Jem is entering adolescence and struggling to deal with the idea that the white adults in his community are not the figures he once he idealized and respected. Having sat through the trial, he knows that Tom Robinson is not guilty of raping Mayella, and yet the jury convicted him. He is angry at the blatant injustice and hypocrisy of blaming an innocent man for a crime he didn't commit just because of his race.
Jem has been disillusioned because of the trial and what it says about human nature. He had thought people would behave better. His solution is to not want to talk about what happened. Scout asking about why people can condemn the persecution of the Jews in Germany and not understand that the whites do the same towards the blacks in Maycomb hits a raw nerve in Jem.
When Scout goes to Atticus to ask him why Jem reacted so harshly, Atticus tells her that Jem simply needs time and space to come to terms with what happened.
Towards the end of chapter 26, Scout attempts to ask Jem about her teacher's hypocritical comments by discussing what she overheard Miss Gates saying about the black community while she was leaving the trial. Jem immediately becomes furious and tells Scout,
I never wanta hear about that courthouse again, ever, ever, you hear me? You hear me? Don’t you ever say one word to me about it again, you hear? Now go on! (Lee, 251).
Jem is unable to speak about the trial without becoming angry because he is deeply affected by its outcome. Tom's wrongful conviction has negatively affected Jem's perception of his community, and Jem has become jaded with his racist neighbors. Jem genuinely believed that his father would win the case and is absolutely crushed when Judge Taylor read the guilty verdict. Ever since Jem witnesses racial injustice firsthand, he is unable to properly cope with his negative emotions and attempts to repress the painful memory by not speaking about the trial, which is why he refuses to answer Scout regarding Miss Gates's hypocritical comments.
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