The two stories “How to kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier both have important lessons in them about growing up and harsh circumstances. One of the best themes that both stories have in common is Judging someone unfairly before knowing their intentions and their life conditions, for instance, have you ever been judged unfairly by someone is your life? Imagine a lady sitting in traffic for forty-five minutes and arriving late for an appointment. Her hair is disheveled and she has sweat stains under her arms because the air conditioner in the car died. By this time, she is in a foul mood and not at her best. The prospective employer she is meeting takes one look and forms an impression of her that is not very favorable. This example illustrates why first impressions are often the worst means of judging people. …show more content…
When we first meet this curious character he is preferred to as a "recluse" who refuses to leave his house. Jem, one of the children, describes Boo as a six -and-a half feet tall monster with a long jagged scar that ran across his face and teeth yellow and rotten teeth from dining on raw squirrels and any stray cats he could catch. This of course is only a fictional description of Boo, thought up by the children’s active imaginations. Throughout the story we see that Boo's intentions are in fact sincere and he is actually an intelligent child emotionally damaged by his cruel father, we see this in the way that he leaves little presents for Scout and Jem and emerges at an opportune moment to save the
Almost everyone has had a tantrum before, so there should be no surprise when it occurs in novels and short stories. Notable characters such as Lizabeth from the short story, “Marigolds”, by Eugenia Collier and Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, impulsively burst with rage, unable to control their emotions because after all, they are just children. The fourteen-year-old African-American girl named Lizabeth along with her family struggle financially in an impoverished town during the Great Depression Era. Despite this, Lizabeth and her little brother enjoy childish acts especially annoying Miss Lottie, an elderly neighbor who cultivates Marigolds in her yard. Later in the novel, Lizabeth lets loose her emotions from her impoverishment and her parent’s financial problems out on these flowers by trampling on them. On the contrary, the elderly neighbor, Mrs. Dubose, in To Kill a Mockingbird is the one pestering Jem, Atticus Finch’s thirteen-year-old son, and not the other way around. The fact that Atticus defended a black man accused of rape displeases her; thus, Mrs. Dubose verbally attacks Jem by comparing his father to African-Americans.This is considered an insult during the Great Depression, the time period of the novel, as black people are viewed as lowly human beings. As a result, Jem takes personal offense to this and strikes back at Mrs. Dubose by ruining her camellias. Even though the physical destructions of the flowers are similar, Lizabeth and Jem’s reason behind it, the consequences and the process of maturation are different.
''Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an
Next, Scout and Jem learn how to have empathy for those who are misunderstood. Scout and Jem learn this through experiences with Boo Radley. Everyone in Macomb makes Boo out to be a mysterious and extremely dangerous, animal-like individual. The kids hear new rumors daily about Boo, and they begin to get curious. Scout, Jem and Dill all try to spy on Boo. They are determined to get him to come out of his house so that they can see the monster that everyone claims he is. Atticus soon catches on to what the kids are doing. He tells the kids that they need to leave Boo alone. What they hear about Boo
Boo is a very important character in the book, in fact, the novel opens with Scout and her interactions with Boo and is closed by it too. Scout learns about Boo though the gossip passed on through neighbors in the community. The stories are scary and many out of context, however, Scout doesn’t seem to notice this till after the trial. At the beginning of the book she plays a game that involves Boo, and she tries to torment him into coming out. When Scout describes Boo Radley she says, "People said 'Boo' Radley went out at night and peeped in people’s windows. That he breathed on flowers and they froze instantly. They said he committed little crimes in the night but not one ever saw him." This shows that Scout sees Boo as an object of fascination instead of a human being. She does not acknowledge that he has emotions or feelings, she just views him as a monster who does horrible things to people. Furthermore, we can learn that Boo is not a very loved or respected figure in the community due to his strange way of living. As the trial takes place Scout matures and her level of complex thinking increases, but it is not until October 24th that we see how her perception of Boo changes since in the trial she saw how badly they treated Tom Robinson and she directly connected it to Boo “I hugged him and said, “Yes, sir. Mr. Tate was right, it’d be sort of
When he shows that he isn 't a bad person, it shows how gossip has affected him so much that he needs to prove them wrong and show the good of his heart. Jem and Scout are fascinated and long to see Boo, but Scout is not sad when she sees that Boo isn 't freakishly large and bloody, but is glad to see a human, that might of just saved her and Jem 's life.
As the people of the town never saw Boo leave his house they thought that he was bad. Boo had no chance to stand up for himself because he always stayed inside. Through dialogue he is characterized by what the people of Maycomb County say about him, which caused misjudgement. (add quote) Through the character of Boo we are taught that just because one acts different and lives a different life that they are not always scary and bad. After Scout meets Boo at the end of the book she realizes that he is not a complete monster with “jagged teeth” and “eats squirrels” (pg 14) he is a peaceful and good man. It is easy to misjudge
Despite his acts of kindness to the children, including gifts of a “broken old pocket watch” and the reparation of Jem’s pants, he goes unacknowledged by the children. Boo, a man forced into solitude. Symbolises a mockingbird who was abused at the hand of his own father. Like boo, tom struggles with the power mishap of cruelty from someone in a higher social standing. The children’s growth is full recognised when boo’s act of protection at the end of the novel epitomises not only his strong moral nature. But finally the children realise that boo radley is not the gothic themed “six and a half” feet tall, squirrel-eating monster their innocence portrayed him to be, and instead is a kind man who ultimately save the lives of both kids. This epidemic leads scout to the conclusion that punishing boo for him chivalry acts “would be like shootin’ a mockingbird wouldn’t it?”
