The blanket put over Scout during Miss Maudie’s house fire symbolizes the overall protection and kindness of Boo Radley towards the Jem and Scout in the book. One of Boo’s kind gestures towards the middle of the book was when Jem went back to the Radley house for his pants. He found them folded nicely across the fence and sewed together, showing that Boo was being nice and leaving Jem’s pants fixed and in an easily accessible place. The blanket, though, appears during the house fire and isn't noticed until later on when Scout states, “Thank who…” followed by Jem’s statement “Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you”. (Lee. 96 )This shows that although the kids do not notice Boo’s protectiveness, it is still present and will be there when needed. …show more content…
341). In an article on gradesaver.com, it says, “that the blanket symbolizes Boo Radley’s kindness and the misinterpretation the children had about his character.” At the end of the book the kids misconception of Boo disappears as they realize the true character of Boo Radley and all of his kind and protective gestures. When Jem and Scout are attacked in the wood, Boo Radley is there to protect them by fighting off and even killing the attacker. Boo’s attempt at communication with the kids shows his kindness towards the kids by leaving little things for them in the
This explains how Boo had to get out of his comfort zone of staying in his house to do the heroic service of protecting Scout and Jem, risking the unveiling of his shy ways to the Maycomb community. After both children are safe and Atticus thanks Boo for his children, Scout takes him by the hand and leads him back to his house. As he releases Scout’s hand and shuts the door, never to be seen again, Scout describes him, stating that “He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good luck pennies, and our lives.”. (320) This illustrates how Boo Radley had acted as a guardian angel for the children; socializing with them but also defending them when necessary. Boo demonstrates courage when he chooses to protect the Finch children; resulting in having to murder someone and risk exposure after being a recluse for many
Personal beliefs are shaped by perspective. In order to change someone’s opinion, their point of view has to be altered. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lee shows the change in Scout Finch’s beliefs as she matures and her perspective changes. We can see this when Scout evaluates Walter Cunningham’s different way of life at her supper table, when she starts to witness the social inequalities in Maycomb, Alabama during Tom Robinson's trial, and when she learned the truth about her childhood monster, Boo Radley. While Walter Cunningham sat at the Finch’s table for Dinner, Scout, who had previously beat him up that day, was furious because he was the reason her teacher Miss Caroline punished her for the first time.
Scout does not realize that Boo has been placing presents until Atticus says to Jem, “You’re right. We’d better keep this and the blanket to ourselves. Someday, maybe Scout can thank him for covering her up” (Lee 72). Scout is confused by who Atticus is referring to until he says, “Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the
Lastly is when the children were attacked, Boo protected them. These are all examples of how Boo helped the kids. Towards the end of the novel, after the kids realize all the nice things Boo has been doing for them, they start to change their opinions. They realize he is not a crazy man, he is just a person. A person that has helped them.
To the children, so much as entering the front yard of the Radley house is a terrifying feat. At this time, the children do not understand Boo’s situation, as they have yet to meet him and know little about him apart from the stories. In the end, the children learn that Boo has been watching them all along and has even been a helpful presence in their lives. He was the one who left gifts in the tree outside the Radley yard for Scout and Jem, and he gave Scout a blanket during the fire. More importantly, however, Boo was the mysterious figure who saved the Finch children from Bob Ewell’s attack.
Throughout the novel, the children befriend Boo Radley, since he is a shut in and many children of the neighborhood are quite curious as to what he does inside all of the time. Boo and Scout came specifically close, him giving her a blanket when Maudie Atkinson’s house burned down and at the climax point when he makes his initial known physical appearance as he saves Scout and Jem when Bob Ewell attacks them. After the Tom Robinson trial, Jem and Scout are finally starting to see from his perspective as Jem says “Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay inside.
In To Kill a Mockingbird there were many characters who were misjudged such as Tom Robinson, Atticus Finch, and even Calpernia but the character who was most misjudged was Boo (Arthur) Radley because of the incident that he had with his father as a child, which was when people started viewing him as a monster when in reality he wasn’t. Flash back several years before Scout and Jem were even born, Boo Radley liked to hang out with the Cunningham's, who weren't the best group to hang around with, but he did. They ended up doing some not so good stuff, they were charged for " disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female." So right there people started
Arthur Radley, colloquially known as Boo Radley, is a reclusive man who refrains from leaving his house. This is a significant social faux pas in Maycomb, and as a result, he is highly gossiped about by the townspeople and negative rumors constantly circulate regarding him and how he is mentally ill and should be feared. At the beginning of the novel, Scouts perception of Boo Radley is no different. As the novel progresses Scout slowly begins to empathise more with Boo; and she begins to fear him less after various events in the novel, such as the times Boo leaves Scout and Jem presents (59-60) and the time Boo places a blanket on Scout 's shoulders during the fire at Miss Maudie’s house (71-72). Scout’s empathy towards Boo Radley is really only fully developed by the end of the novel when Boo saves Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell.
Instead, he was nice enough to put a blanket over Scout Finch’s shoulders during a neighbor’s house fire. Later, after Tom Robinson’s trial, Jem Finch finally understood why Boo was staying inside his house. “I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all the time . . . it’s because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 259).
(Lee 77). This showed the children’s perception of the Radley Place, a horrifying haunted house. Since it already seemed terrifying in the day, for Jem to visit during the night, it showed his courage, as many children in the neighborhood would not commit such and act. Another form of courage shown by Jem is when he and Scout took items from the Radley’s tree, as explained by Harper Lee: “From then on, we considered everything we found in the knot-hole our property” (Lee 79). This reveals Jem’s courage as he proceeds to the Radley Place when other children would not dare to go near the house, and accepted the items that Boo gave them as a gift.
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.” Little do they know that Boo Radley will play a huge part in their survival at the end of the book when the crazy Bob Ewell Attacks them and Boo Radley protected them, something that Jem and scout would’ve never imagined, But something that the reader could foreshadow. Due to Boo’s acts of kindness like when he returned Jem’s pants sowed after he got them caught on the barb wire fence while he was snooping and around and also the gifts he left in the knot of the tree that helped him build a deeper sentimental relationship with Jem and Scout even if the kids did not know it. Boo had built such a relationship with them that he had done something extremely courageous and protects Jem and scout from Bob
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
At this point, Boo was thought of as a watchful protector and a true neighbor to the children. As with all relationships, this one changed many different times throughout To Kill A Mockingbird. Boo went from being the children’s biggest fear to their biggest hero. At the end of the novel, the kids not only admired Boo, but also were thankful for him.
Boo Radley taught them, in the sense, that you can’t Judge a book by its cover. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout pictured Boo to be this “...malevolent Phantom (Lee 10).” that went out at night and looked through people’s windows. But after leaving them gifts in the tree and putting a blanket on Scout while she was standing out in the cold, Jem’s and Scout’s Perception of him began to evolve from a monster to a person.
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.