed square root to subtract from remainder of previous stage Step6: If result of subtraction is negative, write previous remainder as it is and quotient is considered as 0, else write the difference as remainder and quotient as 1. Step7: Repeat step 5 and step 6 until end group of two digits. Step8: End 1 0 0 1.1 0 1 0 01 01 11 01.00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 take next two digits from dividend 1 01 Append 01 11 10 01 01 11 01 100 01 11 00 00 1001 01 001011 00 1001101 00101100 00 10011001 0000010111 00 100110101 001011100 Figure 2: The example of modified non restoring algorithm to solve square root Basic Building Block for Non restoring algorithm Inputs of the building block are x,y,b and u while d and b0(borrow) are outputs. If b0=0, then d b0=( ~ x .y)+(b.~x)+(by); d= (~x.y.~b.~u)+(~x.~y.b.~u)+(x~y.~b)+(x.u)+(x.y.b); csmblock.jpg Figure 3: RTL schematic of CSM block The generalization of simple implementation of non restoring digit by digit algorithm for unsigned 6 bit square root by array structure is shown in Fig.4. Each row of the circuit executes one iteration of non restoring digit by digit square algorithm, where it only uses subtract operation and appends 01. Figure 4: Pipelined structure of 6 bit unsigned square root number The design can be optimized by minimizing the logic expressions and can be implemented by modifying CSM block. The specialized entities A,B,C,D,E,F,G and H are derived from CSM block and are defined as follows: For csmA, ybu = 100 b0 = ~x d = ~x For csmB, yu = 00 b0 = ~x.b d = ~x.b + ~b.x For csmC, u = 0 b0 = ~x.y + ~x.b + y.b d = ~x.y.~b + ~x.~y.b + x.~y.~b + x.y.b For csmD, yb = 10 b0 = ~x d = ~x.~u + x.u For csmE, y = 0 b0 = ~x.b d = ~x.b.~u + ~b.x + x.u For csmF, xy = 00 b0 = b d = b.~u For csmG, xyb = 010 b0 = ~x d = ~u For csmH, xyu = 000 b0 = b Figure 5: Optimized Pipelined structure of 8 bit unsigned square root number Results and analysis The Non Restoring algorithm can be implemented with least hardware resources and the result will be the faster than restoring square rooting techniques. The source code is implemented in such a way that it can be extended according to users requirement to calculate complicated square root in FPGA. Figure 6: Simulation result of 8 bit square root using non restoring algorithm The DE1 kit has 4 seven segment displays only so the maximum number which can be displayed is 9999d and also it doesnt have a decimal point. Hence output obtained is less precise if one of the displays is considered as a decimal point. Table 1 shows the list of Logic Elements usage for 8 bit implementation. This indicates the size of the implemented circuit hardware resource. Table 1: Comparison of LEs usage in 8 bit implementation No Implementation of non restoring algorithm for 8 bit LEs 1 8 bit (with seven segment) 85 2 8 bit (without seven segment) 71 3 optimized 8 bit (with seven segment) 64 4 optimized 8 bit (without seven segment) 50 Table 2: PowerPlay Power Analyzer Status No PowerPlay Power Analyzer Status 8 bit with optimization (mW) 8 bit without optimization (mW) Low Medium Low 1 Total Thermal Power Dissipation 71.65 447.96 72.84 2 Core Dynamic Thermal Power Dissipation 0 190.47 0 3 Core Static Thermal Power Dissipation 47.36 48.06 47.36 4 I/O Thermal Power Dissipation 24.29 209.44 25.48 Conclusion: This implementation and analysis shows that proposed method is most efficient of hardware resource. This is reasonable, because it only uses subtract operation and append 01. The result shows that the proposed algorithm is easy to implement and also uses less resources. The result is extended for square root implementation of 8 bit floating point number and also it can be expanded to larger numbers to solve complicated square root problem in FPGA implementation.

