Boo Radleys

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

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

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

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It can turn what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend,” - Melody Beattie. This quote means that having gratitude for even the smallest of things can lead to a bigger reward. Gratitude can turn into acceptance which is important in any day and age, whether it is the 1930s or today. This quote connects to To Kill a Mockingbird because Atticus Finch teaches his children, Jem and Scout, about gratitude and acceptance. Atticus isn’t wealthy, and his wife passed away, but he teaches Jem and Scout to appreciate the life they have and the people they have with them regardless. Accepting others for their differences is a huge lesson Atticus teaches Jem and Scout. For example he teaches them about accepting Boo Radley, the town outsider and the black community who are taunted for the colour of their skin. The author of To Kill a Mockingbird is named Harper Lee. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961, the year following the novel’s release date. The book was adapted to screen in 1962. Scout Finch is a young girl, between the ages of six and nine, living in the south during the 1930s, a time of the Great Depression, racism, and poverty in the United States. Scout and her brother, Jem, are taught life lessons by their father, Atticus, a lawyer who is ridiculed for defending black people in court.

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’.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a very renowned novel written by Harper Lee, published in 1960. The novel is extremely powerful, especially with its minor themes such as discrimination and injustice. The book centrally revolves around a very well respected and noble lawyer, Atticus Finch, who is raising his children, Jeremy “Jem” Finch and Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. The novel takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930’s specifically in Maycomb County, Alabama.

In the beginning of the novel, Boo Radley had prejudice laid upon him. The town’s discrimination towards him was excessive. He was seen as the, “boogie-man,” of Maycomb County by several characters, including Jem and Scout. Firstly, although Boo was never seen, rumours were passed from parents to their children that he was an ugly monster. The children were told he ate any animals he could get his hands on, and he looked through women’s windows deep into the night. Secondly, the finch children, Jem and Scout, as for their neighbour, Dill, are perfect examples of how children in Maycomb viewed Boo Radley. Scout, being 6 years old at the time, believed that, “every scratch of feet on gravel was Boo Radley seeking revenge, every passing Negro laughing in the night was Boo Radley after us; Insects splashing against the screen were Boo Radley’s insane fingers picking the wine to pieces.” (Lee 55) Through the theme of prejudice, this identifies how the children demonize Boo. This is justified without reason, understanding that they have never seen, met, or talked to

At the beginning of To Kill A Mockingbird, Jem and Scout, along with Dill Harris, their summer-time friend, make it their objective to lure Boo Radley out of the house. Through a series of games, the children spend their summers plotting and creating possible scenarios regarding his life. He is such a stranger to the people of Maycomb, the town in which they live, that the community questions his existence at all. For example, one summer day while Scout was at Miss Maudie’s house, Scout inquired, “Miss Maudie… do you think Boo Radley’s still alive?” (48). She tries to convince Scout that, yes, Arthur Radley is still alive, but Scout still has her doubts, as any child in her situation would. Despite the fact that the community barely knows of his existence, his actions are displayed through the things that he does for the children in the shadows; the small acts of kindness that have the largest impacts on their lives. After the death of a citizen, Sheriff convinces Atticus as to why they should not convict Boo Radley of this crime by saying, “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.” (317). This correlates directly to the stance that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. He has saved many lives at the expense of just one, and through that accomplishment, he is viewed as the one man who has done the Finch family a great service. For that, Arthur “Boo” Radley will forever be viewed as Maycomb’s innocent

“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. (9/147)” Boo Radley is clearly misjudged just because no one sees him. Rumors and assumptions often dictated people’s views on things at that time. Scout is also very vague when she refers to “people,” which could mean that no one really said that. Crazy Addie was convicted of nocturnal disturbances in Maycomb, but people thought that it was somehow Boo Radley who committed the disturbances. Jem gives a description of Boo that Dill and Scout consider “reasonable.” However, the children don’t know what reasonable is, because they have never really seen him. “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. (11)” Boo is also described as six and a half feet tall, and he kills and eats squirrels and cats to survive. This was a description by a child who has never seen the actual person. Children have a lot of imagination, so they tend to exaggerate things. They want excitement in their lives at the expense of judging a man whom they cannot prove anything about. Stephanie Crawford

“You can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family, an’ they’re still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge ‘em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don’t” (Lee, 300) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was written in 1960. The book takes place in a small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression. The book follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though this story, you explore big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a rough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the reality

According to Ruby Wall, who was raised in the Great Depression, “A mockingbird represents communication, being joyful, unity, security, and even purity.” Arthur “Boo” Radley is depicted as a mockingbird in the novel. Accusations of murder constantly spread around about Boo. In reality, Boo never harmed anyone or anything and remains pure. Following the image of a mockingbird, Boo merely wanted to fit into society by being like others. Although he is isolated, Boo continuously tries to benefit others rather than himself. Boo’s selflessness can be seen when he leaves presents for the children as well as when he mends Jem’s pants and leaves them for him on the fence. Another example is when Miss Maudie’s house catches on fire. During the incident, he places a blanket on Scout to ensure a sense of security and warmth for her. Similarly, the other mockingbirds in the novel are merely

One major example of a mockingbird is Boo Radley, who is often prejudiced by others because he never comes out of his house. However, as Scout and Jem get to know Boo, they realize that Boo is actually a very sweet person. For example, during the fire at Miss Maudie’s house, Boo Radley feels that Scout is cold so he decides to brave the safety of his home to place the blanket on Scout, so gently and kindly that Scout “didn’t know it when [Boo] put the blanket around [her]” (96). Many people in the town believe that Boo stays in his house because has mental problems, but conversely, he stays inside because “he wants to stay inside” (304). He represents the symbol of a mockingbird because he used to be an innocent child who was locked up in his house by his father, which causes him to be the way he is right now. This shows how he was innocently ruined by the evil. Despite the fact that he is a closed up person, he still tries to reach to the children, who are the only people who can understand him because they are still innocent. He places things like gum, carved soap, a pocket watch and other objects in the tree to communicate with the children (81). After Scout stands in Boo’s shoes, she realizes that Boo had always stayed inside and watched them enjoy their childhood. Through the example of Boo Radley, Harper Lee shows that some people who may seem crazy are actually very nice and

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

Boo Radley has been the most mysterious character in the story. The children’s misconception of him being equally like a monster, though he was the one who provides Scout a blanket when Miss Maudie’s house was on fire. Atticus notices that Scout has a blanket around her when she came back. He thought that she went somewhere to get that blanket. She explains to Atticus that neither she nor Jem left the Radley yard and do not know where the blanket came from. It happened when they were so busy looking at the fire and did not even realize that Boo Radley put a blanket around her. This shows how Boo Radley is really kind and compassionate. This can be found in page 96 in the 9th chapter of the

Boo Radley’s character is essential to the novel and his “slaughter” despite his random acts of kindness are one of the reasons that the title of the novel was a good choice. Ms. Maudie tells the kids to not hurt the mockingbirds saying, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their heart out for us. That is why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90). Accordingly, there are scenes throughout the novel where Boo helps people. For example, he puts gifts inside the oak tree for Jem and Scout, puts a blanket over Scout to protect her from a fire, and saves both Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell. Although the negative rumors about him are assumed to be true, from his actions people think of him as resembling a mockingbird because he has only been good to everyone. Therefore, his character is essential to the title of the novel since he is