To Kill a Mockingbird- Boo Radley and His Children

Living in the sleepy town of Macomb, Alabama, Scout Finch and her brother Jem Finch go on different adventures with their foreign comrade Dill. In doing so, they discover Arthur Radley also known as Boo an old man who has never ventured out past his doorstep. There father, Atticus, a peaceful and quiet lawyer and their black maid Calpurnia teach them import lesson about racial equality. During the fall Dill returns home and Scout goes to school. She detests it, for she is very smart and too advanced for the class. During school Jem and scout find a hole in a tree filled with gum. They take the gum, but little do they know that Arthur Radley had placed it there for them to enjoy. Later in that year they spy on boo only to discover that he wanted to be left alone.

Boo is a very important character in the book, in fact, the novel opens with Scout and her interactions with Boo and is closed by it too. Scout learns about Boo though the gossip passed on through neighbors in the community. The stories are scary and many out of context, however, Scout doesn’t seem to notice this till after the trial. At the beginning of the book she plays a game that involves Boo, and she tries to torment him into coming out. When Scout describes Boo Radley she says, "People said 'Boo' Radley went out at night and peeped in people’s windows. That he breathed on flowers and they froze instantly. They said he committed little crimes in the night but not one ever saw him." This shows that Scout sees Boo as an object of fascination instead of a human being. She does not acknowledge that he has emotions or feelings, she just views him as a monster who does horrible things to people. Furthermore, we can learn that Boo is not a very loved or respected figure in the community due to his strange way of living. As the trial takes place Scout matures and her level of complex thinking increases, but it is not until October 24th that we see how her perception of Boo changes since in the trial she saw how badly they treated Tom Robinson and she directly connected it to Boo “I hugged him and said, “Yes, sir. Mr. Tate was right, it’d be sort of

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).

Boo Radley is a ‘malevolent phantom’ and a character that has been shaped by gossips and sustained by children’s imaginations. “Stephanie Crawford, a neighbourhood scold… said she woke up in the middle of the night and saw him looking straight through the window at her.” This dialogue is an example of the gossips and how the legend of Boo Radley developed, lies that persecute his innocence. Setting is used to develop Boo’s surroundings and to summon an eerie atmosphere giving Maycomb reason enough to reject and victimise him for being different. “…rain rotten shingles drooped… oak trees kept the sun away and the remains of a picket fence drunkenly guarded the front yard.” The Radley house has been established as a neglected, out of place and isolated home through Harper Lee’s use of connotative words. This evokes within the reader the same view of Boo as the rest of the town and allows us to understand where the misunderstanding comes from before we

At the beginning of the novel, Boo Radley, Scout’s neighbor that never came out of his house, was a terror to Scout. She couldn't understand why he never came out because she hadn't learned how to see things from other’s points of view. “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough” (Lee 374). At the end of this novel, Scout understands how Boo saw the world and why he didn't come out until he needed to save Jem and Scout. Just standing on the Radley porch made her realize this but without learning the lesson beforehand, she would have never thought to even look at the world form Boos point of

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

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author follows the childhood of the main character known as Jeremy Atticus Finch. He is the son of lawyer Atticus Finch, and older brother of Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout. The family lives in a fictional town called Maycomb, Alabama. In their early lives, the two siblings were infatuated in figuring out the secrets of the Radley family, especially Boo Radley, in the house down their road. At the beginning of the story, their curiosity plays a big part in their lives. This builds during their many experiences and gives the readers a better sense of the characters’ traits. Jem Finch plays one of the key roles in the storyline and has a very brave, emotional, and protective personality.

In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee illustrates a changing relationship, including the dynamic characters Arthur “Boo” Radley, and Jean “Scout” Louise Finch and Jem Finch. Two young adolescents seek exposure to the monster like, hermit as various residents express their perception on Boo Radley, notably Charles Baker “Dill” Harris. This obnoxious character intrigued the curiosity of Scout and Jem to detect the private life of the Radley’s. Fear of Boo overcomes the minors as they detect sorts of information related to Arthur Radley. In the process, the dynamic characters learn information on Boo including rumors that residents conclude being the truth, illustrating the impression of the main characters that Boo is a monster-like creature. As the children instill that misperception contrived by residents, the children began to fear Boo Radley. Intrigued and curious children challenge their fear as they dare to taunt the innocent man and his household that he has not left in 15 years of his life. Boo Radley, the monster perceived elder, noticed these challenges and was fond of the attention. He expressed his thanks by leaving the youth gifts in the knothole of the tree as he expressed his gratitude. The children apprehend the sudden change the behemoth recluse character in undergo change as the dynamic characters. Scout and Jem’s relationship with Boo Radley undergoes alteration as the characters matriculate the innocent character. They

To Kill a Mockingbird is a book that shows both moral and physical courage throughout the book. The narrator, Scout, is a six year old girl who lives with her brother Jem and dad, Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer in Maycomb County, who is chosen to defend a black man who is accused of raping Mayella Ewell the daughter of Tom Ewell. Scout and Jem have a best friend named Dill who visits every summer. They are always daring each other to Boo Radley’s house. Boo Radley is a mysterious man, who never comes out of his house, and in the end is the

At the beginning of the story, Jem and Scout was young , childish and lacked the ability to see things from other's point of view. From the children's point-of-view, their most compelling neighbor is Boo Radley, a man that always stay in his house and none of them has ever seen. During the summer , they find Boo as a chracacter of their amusement. They sneak over to Boo house and get a peek at him. They also acting out an entire Radley family. "Jem parceled out our roles: I was Mrs. Radley, and all I had to do was come out andsweep the porch. Dill was old Mr. Radley: he walked up and down the sidewalk andcoughed when Jem spoke to him. Jem, naturally, was Boo: he went under the frontsteps and shrieked and howled from time to time"(chapter 4). Eventually , Atticus catch them and order

Part one of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird is set in the fictional town called Maycomb, Alabama during the great depression and the civil rights movement. The novel is a flashback of Scout, the narrator of the book, and her childhood. Scouts childhood trials and tribulations, her family and other members of the community in which she lives with her brother Jem. Atticus their father is a lawyer who is widowed. In the flash back Scout talks about her brother, her and Dill getting curious about what Arthur “Boo” Radley looks like since they have only heard rumors. To the children Boo is a very mysterious character.

Throughout the novel, he monitors the children. One day while they were playing a game, Scout tire rolled right in front of the Radley house. While there she, heard laughter coming from inside the house. She thought it was Boo, but she kept it too herself. Later in the novel, it is revealed that the laughter was, in fact, Boo. He also risks his life to save Scout and Jem while they were being attacked by Bob Ewell. Ewell attacked the children while they were on their way to a Halloween pageant. Boo ends up killing Ewell in order to protect the children. This leading up into showing how he is also

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

Jem and Scout saw Boo Radley as a frightening man who was a childish superstition based off of the rumors from the town. As the children grew up the stories about Boo Radley caused them to become more fascinated than frightened by Boo. The Radley house intrigued them to the point where they snuck into the backyard to try to make Boo leave his house but that resulted in the children thinking that every sound they heard was Boo coming for revenge. In the first chapters, Jem describes how they pictured Boo, which 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…”. Logically it is understood just by Jem’s description that the children had no relationship with Boo Radley other than

Isabella Scott Mr. Abney English 9CP Per. 3 6 December 6, 2014 Essay In Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the author characterized Boo Radley in a way that paralleled Maya Angelou, showing how their expanding perspective of prejudice lead to their aspiration to overcome false beliefs created by ignorant people.