Boo Radley Personality

Boo had a lot of stories about him truth or not, he never came outside, no one truly knew why. The town of Maycomb all thought of Boo as “A malevolent phantom.” (Lee 10). Scout, Jem, and Dill first judged Boo Radley as someone that was creepy. They made him out to be a scary “monster.”

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay - Perspectives on Boo Radley No one in Maycomb would ever think of going anywhere near the Radley house, that is because Boo lives there. He is the most feared person in Maycomb by far. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the character Boo Radley is depicted as someone extremely mysterious since no one has ever actually met him. He has always been ‘locked up’ in his house and never came out.

Every kid in Maycomb county was scared of him, even walking past his house was a scary task for some. Boo is portrayed as the bad guy in the book, but I believe he was the total opposite. One day he randomly decided to stab his father while he was cutting out paper, and he thought nothing of it. In the book, it never really mentions what his motives for doing this were, which can show that Boo was misunderstood. Even though he did not care for his father he still cared for other people. He left several gifts like gum and soap dolls in a tree trunk, which Jem and Scout found and kept for themselves. He also wrapped a blanket around Jem and Scout when Miss Maudie’s house caught on fire. One of the kindest things he did in the book was when he saved his neighbors, Jem and Scout, from being killed by Bob

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

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

Causing him to be a suspicious individual to the rest of the world. According to Scout, he’s a “...malevolent phantom” (Lee 10) Although Jem has never seen Boo in person. Scout states; “People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him.” People in Maycomb made up images and stories in their heads about him, making him up to be a monster. (Lee 10) Atticus explains to Scout and Jem that the reason why he lives like this is he has “had trouble with the law, and fell into the wrong crowd.” Which made him give off the wrong impression to most people (Lee 12 ). Throughout the whole story, he shows countless acts of courage and has a huge impact on Scout and Jem. Even though he couldn’t escape his house, he still had a big impact on Scout and Jem. Firstly, one of the many acts of courage he wanted to give gifts to the children by leaving them in the tree in which they climbed. Boo leaves Jem thinking that the reason why he’s doing all of this is simply because he is lonely and Scout heard Boo crying. Secondly since Scout and Jem are so special to him, he saved them from Bob Ewell. There were tons of rumours going around about Boo Radley, which isn’t a surprise considering the town is full of racists and all people do is gossip. Despite the fact that people see him as a monster, he looks past that and decides to act nothing but kind to them. Considering the fact that

He is gossiped about in the lowest style imaginable and is described to be some sort of savage. “People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze… people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated:” (page 9) Boo is portrayed to be a peeping tom and a mutilator and again without any evidence or facts the entire community trusts the rumor anyway. Because it is a rumor, however, the individuals of Maycomb are mystified, thus, bringing mystery into the novel. Because he is very pale from never going outside, he is compared to a ghost and an evil spirit. “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom.” (page 9) A phantom usually involves a negative connotation and the fact that Boo is called a malevolent phantom further encourages the sense of mystery and suspense because he is described to be very evil leading the reader in a state of curiosity and uncertainty. Likewise, the theme of mystery and feeling of curiosity both contribute to the success of the novel by engaging the reader. Boo is a very important contributor to the novel by adding these aspects of

Boo had a million rumors spread about him that were never even true but he was so shy to show everyone the real him. So even though he was never seen he was always there keeping an eye out for Jem and Scout. Believe it or not Boo was actually a very caring and compassionate child but never had the nerve to express that part of him nor would anyone even get close to him. While Scout and Jem were walking home from Scout’s previous play at her school Jem thought he could hear someone following them, and he thought right. Mr. Bob Ewell the towns scum jumped out at Jem and Scout insanely drunk and nearly tried killing Jem he did brake jem’s arm and knock him unconscious but before he could do any more damage to Jem and any damage at all to Scout Boo Radley stepped in.

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

Since Scout and Jem could remember, Boo was in his house, never to be seen, no one ever got to know him, and no one asked him how he felt. It was said that he stabbed his parents, and sometimes he would walk around at night looking into peoples windows: “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch… his hands were bloodstained… there was a long jagged scar that ran across his face: what teeth he had were yellow and rotten, his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (Lee 16) This description was given by Jem, who had never seen Boo, but planted in the mind of himself and his sister that Boo was a bloodthirsty savage. As the kids grew up, later in the story they eventually understood how Boo felt, they grew out of their naivety, and looked at things through Boo’s eyes.

However, all the neighborhood legends about Boo were contradictory to what Boo’s true nature was. He rescued Scout and Jem from being murdered by Mr. Ewell, and in the brief time he was physically present in the book, he showed no signs of malice. He was almost brought into the spotlight because he was the one who stabbed Mr. Ewell in order to rescue the children, but that would hurt Boo because of his content life of solitude. “ To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight-to me, that’s a sin.” (Lee 369-370). Scout also observes on the same page when Atticus tells the cover story to save Boo, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it?”. Scout was right to say so because it is true that Boo would have suffered a great deal when he was the one who saved the lives of Jem and Scout. Boo Radley

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Boo Radley is known among the people of Maycomb as a violent, mysterious phantom of a man; someone who started a gang, someone who stabbed his own father, and someone who was rumoured to eat live animals. Every crime was his doing, and to make all of this even more ominous, he only comes out of his droopy, sick, house at night to peer into people’s windows. As the children have never seen him, he is not viewed as a human being, but as some sort of monster. The children’s fear is reasonable as he has only been described as villainous.

Scout, Jem, and Dill work many summers to try to get Boo to come out of the Radley house for the first time in many years. Jem had been told many things about Boo in his short years in Maycomb, and he tells his sister Scout about the ‘monster’, saying, “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 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 drooled most of the time” (chap. 1). Jem’s ideas about Boo are very biased toward rumors that can be heard around Maycomb. This shows how Maycomb’s people often judge before they know, seeing as no one has seen Boo Radley in over twenty years and people are prejudiced to believing the unknown is always bad. Prejudice and rumors can often not be trusted and Boo Radley is no exception. After Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and half the town rushes outside to watch it burn, Atticus tells Scout, “someday you should thank him for covering you up” then Scout asks, “Thank Who?” And gets a response from Atticus, “Boo Radley. You were too busy looking at the fire, you didn’t even notice when he put the blanket around you” (chap. 8). Boo Radley is not really a bad person, he

Boo Radley never harmed anyone, but was judged by the rumors spreading across the community. Although he was not actually introduced until the end of the novel, Boo Radley is set up to be the last discovered symbolic character for the image of the mockingbird. During the last chapter of the novel, Scout comes to the realization that blaming Boo for Bob Ewell's death would be "sort of like shooting' a mockingbird." (chapter 30). Getting Boo sent to jail or killed would be like killing a mockingbird. Boo is truly a good person. He left gifts for Jem and Scout in the trunk of a tree, he wrapped a blanket around them when Miss Maudie's house caught on fire, and he saved them from Bob Ewell when he tried to murder them. Boo Radley is a victim of Maycomb's social prejudice and a perfect representation of Harper Lee's description of the mockingbird.

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