Boo Radley Reputation Analysis

They have no encounters with Boo, until one day, in the middle of the school year, while Scout is sprinting past the Radley place. She finds two sticks of gum stuck in the knot-hole in one of the Radley's oak trees. After a close inspection of the gum, she crams it into her mouth and enjoys it. When Jem arrives home from school, he is horrified to hear where Scout found the gum and forces her to spit it out. Scout complies, but continues to point out the tree every day to Jem. There is never anything there until, on the day that school lets out, while they are walking home from school, Scout spots another piece of tinfoil in the tree. Subsequently, the children dash toward it and discover their prize; a small, purple, velvet box. Upon opening the box, they discover two polished Indian-head pennies. Scout suggests that the tree might be someone’s secret place and they decide to keep the pennies until school restarts, then ask around to see if anyone is missing them. The thought of them being left there by Boo as gifts to them never even enters their minds. Furthermore, the pennies are quickly forgotten in the wild excitement of Dill returning to Maycomb. After some debate on an activity, the children decide to play a game that consists of one of them crawling into a tire while the others

The class was very chaotic with many unexpected events including Burris Ewell’s bugs and rude behavior, and Walter Cunningham’s absence of lunch and refusal of money. Miss Caroline did not know how to properly handle some situations because she was on edge nothing seemed to be going exactly going as planned. Not only was Scout able to step into Miss Caroline’s shoes, but later in the novel she got to see what it was like to walk around in Boo Radley’s shoes. At first Scout thinks of Arthur “Boo” Radley as a terrible, violent man who did not love or appreciate anyone. This impression of Boo was made up of almost entirely rumors. Some of these include When Boo stabbed his father’s leg with a pair of scissors at the age of 33, and how Boo would go out in the dead of night and peep into other people's windows. Other rumors comprised of people's azaleas froze when Boo breathed on them, and how the pecans that dropped from the Radley tree on to the school grounds would kill any person who touched it. Besides the rumors, there are some facts that support Scout’s perception of Arthur Radley. One of these is that Boo had gone unseen for a period of 15 years and had no other human interaction besides his

In addition to his curiosity of the children, Boo also demonstrates acts of kindness and concern towards Jem and Scout. This is evident through two scenarios that occur; one involving Jem and the other involving Scout. When Jem leaves the Radley property after retrieving his pants that were stuck the fence, he realizes that the pants were mended and folded, as if someone was waiting upon his arrival. “When I went back, they were folded across the fence… like they were expecting me [...] like somebody could tell what I was gonna do. Can’t anybody tell what I’m gonna do lest they know me, can they, Scout?” (78). Jem’s realization of the situation signifies that Boo Radley does in fact pay attention to the children and wanted to do something nice for them. By mending Jem’s pants and folding them neatly for him, Boo had shown a kindness that they had not seen before. Boo had also shown his concern for the children on the night of the fire, when Miss Maudie's house was erupt in flames. The children were waiting outside for their father, and Boo realized that they must have been cold, so he went and put a blanket around Scout. Scout had not noticed this until she was back at home, when Jem suggested that Boo had put the blanket around her. “‘Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.’ ‘Thank who?’ I asked. ‘Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you’” (96).

But, Boo Radley is the person who left different kinds of presents for Scout and Jem and even decides to fix Jem’s pants for him. “Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun. I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers.” (find page number). In this town of Maycomb, many people believe Boo Radley to be a scary, no one has seen him for years type of person. After doing these kind acts for the kids like giving them presents, he doesn’t seem so much like a threat to society. Near the beginning of the story, Harper Lee expresses the negative feelings of the people in the town of Maycomb toward Boo Radley, but as the story develops, these kids and some people in Maycomb realize he isn’t such a bad guy after all. “Why, we did. We stayed—’ Then whose blanket is that?’ ‘Blanket?’ ‘Yes ma’am, blanket. It isn’t ours.’ I looked down and found myself clutching a brown woolen blanket I was wearing around my shoulders, squaw-fashion.”...“Jem seemed to have lost his mind. He began pouring out our secrets right and left in total disregard for my safety if not for his own, omitting nothing, knot-hole, pants and all. …Mr. Nathan put cement in that tree, Atticus, an‘ he did it to stop us findin’ things—he’s crazy, I reckon, like

In the book, Scout and Jem are inadvertently deceived about Boo Radley. Boo is a shut-in whose reclusive lifestyle is viciously commented on by the residents of Maycomb. The gossip spurs Scout’s and Jem’s fascination with Boo Radley and drives them to incorporate Boo into their games and activities.

