At the beginning of the story, Boo was seen as a monster for Jem, Scout and Dill. They thought of him as they have heard from the rumors. Jem’s description of Boo, “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”. The kids were scared of him but also curious about him. They played games and made up the stories about him. Also tried to lure him out to see how he really looked like. However, it didn’t work. He still stayed mysterious inside the house.
Then the character of Boo Radley had a brief development. In the summer Jem and Scout found little gifts left in the tree from them. Shortly afterward, Miss Maudie’s house burnt down. Boo placed a blanket over Scout’s shoulder as she was standing there watching but no one saw him. Moreover, after Jem ripped his pants on Boo’s fence and left them there, he went back and found them sewed and folded on the fence. Jem said to Scout, "Like somebody was readin‘ my mind… like somebody could tell what I was gonna do....". The story strongly implied that Boo had been watching the kids secretly. He gave them gifts and he wanted to be nice to them even though he didn’t want anyone to see him. Boo Radley slowly developed from a scary monster to a nice, and lonely mysterious man.
In the ending part of the story, Boo finally appeared for the first time. He helped Jem and Scout from being attack by Bob Ewell. He saved their lives and murdered Bob Ewell. Scout refered to wheater they should report the incident, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird, wouldn’t it”. She compared Boo with the mockingbird that was innocent and did no harm and it would be a sin to harm one. Scout also said, "An' they chased him 'n' never could catch him 'cause they didn't know what he looked like, an' Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things... Atticus, he was real nice....". The kids finally realized that Boo was actually a really nice man who was prejudged and misunderstood. At last, they saw Boo as he really was not judged him from rumors and myths.
The character of Boo Radley started out as a scary mysterious monster. Then this character developed and ended as a hero. He was an example of the mockingbird in To kill a Mockingbird. Mockingbirds sing the world beautiful music and do no harm. So did Boo. He has never done any harm to anyone. He was just shy, lonely and scared of meeting people. However, he showed courage by getting out of his house to leave some gifts to the kids and showing himself to people after hiding for fifteen years to save the kids’ lives. This showed that Boo actually has a nice personality but he locked himself inside the house to hide from the mess of society. Perhaps this character implied the result of prejudgment in the society.
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