Hawthornes Personality Revealed in His Novel, The House of the Seven Gables :: House Seven Gables Essays

Hawthorne's Personality Revealed in His Novel, The House of the Seven Gables "At the moment of execution--with the halter about his neck, and while Colonel Pyncheon sat on horseback, grimly gazing at the scene--Maul had addressed him from the scaffold, and uttered a profecy, of which history, as well as fireside tradition, has preserved the very words.--'God,' said the dying man, pointing his finger with a ghastly look at the undismayed countenance of his enemy, 'God will give you blood to drink'"(12)! The House of the Seven Gables portrays many emotions throughout the novel. Writers express themselves through their literature using many different traits. They write about what they know, and who better to portray than the writer himself. The House of the Seven Gables is a perfect example of a writer portraying himself and his emotions. Nathaniel Hawthorne gives his readers an insight to his personality through the characters in this classic novel with the use of characterization, similes, and many other writing traits. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts which is known as, "America's capital of hauntings, diabolical occurrences, and Puritan hellfire" (Reader's Digest). The characters of his stories are usually lonely and reclusive, and this novel is no exception. Hawthorne himself stated that, "Seven Gables was 'more characteristic of the author, and a more natural book for me to write.'" (Reader's Digest). One of the most important characters is this novel is that of Hepzibah Pyncheon. Hepzibah is an old woman with a pessimistic outlook on life. She is a very unattractive lady who scowls all that look upon her. Her pleasantness is lacking, and her loneliness is getting the best of her. Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon also believes that she is what is perceived about her which makes matters worse. She is the first character introduced into the novel, besides that of background characters. Hepzibah is introduced as waking up at about sunrise, but as Hawthorne writes, he would not consider her to be waking, but getting up from a night of poor sleep. Hepzibah's longing for someone to want to be with her can be expressed as she is described, "she had never had a lover--poor thing, how could she?--nor ever knew, by her own experience, what love technically means" (31). Expressing traits similar to how Hawthorne is perceived, he writes mainly through Hepzibah. While most writers were pessimistic in the nineteenth century, Hawthorne is no exception.

Car Vs SUV Essays -- essays research papers

Technology has brought many luxuries to people. The invention of the automobile has brought convenience to everyday living. People use their vehicles to commute to work, school, home, and other events. Some people cannot even imagine living life without the use of an automobile. People have different tastes in the type of automobile that they drive; the automotive industry has made several different ways to commute. The car and the sports utility vehicle seem to be the most common types. The sports utility vehicle is inferior to the car.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The sports utility vehicles harm the environment more then cars do. It takes more gas to fill up these vehicles, and the big engines consume it as if they’re where no tomorrow. The weight of the vehicle also contributes heavily to this consumption since it needs to burn more fuel to drive it. The sports utility vehicle harms everybody with all of its emissions that it emits into the environment. However, driving a car does not bring the emissions as high. The smaller engines and the lightweight of cars make them a Low Emissions Vehicle (LEV). Since cars produce less smog, the government has labeled them LEV. This allows people to be able to travel the same distance while producing fewer emissions. In return, the environment is much cleaner.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Safety is another issue that makes the sports utility vehicle inferior to the car. The number of deaths with people driving the sports utility v...

Walcotts Collected Poems and Roys The God of Small Things :: comparison compare contrast essays

Post-Colonial and Post-Modernist View of Walcott's Collected Poems and Roy's The God of Small Things      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "Language was not so much a distinguishing sign of a soul or spirituality, which animals do not possess, as a social practice which enhanced survival of the species"-Nietzche. Nietzche reminded twentieth century intellectuals of the decisive role of language in the construction of human experience of 'reality'. With his 'perspectivism' and relativism, truth, whether artistic or scientific was seen as a social matter and a linguistic product, the displacement of one set of figures of speech by another, with knowledge the interrelations of signifiers in a field of experience made of prior interpretations. (Irving Howe, 80).    Thus in Walcott's poems and in Roy's 'The God of Small Things' modernism was further routed by inversion of ethical values as power tools for survival and exploitation, and of art as a veil over a reality describable only as wanton, godless procreation. This conception of a dynamic world of super changed energies of unimaginable force, often in violent conflict and ever-changing relations, came to resemble Freud's concept of id.    We observe, in their writings (Walcott and Roy) the apparently rational surface of consciousness hides a mass of tangled and conflicting desires, impulses and needs. The outer person is a mere papering-over of the cracks of a split and waring complex of selves driven by life and death instincts.    Walcott in his poem 'The Divided Child' writes,    There was your heaven ! The clear glaze of another life, a landscape locked in amber, the rare gleam. The dream of reason had produced its monster : a prodigy of the wrong age and colour. (Walcott 145).    According to him, language was not the transparent tool for the objective representation of a stable reality: ethics was not expressive of a discovered system of absolute values or religion other than a desire for parental protection throughout life.    He writes in his poem 'Lampfall,' And I'm elsewhere, far as I shall ever be from you whom I behold now, Dear family, dear friends, by this still glow The lantern's ring that the sea's Never extinguished Your voices curl in the shell of my ear. (Walcott 95).    When Roy was asked in an interview, 'What does it mean to be Indian?' she replied: 'Do we ask, 'What does it mean to be American or to be British?

