“It’s like bein’ a caterpillar in a cocoon, that’s what it is…Like somethin’ asleep wrapped up in a warm place. I always thought Maycomb folks were the best folks in the world, least that’s what they seemed like.”
– Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 22. Shocked by the Tom Robinson guilty verdict, Jem is struggling with the actions of the people in Maycomb, people he thought were good. He feels he has been protected from reality, kept innocent like a caterpiller in a cocoon. Now he is losing that innocence and his eyes are opening to Maycomb’s prejudice.