How was Jamal, in Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers, like at the beginning and changed at the end? What caused that change?

Jamal easily gets drawn into situations that prove to be harmful. At school, the classroom bully, Dwayne Parsons, continually challenges Jamal to a fight. Jamal feels he has no recourse but to fight him. Jamal gets drawn into the gang his brother was in before he was put into jail. His best friend, Tito Cruz, warns him not to join.

Jamal is a dreamer. He fantasizes about a better life for himself and his family, especially when he goes to the boat basin. There he dreams of owning a large yacht and sailing away from all of the poverty and drugs he sees every day. He holds onto these dreams as best as he can.

Jamal is bullied and learns the hard way that a gun is will not solve his woes. His internal conflict drives the story. His poor existence leaves him helpless to life's struggles, and his momentary elation over the power that a weapon can give is mistaken for the answer to his problems. By the end of the novel, Jamal matures enough to understand the choices he makes have consequences and that violence only leads to more violence.