Boo Radley is the town haunt of Maycomb, rumoured to eat cats and squirrels and peer through windows at night. Most people regard the Radley house with suspicion and fear, because he never leaves it. Though shrouded in mystery, Arthur “Boo” Radley is a perfect model of integrity in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird because he retained his humanity in spite of abuse and was willing to leave the comfort of the shadows to do what he knew was right. Arthur Radley was born into a strict and reclusive family where the common belief was any kind of pleasure was sinful. After getting involved in some minor town trouble, Arthur’s father kept him locked up in the house until he was afraid to leave. He never was seen by the townspeople, rumours began to spread and he eventually came to be called “Boo”. All that was known about his life was based off the gossip and fantasies of various townspeople. Very few people understood him or recognized how sad his life had been. Because he was so mysterious, he became a topic of insatiable curiosity for his …show more content…
He snuck Jem and Scout Finch little presents in a tree, including gum, pennies, a medal, and two soap figures that looked just like them. When Scout came tumbling into his yard in a tire, he laughed. He found joy in giving them gifts and watched them, amused, even when his harsh older brother seals up the knot hole where he would hide the gifts. Though most people did not see it because they judged him based on false assumptions, Boo was a very kind person. Miss Maudie described her experiences with him: “I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy. He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what folks said he did.” (Lee 36) People feared him because he was different, so they assumed all his intentions were evil, though he proved to be a better person than most of
Arthur Radley, otherwise known as Boo, went into hiding in his own house as
He was always kind to the Finches and gave them many trinkets and gifts. He even gave Scout a blanket which is evidenced on pages 81-82 where it says,”’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.’”
‘Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you’”(Lee 76). This quote yet again shows that Boo Radley has nothing but good intentions. He acts with kindness despite the fact that the children he is helping are the same ones who have attempted to torment him many times. He is often seen as a scary man and one that does not abide by the way Maycomb functions
The Radley place was looked at negatively because the town once went through having people’s chickens and household pets found mutilated, and everyone suspected it was the Radley’s. “A negro would not pass the Radley Place at night, he would cut across to the sidewalk opposite and whistle as he walked… A baseball hit into the Radley yard was a lost ball and no question asked. This shows how the Radley’s had a bad reputation but in reality Arthur Radley isn’t really a bad person like everyone thinks he is, he just keeps to himself and stays inside all the time, but he’s actually a kind and brave man. He proves this throughout the novel by giving Jem and his sister Scout presents, fixing Jem’s pants, and in the end saving Jem and his sister Scout from a man named Bob Ewell.
he doesn't make an appearance very much in the book but when he does he Showers the kids with gifts inside a knot of a tree, and even tries to save them when they are attacked by Bob Ewell. He is seen as a monster or a bad person throughout the beginning of the book but soon the children realize that he is a good person. the main people who see him as the Mockingbird is Jem and Scout, they see him as an innocent And giving person. Mr Radley isn't so much as hurt or attacked by an ‘evil’ source, however, is a useful and helpful person when the ‘evil’ source hurts
Yet they still view him as a mysterious figure. Scout recalls, “... crimes committed... were his work... although the culprit was Crazy Addie... people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions.” (13) Scout’s remembrance of how the people were “unwilling to discard” their assumptions even when they knew that Boo was not the criminal shows Maycomb’s prejudice. Scout’s recollection not only foreshadows further intolerance in the community but also shows a perspective from young and innocent member, and how she follows the beliefs of the adults.
Multiple characters are symbolized as mockingbirds because it would be a sin to kill them as they only try and want to be a kind, civil person. Boo Radley is a misunderstood, and kind-hearted man who is represented as a mockingbird in the novel. Boo, due to the county's curiosity and fast pace spreading of rumours, is often perceived as monster “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (Lee 8).
Boo Radley who “was not seen again for fifteen years”, is the most misunderstood person in Maycomb. His childhood mistakes marginalise him from society by a “form of intimidation Mr Radley employed to keep Boo out of sight.” To elaborate, Boo did not intend to separate himself and be perceived as a “malevolent phantom.” In truth, Boo is intensely lonely and wants to befriend the children in which he saves their lives. Similarly, in The
Some say his hands were bloodstained as he ate squirrels and cats. He was also said to have eaten one of her mother’s fingers when he could not find any. However, Scout believes Boo is just a misunderstood friend. Her naive innocence, helps Scout have the will to give him a chance. When Boo leaves anonymous gifts for Scout and Jem, Jem gives a warning about how an item from the Radley place could kill them.
Decide how the relationship between Scout and Boo Radley evolves providing sufficient evidence In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Scout develops a strange relationship with a mysterious character, Boo Radley. Scout, Jem, and Dill are interested in Boo Radley because of the mystery that dominates around him and the Radley house. The town people poorly judge Boo Radley and hearing stories from Miss Stephanie Crawford frightens Scout and Jem. Although the relationship starts out as fear and mystery, as time passes, Scout begins to realize that Boo isn’t the monster they described him as, he is rather a nice and caring person.
In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Arthur aka Boo Radley is a mockingbird because he is a kind recluded person getting harassed by everyone because he’s different but he’s really just a nice person, shy and even protected Jem and Scout from their attacker showing his courage. To begin with, Boo is nice because he gave many things to Scout and Jem through the knothole till his brother Nathan clogged it up with cement because it was “dying” as Scout and Jem thought but really isn’t much proof. “We were walking past our tree. In its knot-hole rested a ball of gray twine”(59) after a bit of talking Jem convinced Scout not to take it yet and leave it waiting to see if someone like Walter Cunningham would take it back. “We went back home.
But in reality, on the inside, he is a good hearted person. Arthur Boo Radley is a man of few words, and even though he doesn’t talk very much, he is defined by his actions throughout the book. Three characteristics that describe this man are: thoughtful, brave, and misread by others. He is incredibly misunderstood because of the talk in the town that has spread. Many people think he is a terrifying man who is a savage that eats the raw animals that he catches, which turns out to be an incorrect interpretation.
Boo Radley had been kept in isolation for so long, he didn’t know how to communicate or socialise properly. He has been misunderstood as a malevolent person, when he actually is a benevolent person. He displays this when he put a blanket around Scout, whilst she and Jem watched the fire. As readers, we are shown social prejudice by the assumptions made about the Radley’s. Another example of social prejudice is the
The novel To Kill A Mockingbird is compiled of thirty captivating chapters. There are many events that occur throughout these thirty chapters, and many relationships between the characters change. One such relationship is the one between Arthur, or Boo, Radley and Jem and Scout Finch. Although Boo only came out of his house once in the novel, his relationship with the Finch children was seemingly the most dynamic one in this novel. Ten-year-old Jem and six-year-old Scout naturally believed almost everything they heard, which is why they believed the horror stories about Boo and the rest of the Radley family that they heard from Miss Stephanie Crawford, the town gossip.
Boo Radley never harmed anyone, but was victimized by the social prejudice of the Maycomb community. Although not established until the end of the novel, Boo Radley is set up to be the last discovered symbolic character for the image of the mockingbird. Harper Lee has done this to illustrate all points of injustice in the 1930s societal town of Maycomb, where rumours and old tales define Boo's life story rather than his authentically generous heart and personality. During the concluding chapter of the novel, Scout comes to the realization that blaming Boo for Bob Ewell's death would be "sort of like shootin' a mockingbird." Boo does many kind-hearted things in the novel such as leaving gifts in the knot-hole for Scout and Jem, repairing Jem's pants, putting the blanket on Scout discretely in order to keep her warm, and even saving them from the evil Bob Ewell.