Explain the conflict that Scout and Jem undergo when they are amongst their friends in To Kill a Mockingbird.

In Harper Lee's To Kill a
Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Scout is something of a tomboy, and her only real
friend at the start of the novel seems to be her brother Jem. While she may play on the
playground at school, she never speaks of girl friends. She does not bring anyone home.
If she gets into a fight, as she does with Cecil Jacobs or Walter Cunningham, Jem pulls
her off.

Scout and Jem are very close. When Dill suddenly
appears one summer, his ability to role play and his knowledge of various books and
movies encourage Jem to accept Dill into their "family." For several summers during the
book, Dill, Scout and Jem are nearly inseparable.

In order
for Scout to play, she must be willing to follow the "laws" of the boys. It's a little
easier because for the longest time, she has always played the "secondary roles," for
there was no one else to do so. For a while after Dill arrives, the three greatly enjoy
each other's company. They even begin pretending to be the Radley family. However, as
the summers pass, Jem starts to mature, the boys get closer, and Scout increasingly
feels left out. Sometimes she and Jem argue.

For instance,
when Jem starts to tell Dill about "Hot Steam" (ghostly vapors hovering on the ground),
Scout calls him on it, saying the tale is nonsense. It is not until later that she
realizes how much Jem has resented her contradiction of him in front of Dill. So, as
they play a game where one climbs into a tire, rolled up in the center and is pushed—for
a ride—Jem pushes Scout extraordinarily hard, directly at the Radley house. When the
tire hits the side of the house and Scout pops out, Jem realizes what he has done and
screams for her to come out of the yard.

Another time, when
the boys plan to go out at night and visit the Radley house, Scout tries to dissuade
them. Jem tells her that if she doesn't like it, she can stay
home.

Whereas the two had a pretty close relationship, when
Dill arrives and Jem starts to grow up, the Jem and Scout are not has close as before
when they play, but as seen at the end of the book, they are still devoted to each
other.