To Kill A Mockingbird Theme Essay

At the start of the novel Scout and Jem are both terrified of “Boo” Radley. To them, he is a malicious phantom, scarcely even human, the source of all evil and crimes in Maycomb County. Little do they know, Boo will, one day, save their lives. The children’s relationship with Boo Radley changes drastically over time. At first being one of fear and tormenting on the children’s part, it slowly changes to curiosity and finally into one of kindness and friendship. At first Boo, to the children, is nothing

Jem finally connects the dot and realizes that it was Boo Radley that gave them the objects. Jem is confused and seems to be conflicted with his realization. Scout narrates, “Jem was holding his ears, shaking his head from side to side. ‘I don’t get it, I just don’t get it—I don’t know why, Scout…’” (69). He has two views in his mind, a child’s one and an adult one. With the realization that Boo Radley, the childhood monster of his, has been giving him nice gifts, he has also realize that Boo Radley isn’t actually a monster. His previous beliefs of Boo is conflicting with his newfound realization. However, Scout, a child, doesn’t understand and can’t make the same connection as Jem. She asks Jem, “How do you know it’s a man? I bet it’s Miss Maudie—been bettin‘ that for a long time,” when Jem writes, “Dear Mister,” on the thank you card (69). Scout can’t connect it to Boo Radley like Jem can because in her mind Boo is still the monster of the neighborhood, and to her, it’s impossible for the monster to have done nice deeds. Then, later in the chapter, the only connection to Boo Radley the children had is blocked as the tree hole is cemented by Nathan Radley. When Jem asks Mr. Radley why he blocked it, he simply says that it’s because the tee is sick; however when Jem ask his father whether the tree was sick,

When Dill dared Jem to touch the house, Jem was scared because no one knows what happens in that house, or what will happen when someone goes into the Radley’s yard. In the schoolyard of Maycomb county, there is an area where the one of the Radley’s pecan trees falls over the yard, the author explains in this quote about the tree and its nuts,“ but the nuts lay untouched by the children: Radley pecans would kill you” (Lee 11). This quote proves that the kids might not ever meet Boo Radley because they are too scared to even enter the yard of the Radley’s, let alone eat the nuts that come from the Radley tree. One of the last reasons the children are scared is that at the Radley house, people of Maycomb have seen or started rumors about mysterious activity in the Radley house. This quote shows some of the rumors about the Radley house,“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom...People said he went out at night when the moon was down and peeped in windows. When azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them”(Lee

Matt Berman from Common Sense Media commented, “This richly textured novel, woven from the strands of small-town life, lets readers walk in the shoes of one fully realized character after another.” To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of the major messages is identity. Harper Lee lets the people look into the perspectives and identity of some of the characters that make it seem very life-like. In the novel, many characters possess both admirable and dislikable qualities which are shown through their actions. With the nurturing of her father, Scout contains the charming qualities of being courage and mature for her age. The father that instilled these characteristics in Scout, is Atticus Finch. While dealing with the stressful case of Tom Robinson, Atticus maintains to keep the likable aspects of sympathy and strong will. The antagonist in this novel fighting against Tom Robinson is Bob Ewell. Bob Ewell has instilled, in him, the terrible qualities of cruelty and racism. These life-like characters that Harper Lee illustrates gives people a clear vision of who the characters portray.

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

Radley fills the hole. He says the tree is dying, maybe also because of the fear of Boo. Scout and Jem are both in deep sorrow. Although themselves have not realized, the emotional link between them and Boo has been strongly

Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is recounted by Scout, who at the time was six years old. This book follows her journey in growing up and eventually losing her innocence through realising the evil in the world, mostly portrayed by the racism and prejudice surrounding her. A mockingbird is a metaphor for the destruction of innocence. There are three mockingbirds in the text: Boo Radley, Scout Finch and Tom Robinson. Boo has done nothing wrong except sit in his house and 'mind his own business', and has done nothing to hurt anyone else. All that has happened is he has been accused once again of crimes he did not commit. Scout is a mockingbird because she is thrust in the middle of all of the adults and their prejudices. Tom has done

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the main characters Boo Radley, Scout, and Jem learn a lesson that some people will kill or hurt a mockingbird. They experiences this empathy when Tom Robinson gets killed and when Bob Ewell’s hurts scout and Jem. Through the pivotal moment when Boo saves Scout and Jem, the reader understands Lee’s larger message of, anyone can hurt or kill a mockingbird.

When Jem sits down to write the Boo Radley a latter, he says “ We appreciate everything which you have to put into the tree for us” ( Lee, 69 ). This shows that the Jem and scout may not guess who’s doing it, Jem and scouts knows and finds that someone who is kind and innocent is showing friendship to Jem and scout. After writing a letter down to the Boo, Boo feels really good and happy about the letter he receives because he got a present from someone in the maycomb where he is known as a monstrous creature in the town. Most importantly, Boo is brave, but Jem and Scout will be more brave from getting the letter, because someone is appreciating the gifts he have gave for

In addition, another quote is when Jem is peeking into a tree he says, “Tin-foil was sticking out of a knothole just above my eye level…I reached into the hole and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum” (Lee 33). The quote is explaining how Boo Radley knew Jem would go to the tree so he left him

Boo radley is a symbol for the misconceptions and stereotyping of people, Scout gains new perspective, and Boo is a metaphor for killing a mockingbird. Scout was told false claims about Boo's sanity, character, and

One day there were two soap sculptures that were similar to Jem and Scout and they figured it was boo radley leaving all the artifacts. Days later they realize the tree had been filled with cement and Jem and Scout were very disappointed because they couldn't communicate with Boo anymore. When Atticus got home Jem talked to him about the tree and Atticus said ”That tree’s as healthy as you are Jem”(84). Jem realized Mr. Radley had lied to Jem. Jem knew he would not be able to contact Boo anymore.

Boo Radley was the reclusive man who never setted foot outside his house. He is a powerful symbol of goodness. In the Halloween night when Jem and Scout returned from school, Boo Radley saved them from Bob Ewell who tried to kill them by the knife because of the hatred with Atticus Finch. Then he carried unconscious Jem home to the safety of the Finch house. Boo watched Jem and Scout day by day and gave them soft of gifts in a tree outside the Radley place. There was a lot of imagination with rumors about his appearance but he was scare to appear to save Jem and Scout. "First of all," Atticus said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things form his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." Jem and Scout learned some of things from Boo that they could not judge people without knowing them. Boo Radley was one of the novel’s “mockingbirds,” a good person injured by the evil of

“But they also heard rumors that Boo Radley only comes out at night not during the day.” Scout and Jem start thinking that Boo Radley is a scary man or he is evil. The first time that Scout and Jem saw Boo Radley face, was when he saved them from Bob Ewell. Ever since Boo Radley saved them Jem and Scout stop believing all the rumors they heard about Boo Radley. Boo Radley can be compared to a mocking bird because mockingbirds are calm and don’t hurt others. That’s why Boo Radley is considered a mockingbird because he never hurt any known or bothered any known. The sad part was that Boo Radley was killed by couple of town’s people because he never came out because he was shy. (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081010185527AAZEssX)

Rather than being the monster that the town seems to portray him as. Boo Radley testify to be a affable character. Boo Radley exhibits his various acts of secret compassion by leaving gifts under the tree for Scout and Jem. “He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives” (Lee 373). “Having been so accustomed to his absence, I found it incredible that he had been sitting beside me all this time, present.