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Boo Radley's Rights In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Boo Radley, or Arthur Radley had been kept isolated from the rest of the community as punishment for one act of delinquency, from what evidence is given in the book. He is seen in public again at the age of thirty-three, after he stabs his father’s thigh with scissors. Mr. Radley then keeps Boo at home after he spends some time in the courthouse basement, and never leaves the house. Mr. Radley and his elder son Nathan violate Boo’s rights to education and therapy, right to participation in community life, and the right to a guardian that would care for Boo’s well-being and interests.
According to the Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons by the United Nations Human Rights Office, those mentally disabled “has, to the maximum degree of feasibility, the same rights as other human beings,” (Resolution 2856). The book does not declare Boo mentally disabled, except for the rumor that he had stabbed his father’s leg with scissors (Lee, 12). However, one must remember that Boo Radley may have been kept in solitary confinement since he was 18 years old, and may have experienced abuse of any type from his father. Boo was supposedly locked in the courthouse basement alone, rather than be jailed with the Black people of Maycomb county. The second point of the declaration indicated that Boo is entitled to “proper medical care and physical therapy and to such education, training, rehabilitation and guidance as will enable him to develop his ability and maximum potential,”

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