To Kill a Mockingbird Literary Analysis on Boo Radley's Relations with the Children
Boo - Who?
You know that old man in every life based movie that no one seems to understand or talk to? Well, in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, not only is the “old man” of the story misunderstood, but labeled a killer. This sets up an odd foundation for the relationship between the children and Boo at the start of the book. This relationship could be described at best as terrified. Scout mentions the Radley place in chapter 1 when she says; “inside the house lived a malevolent phantom”. But as the book progresses the children begin to believe less and less of the tales that have been told to them about Boo, and begin more to base their opinions of him on their experiences with Boo. They come to realize that he really doesn’t want to hurt them, but to be friends with them.
At the start of the book Jem and Scout are terrified of Boo. But as their young minds begin to develop, they also begin to see that what they had been told about Boo was nothing but tales. There are three main incidents that cause them to change their minds about Boo. Think you know them? Let’s find out!
The first event that marks off a new perspective of Boo is when Scout discovers the presents in the tree on her way home from school one day. The first of the items is a piece of gum, but as it goes on, the items get steadily more and more valuable and precious. The second gift discovered in the tree is two highly polished and well looked after Indian coins. The third is a whole ball of twine. The gifts in the tree reach their climax though when Jem and Scout find two hand carved figures of soap, which are of two children that resemble themselves quite well. The next day as they walk past to deliver a thank-you note, they arrive to find that someone has poured concrete into the hole in the tree where the gifts were hiding. The children later find out that it was Mr. Nathan Radley, the very controlling older brother of Boo who filled up the hole. Mr. Nathan claims that the “tree’s dying.
You know that old man in every life based movie that no one seems to understand or talk to? Well, in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, not only is the “old man” of the story misunderstood, but labeled a killer. This sets up an odd foundation for the relationship between the children and Boo at the start of the book. This relationship could be described at best as terrified. Scout mentions the Radley place in chapter 1 when she says; “inside the house lived a malevolent phantom”. But as the book progresses the children begin to believe less and less of the tales that have been told to them about Boo, and begin more to base their opinions of him on their experiences with Boo. They come to realize that he really doesn’t want to hurt them, but to be friends with them.
At the start of the book Jem and Scout are terrified of Boo. But as their young minds begin to develop, they also begin to see that what they had been told about Boo was nothing but tales. There are three main incidents that cause them to change their minds about Boo. Think you know them? Let’s find out!
The first event that marks off a new perspective of Boo is when Scout discovers the presents in the tree on her way home from school one day. The first of the items is a piece of gum, but as it goes on, the items get steadily more and more valuable and precious. The second gift discovered in the tree is two highly polished and well looked after Indian coins. The third is a whole ball of twine. The gifts in the tree reach their climax though when Jem and Scout find two hand carved figures of soap, which are of two children that resemble themselves quite well. The next day as they walk past to deliver a thank-you note, they arrive to find that someone has poured concrete into the hole in the tree where the gifts were hiding. The children later find out that it was Mr. Nathan Radley, the very controlling older brother of Boo who filled up the hole. Mr. Nathan claims that the “tree’s dying.