Boo Radley Innocent Quotes

Tom Robinson is wrongfully convicted of rape and eventually killed in prison, whereas Boo Radley is killed emotionally because he is not accepted by society. Since it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a sin to kill innocent souls like Tom and Boo. When Scout tries to understand why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, Miss Maudie elucidates Atticus’s opinion more clearly by stating, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy...They don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (103). Mockingbirds sing and make beautiful music; however they mimic the songs of other birds, so they are seen through others. Tom and Boo are like mockingbirds because they are subject to the perceptions of the people of Maycomb. The townspeople knew these characters based on what others said about them. Consequently, Tom and Boo do not have their own “song” and are portrayed by others’ views of them. The mockingbird emerges as a metaphor for the wrong in harming innocent and defenseless people.

The community has ostracized Boo Radley from the community even though most people don’t know him. “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 down, and peeped in windows.” (Lee 5). This is how the community saw Boo Radley in the beginning of the book (Lee). This outlook of Boo has made everyone scared to even walk past his family’s house (Lee). At the end of the book Boo helps Scout and Jem out from an attack from Bob Ewell when they were on their way back home (Lee). After that event they look at Boo differently till the end of the story. This type of discrimination happens in today’s society still and in movies everyone has seen such as the “Sandlot”.

The idea of mockingbirds in this text carries great symbolic weight, mockingbirds are considered the innocents in the novel. It is considered a sin to kill a mockingbird, which symbolizes the destruction innocence. Tom Robinson, Arthur “Boo” Radley, Jem and Mr. Raymond can all be identified as mockingbirds - innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil.

When the Flinch children moved into Maycomb bad rumors were spread about the Radley house, and soon the children were terrified of this “ghostly” neighbor. Little to their knowledge Boo Radley was not a scary mean person like they thought. Boo taught both Jem and Scout that you should not judge people based on what rumors say. For example, in the beginning of the novel Scout and Jem find a knothole in a tree, but when they kept going to the tree there was always something new, like someone had been putting presents for them in their. “I were trotting in our orbit one mild October afternoon when our knot-hole stopped us again. Something white was inside this time.” (page 79). Even though Boo knew that the kids were scared of him and that they believed the rumors he still put effort into making their day and giving them something. Another example was at the very end of the novel when Boo Radley saved Jem and Scouts life. At this moment Scout had a whole new respect for Boo because he wasn't what everyone said. He was better than that. “ A man was passing under it. The man was walking with the staccato steps of someone carrying a load too heavy for him. He was going around the corner. He was carrying jem. Jem’s arm was dangling crazily in front of him.”(page 352). That was Boo that was carrying Jem back to the Flinch house. Boo Radley saved their lives and Scout will never forget him and learned a valuable lesson

Two characters that are portrayed as the mockingbirds of this novel are Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. “Mr. Underwood simply figured it was a sin to kill cripples, be they standing, sitting, or escaping. He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children…” (323) Sadly, Maycomb is a town full of many people who are prejudiced against black people and their lively communities. Helping Mayella, who is an Ewell, with simple chores whenever he could, Tom Robinson was wrongly convicted of raping her, even though all the evidence pointed to her father beating her. The only reason he was proven guilty was because he was black. If the jury had been fair, Tom would have been set free. Everyone knew he was innocent. Apart from doing nothing wrong, Tom was helpful, hardworking, and always provided for his family, while having an more than happy attitude. He was just like a mockingbird, minding his own business and being polite to all, and it was a sin to kill him. “‘Atticus sat looking at the floor for a long time. Finally he raised his head. “Scout,” he said, ‘Mr. Ewell fell on his knife. Can you possibly understand?’ Atticus looked like he needed cheering up. I ran to him and hugged him and kissed him with all my might. ‘Yes sir, I understand,’ I reassured him. ‘Mr. Tate was right.’ Atticus disengaged himself and looked at me. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?’” (370) As the other human mockingbird in this book, Boo Radley

In the nineteenth century, mockingbirds were kept in cages so they could sing their beautiful music. Because of this, mockingbirds were nearly almost wiped out of parts of the East Coast. All Mockingbirds do is bring beauty to the world. Mockingbirds symbolize innocence and do not deserve to be wounded by the cruelness of the world. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Dill, Mayella Ewell, Mr. Dolphus Raymond, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are all mockingbirds. They are innocent people that have been harmed or injured in the past and have learned the misery of the world.

When Harper Lee expresses her message of courage, she demonstrated courage through the selflessness of two characters by emphasizing their morality. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley symbolize mockingbirds in the sense that they are innocent but still courageous. Once Atticus the father and main character said “ I’d rather you shoot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want but remember It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”(Lee 119.) Mockingbirds symbolize Innocence, Lee is displaying that Tom and Boo are the mockingbirds in this novel. When Boo puts the gifts in the tree for the kids, that showed his Innocence, then when he left his house and saved the kids that showed his courage. Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, two Innocent men that no one trusts, portrays

Mockingbirds are a powerful means used by Lee to convey the deep-rooted prejudice entrenched in the fictional town of Maycomb. The title of the novel is symbolic of Tom Robinson and Boo Radley. Lee writes that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. However, one

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,

However, Tom Robinson is not the only mockingbird in the story. Boo Radley is another harmless creature who falls victim of cruelty. He is unjustly regarded as an evil person and used as the scapegoat for all the bad happenings around town. Women are afraid of him and so are children. When the sheriff decided that he would not arrest Boo Radley for killing Bob Ewell and that would present his death as an accident, Atticus asked Scout if she understood the meaning of this decision. Scout replied that she did. Her exact words were: "Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?" (282). Boo here is also compared to the gentle bird and again it would be a 'sin' to punish him. The symbol of the mockingbird can be applied to Boo Radley from another point of view as well. The mockingbird has no song of its own. It just imitates other birds. Therefore it makes itself present and is seen through other birds. In the same way, Boo Radley is seen through the eyes of other people. He does not have a character of his own. What the reader knows about him is what other people say. He is believed to " dine on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, his hands were

The mockingbirds in the story were Tom Robinson, Calpurnia, and Boo Radley. Boo Radley was a man who was very nice and loving to others especially the Scout and Jem. One of the nicest things Boo Radley did was when Scout, Jem, and Dill were

Tom Robinson becomes a mockingbird by only helping everyone and dying for his actions. Boo Radley is a recluse with an abusive father that earned mockingbird status through giving gifts, a blanket, and 2 kids lives. “when they finally saw him, why he hadn’t done any of those things. Atticus, he was real nice.” “Most people are when you finally see them” These two quotes refer to the misunderstood nature of these two hardcore mockingbirds. The emotion added by this connection adds a lasting impact on the

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

Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are symbolized by a mockingbird. According to Atticus, mockingbirds are innocent creatures and it is a sin to kill them. One reason not to kill them is that they provide for humans. Mockingbirds make beautiful music for people to hear. Mrs. Maudie tells Scout “...they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.” Another reason it is a sin to kill a mockingbird is that they do not do anything wrong. Mockingbirds do not eat people’s plants like other animals. Also, they do not nest in corncribs, which are buildings used for storing corn. Like mockingbirds, Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are innocent people. Boo did not cause any harm to Maycomb. With a good motive, Boo saved Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell. He also

The title To Kill a Mockingbird is very significant to the novel as it portrays many forms of mockingbirds throughout it. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that Boo Radley and Tom Robinson are the true Mockingbirds of the story. They both are innocent from the accusations claimed upon them.