Indias Space Programme Essay

The country is now capable of launching its own spacecraft. In fact, it offers this service to many other countries. Now India has made landmark progress with the launch of Chandrayan for its moon mission. India started its space programme with the launch of first space satellite ‘Aryabhatta’ on April 19, 1975. This space satellite was named after the great Indian astronomer and mathematician of the 5th century, Aryabhatta. It was launched from a soviet cosmodrome with the help of a Soviet rocket. It marked India’s giant leap and made her the eleventh country to join the space club. The second satellite ‘Bhaskara’ was launched on June 7, 1979. It was also launched from a Soviet cosmodrome. It was named after two eminent personalities—Bhaskara I and Bhaskara II. It was followed by ‘Rohini’. It was the first Indian satellite put into the space by SLV-III, an Indian rocket. It was launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on July 9, 1980. It was developed by the scientists of ISRO. It was the success of the mission of SLV-III which brought recognition to the space programme of India. India’s fourth satellite Rohini II was launched by the launch vehicle SLV-III from Sriharikota on May 31, 1981. It was designed to provide useful data for 300 days. It was weighted 38 kg. It was known as India’s first development rocket flight. Unfortunately, it burnt in space on June 8, 1981, without completing its mission. Bhaskara II, India’s fifth satellite in space, was launched on November 20, 1981 from Soviet cosmodrome Volgograd. It was the earth observation satellite. It was a milestone in the space journey of India as it brought to India the honour of being a space nation. Apple, an experimental geostationary communication satellite, was launched on June 19, 1981. It was launched with French coordination. With this, India entered the domestic satellite communication era. India launched INSAT-1A on April 10, 1982. India joined the select group of techn ically advanced countries. But this mission failed on September 6, 1982. In April 1983, India successfully launched Rohini satellite (RS-D-2). It marked the opening of new horizons for India. India’s ninth satellite INSAT-1B became fully operational in October 1983. It was the world’s first geo-stationary satellite combining services like telecommunication, mass communication and meteorological. It was launched in August 1983 from US Space Shuttle Challenger. India’s space programme is primarily driven by the vision of great scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. He is considered as the Father of  Indian Space Programme. The main objective of India’s space programme has been to promote the development of application of Space Science and technology for socio-economic benefits of the country. The launching of Chandrayan I in 2008 marked a milestone in the history of space technology of India. Chandrayan will orbit around the earth for two years. During the period, it will send data to scientists. The scientists with the help of the data will study various aspects of moon, and will prepare a map of the moon. The map will further help in the study of moon. Then onward India made successive progress in the field of space research. It launched INSAT series satellite which made India’s position stronger in the comity of nation. India has now become self-reliant in terms of launching vehicles and telecommunications. Now India offers telecommunication services to other countries. The launching of satellites like IRS’s, ASLV’s, PSLV’s have placed India in the exclusive club of four nations—USA, Russia, France and Israel. Captain Rakesh Sharma was the first astronaut of India. Now the country enjoys a respectful position in the countries of the world.

