My father in his early manhood,” Grandpa began, “made a vision quest to find a spirit guide for his life. You cannot understand how it was in that time, when the great Teton Sioux were first made to stay on the reservation. There was a strong need for guidance from Wakantanka, the Great Spirit. But too many of the young men were filled with despair and hatred. They thought it was hopeless to search for a vision when the glorious life was gone and only the hated confines of a reservation lay ahead. But my father held to the old ways.” What message does Grandpa’s dialogue in this excerpt reveal to the reader?

New generations need their own customs and traditions.
Young men should continue making vision quests.
Living in the past leads to despair and hopelessness.
Staying connected with one’s heritage is important.

Demonstrating understanding of jem's development one way to demonstrate understanding of character and theme is by writing from the perspective of a character. for this assignment, compose a short poem from the perspective of jem. your poem should detail his feelings about either a. his father, atticus or b. mrs. dubose. the poem must accurately trace the progression of jem's attitudes and beliefs, highlighting the important events and shifts in his perspective detailed above. your writing should also sound like jem, using voice and word choice that reflects the voice and word choice found in the novel. the poem can be a free poem (meaning it does not need to rhyme or follow a particular format). it should be a minimum of twenty-lines in length, have a title, and follow conventional rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation.