The answer to this question can be found in chapter 11. For his twelfth birthday, Jem receives a lot of money. Not one to save it, he decides to take Scout to the store to buy some things together. On the way, Mrs. Dubose insults their father for defending Tom Robinson and accuses the children of skipping school, even though it is a Saturday. Jem is clearly angry, but they continue to the store anyway. There, Jem buys a steam engine toy and gets Scout a baton.
As they return home, they pass by Mrs. Dobose's house again. Jem, still clearly angry about Mrs. Dubose's verbal attack of Atticus, grabs the baton from Scout and proceeds to destroy Mrs. Dubose's camellia flowers with it. He then, to Scout's continued dismay, breaks the baton in two over his knee. When Atticus hears about this, he is very upset with his son. He makes him go over to her house to apologize and clean up her yard.
In chapter 11, Jem turns twelve years old and takes Scout to the store to spend some of his birthday money. Unfortunately, Mrs. Dubose makes several derogatory comments about Atticus on their way to the store. After Mrs. Dubose says, "Your father’s no better than the niggers and trash he works for!," Jem becomes extremely angry and turns scarlet red (Lee, 105).
At the store, Jem purchases a toy steam engine for himself and buys Scout a baton from Elmore’s. On their trip back home, Jem takes Scout's baton and destroys Mrs. Dubose's camellia bush. Jem then bends Scout's baton over his knee until it snaps in two. Scout is both shocked and appalled by her brother's actions and can do nothing except scream. Jem proceeds to yank Scout's hair and threaten her before returning home, where he awaits his punishment from Atticus.
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