To Kill a Mockingbird Growing Up

The novel To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee is about a young girl named Scout and her brother, Jem, growing up in the small, southern town of Maycomb, Alabama. Scout and Jem live with their older father, Atticus, and spend their summers playing with their friend, Dill. They have many neighbors, and one is an older woman named Mrs. Dubose. As the siblings grow older, they begin to drift apart and new disagreements begin. Yet, as Jem begins change, he starts to think more maturely about feuds with his sister and opinions towards his neighbors. For example, in the tire incident, Jem realizes that Scout is in trouble and tries to help her. In addition, in the flower incident with Mrs. Dubose, Jem fs anger causes him to try to defend Atticus. Jem thinks that he is acting very maturely during the tire incident and the flower incident with Mrs. Dubose. Jem thought he was being responsible during the tire incident because he took care of Scout. When Jem, Scout, and Dill are playing in the yard one day, Scout decides she wants to be pushed in the tire. As Scout and Dill are arguing over who will go first, Jem arbitrates, and awards Scout with the first push. Jem then accidentally rolls the tire into the Radley yard. Jem is frightened and says,  gScout, get away from there, come on! h (37). This quote shows that Jem is taking on some responsibility for Scout. When he pushes her into the Radley fs Yard, Jem feels angry about what Scout had said earlier, so he wants to get revenge. Yet, when Jem sees Scout lying on the ground he immediately feels worried and scared for her, and tries to get her to come to safety. As Jem grows up, he begins to develop new views on situations. Scout fs situation during the tire incident reminds Jem that he needs to take on full responsibility of his sister. Jem thought that the most mature way to express his feelings about Mrs. Dubose was to cut off all of her flowers. When Jem and Scout are returning home one day they walk pass Mrs. Dubose fs house. As they walk by her yard, Jem runs into her garden and cuts off all of her flowers because of what Mrs. Dubose said earlier about Atticus. Scout tells us that,  gHe did not begin to calm down until he had cut the tops off every camellia bush Mrs. Dubose owned, until the ground was littered with green buds and leaves. He bent my baton against his knee c h (103). This quote shows that Jem was feeling very hurt by what Mrs. Dubose had said about his father. To Jem, Atticus seems feeble and old, so, when threatened, Jem feels it is his responsibility to protect him. In the book, when Mrs. Dubose talks about Atticus, Jem just ignores her and walks away, but finally he decides to get revenge. He does this by,  glittering the ground with green buds and leaves. h Jem tries to hurt something Mrs. Dubose loves like she attacked Atticus. Mrs. Dubose fs harsh words make Jem feel that it is his job to defend Atticus. As To Kill a Mockingbird progresses, Jem takes definitive steps toward maturity with his actions in the tire and flower incidents, for example. He would later go on to repair the flowerbed he destroyed, and take greater care to protect Scout. Through his actions, we can see Jem develop a sense of morals and responsibility that would prove to be a lifesaver. scout and Jem Finch are growing up in the tired old Alabama town of Maycomb. Their father, Atticus, is the local lawyer and as a single parent tries to raise his children with honor and respect to their individualism. With the Depression on times are hard, and there is no money to be found anywhere in town. To amuse themselves Scout, Jem, and their best friend Dill begin a relentless campaign during their summertimes to get Boo Radley, their reclusive, legendary neighbor, to come out of his house. They concoct endless schemes and even go so far as to create a play that details Boo's life. Atticus forbids them to have anything to do with Mr. Radley, urging them to let the poor man be. Atticus is a good man, and one day takes on a case that affects him personally. A black man, Tom Robinson, is accused of beating and raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Most of the county is convinced immediately that Tom is guilty of the crime, and begin to look at Atticus in a very negative way for actually defending him and trying to do right by him. Scout and Jem begin to get tormented over their father at school, and Atticus begs them not to get riled up over the town's prejudice. As the trial begins it becomes apparent to Scout and Jem that there is no way that Tom Robinson could have beaten and raped Mayelle Ewell, as he's a cripple. Atticus proves that to the jury, and Scout and Jem are astonished when Tom is slapped with a guilty verdict anyway. They begin to realize that many people in town are very prejudiced against blacks, and their hearts are saddened by it. It'?s hard for them to understand how people can be so mean to each other, and they both begin to see that, even in court where things are supposed to be unbiased, men's hearts bring in their own hatreds. It isn't much longer that Tom is shot and killed for trying to escape while in prison. Jem especially takes the whole affair hard, and it takes him a long time to come to grips with the jury's decision, and Tom's death. After the trial has died down Bob Ewell, Mayelle's father, begins threatening Atticus for embarrassing him in court, and resolves that he'll get him back one way or another. Atticus is convinced that he's all talk, and passes it off as such. Time crawls past, and finally Bob Ewell is good to his word and attacks the children Halloween night with a knife. He breaks Jem's arm and almost kills Scout, but Boo Radley, of all people, comes to their rescue and saves them. The sheriff, Heck Tate, hushes the whole thing over so Boo Radley will not be dragged into the spotlight, and Scout is thrilled to finally get to meet the man they for so long fantasized about. As she walks him back home, she realizes that all this time he was watching them from his front porch windows, and just for a little while she is able to stand in his shoes.