Compare Jem and Scout's attitude at the end of the chapter regarding the progress of the trial. What do their attitudes tell the reader about their understanding of race relations in Maycomb?

At the end of Chapter 17, Jem is completely optimistic about the course of the trial. He knows his father has exposed the truth and believes its undeniable. Scout, however, isn't quite so sure.... she is still trying to figure it all out.

Jem seemed to be having a quiet fit. He was pounding the balcony rail softly, and once he whispered, “We’ve got him.”

I didn’t think so: Atticus was trying to show, it seemed to me, that Mr. Ewell could have beaten up Mayella. That much I could follow. If her right eye was blacked and she was beaten mostly on the right side of the face, it would tend to show that a left-handed person did it. Sherlock Holmes and Jem Finch would agree. But Tom Robinson could easily be left-handed, too. Like Mr. Heck Tate, I imagined a person facing me, went through a swift mental pantomime, and concluded that he might have held her with his right hand and pounded her with his left. I looked down at him. His back was to us, but I could see his broad shoulders and bull-thick neck. He could easily have done it. I thought Jem was counting his chickens.

Scout seems to have a better understanding than Jem about the court system in Maycomb and the type of people on the jury.