To Kill A Mockingbird Boo Radley Analysis

Set in the town of Maycomb County, this novel describes the journey of two young kids growing up in a small-minded town, learning about the importance of innocence and the judgement that occurs within. The individuals of Maycomb are very similar, with the exception of Arthur “Boo” Radley, the town’s recluse. Boo Radley has never been seen outside, and as a result of this, the children in the town are frightened of him and make up rumors about the monstrous things he allegedly does. This leaves the individuals in the town curious as to if Boo Radley really is a “malevolent phantom” like everyone assumes that he is or if he is just misunderstood and harmless. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Boo Radley is a saviour. This is

Mr. Underwood, editor of The Maycomb Tribune, likened Tom’s death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children. Tom Robinson does not harm anyone like mockingbirds. In Chapter 19, Link Deas, Tom’s employer, rises from the audience and announces that Tom has been worked for him for eight years, and Tom never causes him any trouble. Tom is always glad to help if someone is needed like mockingbirds are always singing their heart out for everyone. During the trial, Tom states that “Seemed like every time I passed by yonder she’d have some little somethin’ for me to do----choppin’kindlin’, totin’ water for her.” (Lee 218) When Atticus asks Tom if he is paid for his services, Tom says “No suh, not after she offered me a nickel the first time. I was glad to do it, Mr. Ewell didn’t seem to help her non, and neither did the chillum.” (Lee 218) Ironically, Mayella is the person who receives Tom’s services, but she is also the one who “kills” him. Accroding to Mr. Underwood, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed.” (Lee 276) Prison guards shoot Tom down with seventeen bullets on his body, and it is a sin to do

On the other hand, Tom Robinson could also be the symbolic “mockingbird”. For instance, while examining Toms behavior, Scout realizes that, “Tom Robinson 's manners were as good as Atticus 's.” and say’s, “Until my father explained it to me later, I did not understand the subtlety of Tom 's predicament: he would not have dared strike a white woman under any circumstances and expect to live long, so he took the first opportunity to run” (Lee 197) This belief indicates that Tom is a very polite gentleman who is innocent. Being a man of color, he ran that night as self defence, not because he did something wrong. He did not want to hurt Mayella, as the gentleman he is, but in such circumstances he was forced to do so. Therefore, during the trial, he does not claim that mayella is a liar, instead he says, “I say she’s mistaken in her mind”. (Lee 167) He is a gentleman and an innocent man who doesn 't mean any harm. Also, while explaining about Tom’s death, ‘They shot him,’ said Atticus. ‘He was running. It was during their exercise period. They said he just broke into a blind raving charge at the fence and started climbing over. Right in front of them...”(Lee

Mockingbirds will only sing their hearts, not cause any damage or give their lives to pleasing others. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird great examples are shown of different types of mockingbirds. Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Arthur (Boo) Radley are great examples of representing a mockingbird.

3. Tom's version is that Mayella invited him inside, then threw her arms around him and began to kiss him. Tom tried to push her away. When Mr. Ewell arrived, he flew into a rage and beat up his own daughter, while Tom ran away scared.

In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout narrates the novel by telling the story of how Jem broke his arm. Atticus Finch is the father of two kids, Jem and Scout, who always get into trouble and are the most mischievous and nosy kids around. Atticus is a lawyer who is in a case defending a black man named Tom Robinson, who is harmless and innocent, while the kids are always tormenting and bothering the innocent Boo Radley. Because they are innocent and harmless, but treated with suspicion, both Boo and Tom exemplify the symbol of the mockingbird in this novel. Tom Robinson is represented by a mockingbird in this story by always being innocent and never harming, but always being tormented.