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

While walking home from school one day the children happen to find two pieces of gum hidden in the knot-hole of a tree on the Radley yard. These treasures, the children soon come to realize, can only be from the elusive man himself Boo Radley. Soon enough the children find even more gifts from Boo such as a small box with Indian-head coins, a ball of twine, a boy and girl carved soap figures, a whole pack of gum this time, a spelling medal, and their most cherished treasure, a pocket watch. This knot hole was the only connection between Boo and the children until the hole was clogged up by Boo’s brother Nathan, but because of that Hole Scout and Jem began to see Boo just a little differently from the way they saw him before. Something that also helped Scouts understanding of Boo began to change was during the fire of Miss maudie’s house. While Jem and Scout watched the events unfold from a safe distance a very unusual thing occurred. Scout while watching the fire did not seem to notice that a blanket that she had not come out with was wrapped around her shoulders. After her father Atticus pointed this out he also mentioned that this was the work of Boo Radley who, like the rest of the neighborhood came out to watch the

In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are several characters that appear to be alienated from society, but Arthur “Boo” Radley is the most important to the plot because he causes mystery and curiosity for Jem and Scout throughout most of the book, but the mystery is solved by the end of the book. Boo Radley was, according to the book, as very pale and sick looking with his clothes in very poor condition.

Daniel H. Pink once said, “Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eye. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate but it makes the world a better place”. This quote is explaining the basics of empathy. Empathy is seeing a problem or life in general, from another person’s of view. It allows us to understand another and overall helps make the world a better place.

So, when he told Jem to stop, I’m sure she understood that it was wrong. Next, Miss Maudie explained to Scout how Arthur (Boo) Radley had a very harsh father, claiming “old Mr. Radley was a foot-washing Baptist” (Lee, 59). Scout may not have fully understood how this impacted Arthur, but she did start to feel a bit sorry for him. Suddenly, Jem and Scout start receiving gifts in the knot-hole in the tree near the Radley house! They found many things, “I pulled out two small images carved in soap [...] we found a whole package of chewing gum [..]

She could visualize how it must have been for this scared man to come outside and do the things he did. Boo left his safe haven to give them trinkets and treasures. For instance when scout remarks that, “He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good luck pennies, and our lives. ”pg. 281.

Arthur Radley is a representation of the mockingbird. [insert some background info here.] Miss Maudie remarks, “‘That is a sad house.’... ‘The things that happen to people we never really know. What happens behind closed doors, what secrets—’” (Lee 46) This quote implies that Boo Radley might have been abused by his father. It reveals that Arthur Radley was a kid, who lost his innocence and normal childhood because of the isolation and abuse imposed on him by his father. “According to Miss Stephanie, … Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants and resumed his activities.” (Lee 11)

Arthur Radley, also known as Boo Radley, is the children's childhood mystery man. The rumors circled the entire neighborhood and the absurdity of them ranged from watching people at night to eating raw squirrels and cats. Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill took a special interest in Boo Radley, but what they did not know was that Boo Radley was watching their lives unfold. He served as their protector and even provided gifts to the children to get them through the hardships they went through. ¨Summer, and he watched his children's heart break. Autumn again, and Boo's children needed him.¨(Lee, 374) Despite the horrendous rumors that the children believed about Radley, he is an empathetic person and did not judge them for believing what they believe and saves the children's lives. Empathy was also shown towards Boo Radley from an unexpected character, Mr. Heck Tate, the Maycomb sheriff. ¨...Mr. Finch, taking the one man who's done you and this town a great service an' draggin' him with his shy way into the limelight--to me, that's a sin.¨(Lee,369-370) After saving Atticus's children, Mr. Heck Tate knew that the town would not leave Boo Radley in peace, and decides to change the story to keep Boo Radley out of the limelight. Empathy was carefully conveyed in the character of Boo Radley, and Mr. Heck

They assume that the tales are true, believing, “In the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed , but Jem and [Scout] had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work” (10). The “small stealthy crimes” that Jem and Scout believe Boo committed are only gossip spread around the neighborhood as “Jem and [Scout] had never seen him”. Jem and Scout represent Maycomb’s judgement of people based on rumors as they wrongly blames Boo for crimes he did not commit because their opinion on Boo is based solely on the gossip they hear about him. Scout, Jem and their friend, Dill continue to ridicule Boo Radley as they create a game about Boo’s dismal life, describing their game as, “a melancholy little drama, woven from bits and pieces of gossip and neighborhood legends: Mrs. Radley had been beautiful until she married Mr. Radley and lost all her money. She also lost most her teeth, her hair, and her right forefinger (Dill’s contribution. Boo bit it off one night when he couldn’t find any cats and squirrels to eat.); she sat in the living room and cried most of the time, while Boo slowly whittled away all

For many years, Boo Radley has been in a complex situation, one unlike that of anyone else in the novel. Mr. Arthur Radley, known as Boo to Jem and Scout has always lived in Maycomb, but almost never makes appearances outside of him home, located behind the schoolyard. After an incident where Boo was arrested, Mr. Radley convinced the judge to let him stay at home, as long as he “gave no further trouble” (page 13). Boo never left the house again for fifteen years after this. He was left out of society for so long, that he eventually became an outsider.though he personally knows very few people, mostly everyone knows of Mr. Arthur Radley Instead of trying to adapt to the modernized version of Maycomb, he immaturely remained inside his house.