Uncle Jem had a place in the world, had friends and a home, and the horror was that he could not be in the place where he belonged. Sometimes after his visits James would find his mother standing at the window, looking out at the street Uncle Jem had long disappeared from, and he would find his father in the music room staring at the violin nobody but Uncle Jem was allowed to touch. That was the tragedy of Uncle Jem’s life; it was the tragedy of his parents’ lives.
i have an endless problem with this framing; Jem made a concious choice to become a Silent Brother. He did NOT have to make that choice. The constant narrative that he didn't belong there undercuts any actual growth that could happen with his character and upends Silent Brothers as a whole; are they ALL not where they're meant to be?! This is bad storytelling, it's basically shitting on your own world structure