For instance, during the trial, Mayella was depicted as an innocent, feeble victim, however, Atticus attacks this false image and he tells the jury, “She [Mayella] was white and she tempted a Negro” (Paragraph 6) According to Atticus’s theory, Mayella had never been raped and had lied to bury the evidence of her offense, an act that went against all social order in Maycomb, thus inspiring feelings of disgust and disbelief within the jury. By antagonizing Mayella, Atticus causes the jury to question Mayella’s word and no longer regard her with pity, by revealing her true colors. Atticus also appeals to the jury’s emotions, when he describes Tom to the jury, “And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro...had to put his word against two white people’s” (Paragraph 8). Atticus effectively breaks the racial barriers and strips the jury from their prejudiced views of blacks, by presenting Tom as a respectable and humble man. Above all, by demonstrating how Tom was like any other respectable man, regardless of his skin color, Atticus evokes sympathy within the jury through causing them to consider the unfairness of his trial, considering the prejudice present in the courtroom. Atticus also attempts to garner the jury’s pity for Tom, when he states, “...my pity does not extend so far so as to her [Mayella] putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in effort to rid her of her own guilt” (Paragraph 3). Atticus explains how Mayella’s true motive for accusing Tom was to cover up her offense, kissing a Negro, and she went as far as to even jeopardizing his life. By revealing Mayella’s selfish motive, Atticus presents Tom as the real victim, rather Mayella. Therefore, Atticus is able to convey Tom’s innocence in the case and evoke the jury’s pity, considering that Tom’s life was entirely dependent on an unreliable chief witness’s testimony.

This quote explains how even though Atticus knew he would lose the case, he still tried his hardest to emancipate Tom. Any other lawyer in Maycomb would have abandoned the case the moment they found out he was a black man, but Atticus tried his best to fight the battle of racism. Atticus has worked day in and day out on the case, even though he knew it was over from the beginning. Scout said,“‘Do all lawyers defend n-negroes, Atticus?’... ‘I’m simply defending a negro- his name’s Tom Robinson…’”(75).This proves Atticus saw Tom as a human and does not want his children to just think of him as a black. When Atticus says Tom, he emphasizes his humanity and who he is as a person and not his skin color. Atticus represents his beliefs in equality while taking this case and puts racial viewpoints behind as he chases after

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.

Mayella was young, poor and uneducated. She lived with and was very dependent on her father. Mayella tried to seduce Tom Robinson, and Bob Ewell , her father, saw them through the window. Mayella tried to cover up her own actions from her father out of fear of getting beaten even more than normal. If Mayella would have taken responsibility for the actions she made Tom would have never been killed. Her personal fears of her father and what Maycomb would say about her caused the death of a innocent

Mayella over exaggerated which made Atticus believe she was lying, not just that, but she also got her points mixed up. Tom was straight up forward and was clear on his answer. Tom never raped Mayella, but he is a negro so of course the white people of Maycomb would believe he is guilty. Tom Robinson is metaphorically portrayed as a mockingbird because he was wrongly convicted of rape just because he was a negro when he was innocent this whole

Tom Robinson, Jem and Scout Finch along with Boo Radley represent a Mockingbird because they were given negative consequences when expressing no harm. First off, Tom Robinson, a black man who provide pleasure to the folks he encounters. Yet the accusation of rape lead fingers pointing towards him. He was no way harming anyone while helping Mayella with chores around the home. During the trial evidence was laid out for Atticus to point out Tom wasn't guilty in the first place.

Tom is a black man with a wife and kids whose work choices have been limited by his crippled left arm, a result of an unfortunate farm accident. He was never well educated but made a good living from working on Mr. Link Deas's farm, the route to which passed right by the Ewell's shack. Sometimes during his daily walk by the Ewell's Mayella would ask him to come inside and do a chore, a request which he obliged out of the kindness of his heart. One day however, upon walking inside to help Mayella with the door hinge, Tom claims that she suddenly kissed him, saying, "'She she never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss a nigger. She says what her papa do don't count'" (260).

To Kill a Mockingbird, the novel written by Harper Lee deals with problems in the town of Maycomb that need someone to help solve and work through. Although this man was not physically present in most of the story, Boo Radley helps the kids in different ways that prove he is a hero. In the novel, Boo Radley is heroic because he was always trying to keep the children innocent by shielding them away from more mature problems happening in town and he is protective of them and would help them if it was necessary in a more physical aspect.

Tom Robinson is the most easily identifiable mockingbird in this story. Although he is a peaceful, respectful man who helps Mayella Ewell without asking for anything in return, he is falsely accused and dies tragically as a result. Mr. Underwood, Maycomb’s newspaper editor, likens Tom’s death to the “senseless slaughter of innocent songbirds by hunters and children” in the editorial he writes immediately after the Negro’s death. As shooting a mockingbird results in the loss of a sweet song-maker, the death of Tom brings no good fruit—it only satisfies the destructive racial prejudice of the South. Tom is also targeted for the same reasons that mockingbirds are targeted