In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there was a very unique, distinct, and important character; Arthur Radley, also known as Boo Radley. Arthur Radley has a very suspicious and unique past and way of living, which brought up a lot of different opinions and theories; especially when it came to Jean Louise Finch, Jeremy Finch, and Dill Harris. In this essay, you will be read about the progression of the different theories and rumours that were made about Arthur Radley. Arthur Radley had a very different way of living compared to everybody else. For example, he was known for never coming out of his house in daylight. An example from the book is, “People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows.” (Harper Lee, page. 9). That’s not a theory, but it is definitely an important part of the book, and the main reasons of a lot of theories. There was also a neighborhood legend, that stated “According to the neighborhood legend, when the younger Radley boy was in his teens he became acquainted with some of the Cunninghams from Old Sarum, an enormous and confusing tribe domiciled in the norther part of the county, and they formed the nearest thing to a gang ever seen in Maycomb.” (Harper Lee, page. 9&10). The legend brought a lot of fright upon children and was also a big reason of a lot of theories. The first theory I will introduce was that Boo Radley had said he would sneak out at night
This is a strange character in the novel because Boo Radley never came out of his house and the children thought of him as a
people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions” (p. 9) Maycomb’s prejudice towards Mr Arthur Radley was cruel and unfounded; Boo was a mockingbird, who never hurt the world, but through people’s early judgment, they hurt him. Boo Radley proved to be one of the heros of the novel, which supported Atticus’s view that ideas formed before hand are groundless, and prejudice is wrong.
Set in the town of Maycomb County, this novel describes the journey of two young kids growing up in a small-minded town, learning about the importance of innocence and the judgement that occurs within. The individuals of Maycomb are very similar, with the exception of Arthur “Boo” Radley, the town’s recluse. Boo Radley has never been seen outside, and as a result of this, the children in the town are frightened of him and make up rumors about the monstrous things he allegedly does. This leaves the individuals in the town curious as to if Boo Radley really is a “malevolent phantom” like everyone assumes that he is or if he is just misunderstood and harmless. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Boo Radley is a saviour. This is
Boo Radley is a ‘malevolent phantom’ and a character that has been shaped by gossips and sustained by children’s imaginations. “Stephanie Crawford, a neighbourhood scold… said she woke up in the middle of the night and saw him looking straight through the window at her.” This dialogue is an example of the gossips and how the legend of Boo Radley developed, lies that persecute his innocence. Setting is used to develop Boo’s surroundings and to summon an eerie atmosphere giving Maycomb reason enough to reject and victimise him for being different. “…rain rotten shingles drooped… oak trees kept the sun away and the remains of a picket fence drunkenly guarded the front yard.” The Radley house has been established as a neglected, out of place and isolated home through Harper Lee’s use of connotative words. This evokes within the reader the same view of Boo as the rest of the town and allows us to understand where the misunderstanding comes from before we
Boo Radley’s struggle with society is caused by many different factors. In the novel, the reader learns that Boo gets in some trouble as a teen when he befriends the Cunningham gang. The members of the Cunningham gang are a bunch of troublemakers. Boo and other boys in the gang are arrested one night for “disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language
Arthur Radley experiences social prejudice throughout the novel, hence, he is marginalised by the people of Maycomb. He is firstly portrayed as a mysterious character through the rumours of the towns. On pg9 various sentences such as, “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was high and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was
Everyone in Maycomb believes that the Radleys are dangerous and no one dares to really talk to them. They don’t follow the unwritten social rules that everyone else follows, and that is weird and mysterious to people. The community is mostly suspicious of Arthur Radley, also known as Boo Radley. People believe he is hostile because when he was a teen, he got in with the wrong crow and was arrested. Fifteen years later, he had another incident.
“I imagine there were three prowlers based on recovered vague footprints,”says Sheriff Heck Tate from the Maycomb Police Department. The Police Department also suspected the prowlers must had entered the yard under the Radley’s wired fence.
Arthur “Boo” Radley is a man who was involved in a gang when he was young. Now he is seen as an insane and murderous person by the town. People rumor him to walk around at night and peer in people's windows and eat squirrels and cats.
Myths said that inside the house of the Radleys lived a malevolent phantom, people said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in the windows. The name of this phantom was Boo Radley, but his actual name is Arthur and in reality it’s just a myth and know one knows for sure. Other myths say that he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that would explain why his hands were bloodstained, he was also known to have a huge jagged scar across his face. However these are rumors made up from kids probably and couldn’t be more farther than the truth. Another myth comes from Miss Stephanie Crawford, she said she woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking through the window at her, this one can be true
The different side of Arthur Radley is he was very mysterious. Being locked away in your own basement by your own father. He was locked for several years almost acting like a ghost occasional times he would leave his house. No one knew
The book “To Kill a Mockingbird” has an urban legend hiding in the background. You might not see it at first but if you break down Boo Radley and pick him apart, you figure out there is a lesson to be told from his story.
As Scout and Jem walk home from the pageant they got attacked by Mr. Ewell. They screamed for help and the only person that heard them was Arthur (Boo) Radley. So he ran out to rescue their lives. This is the first time Mr.Radley left his house and the first time Scout saw him. To most people it was a mystery how Mr. Radley looked. When he was at Scout’s house he went to the farthest corner and the people there acted as if Mr. Radley was invisible.
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’.
“But they also heard rumors that Boo Radley only comes out at night not during the day.” Scout and Jem start thinking that Boo Radley is a scary man or he is evil. The first time that Scout and Jem saw Boo Radley face, was when he saved them from Bob Ewell. Ever since Boo Radley saved them Jem and Scout stop believing all the rumors they heard about Boo Radley. Boo Radley can be compared to a mocking bird because mockingbirds are calm and don’t hurt others. That’s why Boo Radley is considered a mockingbird because he never hurt any known or bothered any known. The sad part was that Boo Radley was killed by couple of town’s people because he never came out because he was shy. (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081010185527AAZEssX)