Boo was seen as an evil phantom in the beginning of the book but later on in the book he was described to be a friendly person. Radley’s family has always been anti-social. Since they are anti-social the matters of the family never came out so, people started to assume about them. Most of the rumors are about Boo because he hasn’t been out of the house for years. The rumors were that he stabbed his father with scissors during his 15th year and he was chained to the bed as punishment. Jem, Scout, and Dill actually believed these rumors were true at first. They even use play a game, where they are acting one of the Radley's family
Boo being the mysterious neighbor that never comes out many rumors formed around him like when Jem said “ Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained…” (16). All these rumors made it seem like Boo was a monster and the adults played along. On the contrary all of these false accusations came to an end when Boo steps up and defends Scout against Bob Ewell. He was a sickly white and acted almost childlike. Boo wasn’t a bad person but all the rumors that had built up made it seem that way and Scout learning the error of her ways decides to actually interact with him by walking him home. She sees after that all lies that were told were mere gossip and without getting to know the person better the rumor could never be broken. Not following rumor any longer and instead allowing people a chance and showing their true
Boo was extremely misunderstood. In chapter one, we find out that the entire neighborhood is afraid of Radley and his family. Everyone has made up stories about The Radleys. According to their neighbor, Miss Stephanie Crawford, he stabbed his dad with some scissors. In multiple chapters, Scout mentions that people have said that Boo eats wild animals. In chapter four, they mention that he bit off his mother’s fingers because he could not find any cats or squirrels to eat. Due to these stories about Boo, people wanted to kill him. Boo also never left his house. Scout’s brother Jem thought that Boo never left his house because his dad had him chained to the bed. While talking about misunderstanding people, Atticus hints at Boo and Walter Ewell. He tells her,
Mr Radley was ashamed of his son’s behaviour when he got into the wrong crowd as a youngster and punished him by locking him up. There is a lot of gossip around Maycomb about Boo and people blame him for any bad things that happen in the neighbourhood, ‘Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.’ Jem turns him into a monster, ‘his hands were blood-stained’, and ‘his eyes popped’. At the end of the novel however, we find that Boo is misunderstood, and gossip of the town’s folk has made him up to be a ‘malevolent phantom’. Scout tells us he is timid, he had, ‘the voice of a child afraid of the dark’.
Boo is like a monster to Dill, Jem and Scout throughout the beginning of the novel although once the children see that he leaves them gifts inside a knothole in the tree in between their houses. He is only seen on one occasion in the novel, although he is talked about many times because Scout and Jem take an interest in him once they start to find out who he really is as a person. Boo Radley never really left his house even when he could simply because
Jem and Scout saw Boo Radley as a frightening man who was a childish superstition based off of the rumors from the town. As the children grew up the stories about Boo Radley caused them to become more fascinated than frightened by Boo. The Radley house intrigued them to the point where they snuck into the backyard to try to make Boo leave his house but that resulted in the children thinking that every sound they heard was Boo coming for revenge. In the first chapters, Jem describes how they pictured Boo, which was, “…about six and a half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch that’s why his hands were bloodstained…”. Logically it is understood just by Jem’s description that the children had no relationship with Boo Radley other than
I have two questions regarding Boo and the kids. My first is if Boo is actually nice, why doesn’t he ever come out? He obviously likes the kids, he gave Scout a blanket at the fire, gives the kids presents at the tree, and tries to fix Jem’s pants even though he was trespassing. Also, he must get bored at the house. He’s been their for 15 years, his mom just died, only ever sees Nathan, and probably wants to disprove all the rumors about him. My second question is why are the kids so interested in Boo. It seems that they believe all the rumors about him. The rumors shouldn’t attract a kid to Boo, such as he has bloodstained hands, a messed up face and teeth, and also disappeared into his house for 15 years after he was thrown into custody.
did not allow anyone to visit him or have the slightest contact with him. Eventually Boo's mental state triggers him to stabbed his father with a pair of scissors. Boo's fathers causes Boo to suffer innocently by stealing his childhood experiences away from him. This indicates that Boo is a mockingbird because he did very little to deserve this torment and isolation that his father inflicted upon him. Then, Jem and Scout from the beginning of the story never fully understood Boo's past life at all, yet they judged him on things they hear about. They suspect he was basically an evil monster that never comes out of his house. Scout starts the stereotyping by creating a nickname “Boo” for the innocent Arthur Radley. This nickname robs Arthur of his true name and identity, causing him to suffer. Furthermore, Jem and Scout constantly pester Boo in an attempt to discover his actual identity. They tell their best friend Dill that Boo is like a zombie. Jem describes Boo as being: “About six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cat he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained-if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he and he drooled most of the time” (Lee 13). The stereotypical image created by Jem completely robs Boo