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.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
During the fire at Miss Maudie’s house, Scout and Jem, unknowingly, was given a blanket to keep warm. When the Finches plus Miss Maudie return to their home, Scout asks who she should thank for the blanket. Jem proceeded to answer that it was most likely Boo Radley’s doing. This starts a confliction between Scout and her beliefs. Scout has always thought of Boo Radley through the mind of a child, a story that stole her attention. But when she witnessed Boo Radley doing something kind and thoughtful, she found herself shocked and unbelieving. “My stomach turned to water and I nearly threw up when Jem held out the blanket and crept toward me.” (Lee 96). At this moment, Scout realized how real and human Boo Radley and altered her view of the man.…
- 152 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
The author created Arthur “Boo” Radley and made Scout, the narrator, fear him. Boo was always a mysterious character throughout the novel. He was never seen and was often times feared by the neighborhood children. They would run by the Radley house every day in hopes to make it past without Boo coming out to get them. Boo was the character that was always a mystery, but in the end, surprised everyone.…
- 297 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Scout and Jem were taught to see Boo Radley as the town's lunatic. It has been said that Boo Radley had stabbed his father, been accused of killing animals. To talk about Boo in maycomb is like telling scary stories in the dark. The children have never seen him so they don't know if he’s alive or real. “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he…
- 387 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Jem has a imaginative side of him and is descriptive storyteller, He starts to tell Dill and her sister scout about how tall he think is on his very imaginative way“he is about six and half feet tall, judging by his height.” He will tell them why he never comes out outside most of the time and why he's always inside his house or how he sleeps during night to Dill and Scout “(Boo) Mr. Radley always gets chained most of the time in his bed” and then continues on to explain a lot more details of Boo’s personal looks that jem makes of and personality. He tells Dill and Scout that Boo “He eats raw squirrels and any cats he could find or catch with his two bare hands. That’s why his hands were all covered in bloodstained most of the time” and he also says about a some kind of horrible scar on his face and the inside of his nasty/ugly teeth that he could think of so he could give it a more creepier/nasty look of him “he had a huge scar on his face and his teeth that he has are yellow and rotten and he drooled most of the time”said-Jem. He said ”He wasn’t seen over 15 years”(Ch.1 Pg.12,13,14). Jem can be that kind of brave type,but in the inside he can be a bit scared of a few things he try ,but sometimes you can see that boy shake those legs like if he was shivering because of cold air, but was mostly fear itself that made him feel like cold air hit him. He can be brave since he tried to ring (Boo) Radley’s door bell from his…
- 573 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Jem is drawn to Boo’s story, which he has heard all of his life. Townsfolk tell stories of Boo coming out at night and peeping through peoples’ windows, freezing their azaleas by breathing on them, and terrorizing household pets. When Atticus refuses to give Jem details about the Radleys, Jem turns to Miss Stephanie Crawford, the neighborhood gossip. She talks about Boo saying she “woke up in the middle of the night one time and saw him looking…
- 268 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Boo Radley symbolises a beautiful, but tortured mockingbird that is misunderstood and ostracised by both his family and the wider community. He is kept as a prisoner in his own home, kept in confinement by his god-fearing Baptist family. Despite this treatment Boo remains gentle and harmless. However, people tell stories about how he eats squirrels and cats and poisons the pecan nuts in the school yard. To the community Boo is a "malevolent phantom". Gradually Scout and Jem begin to see things from Boo's perspective. Like the mockingbird Boo gives pleasure and comfort: for example, the gifts in the tree, the blanket placed around their shoulders as they watch Miss Maudie's home go up in flames. Finally, he saves Scout and Jem's lives. In turn, Scout realises to drag Boo into the limelight would be like "shootin' a mockingbird" and a cruel betrayal of all the inherent goodness Boo symbolises as a mockingbird.…
- 596 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Boo was locked up in the bottom of the courthouse for awhile because of this but after he came home no one ever saw him. Another reason the kids will never see him are the kids are too scared of him. Jem and Scout claim that there is a malevolent phantom living in the house otherwise known as Boo Radley. Apparently, one time Miss Stephanie Crawford woke up in the middle of the night and saw Boo Radley looking directly toward her through his window. Jem adds that Boo was scratching at their back screen late at night but was gone way before Atticus could catch him. Jem told Dill if he knocked on the Radley’s door he would definitely wind up dead. This started a chain of events where Dill dared Jem to go knock claiming that Jem was scared. Of course Jem wanted to prove to Dill he wasn’t scared of Boo Radley so, he ran through the yard slapped the house and came running back even faster. After he ran through the yard and back Scout and Dill followed right at his heels back home. They all were afraid of getting caught by Boo Radley so they ran all the way home. Jem, Scout, and Dill made…
- 510 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Boo Radley is one of the most important characters in the story. “Hey Boo,” (Lee, 362). This is the first chapter where you actually meet Boo. He is standing in the corner of Jem’s room when Jem broke his elbow. Everybody thinks Boo is this really scary person. They call him Boo because he’s like a ghost. His real name is Arthur Radley. Jem described him as, “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." (Lee,chapter1) This shows what Scout and Jem thought of him. It was a not very good assumption. He turns out to be not so creepy in the way he looks and turned out to be a very nice person which scout didn’t really expect. They realized their perceptions was wrong because he gave them food, fixed Jem’s pants, and gave them dolls over time.She came to expect it as she matured and got…
- 610 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the character “Boo” Radley is portrayed as an evil and creepy specter of a person who prowls the neighborhood at dusk as if to remain invisible to the outside world around him who would otherwise judge and reticule him. He is thought to be all of these horrible accusations as well as others such as dangerous and prone to violence when in reality he is a mockingbird, a symbol of good and innocence . It is not until the end of the novel that Boo’s true character is reviled when he saves the Finch children from a truly evil man who wishes to harm or even kill them. Boo’s arrival seems to serve as a sense of justice in a time much deserving of it.…
- 282 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
One of the greatest mysteries of To Kill A Mockingbird is the shadowy figure and past of one Arthur “Boo” Radley. Being that he hasn’t left his house in years, he is the source of many urban legends as well as a few…
- 804 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
For a majority of the book Scout was told Boo Radley was a crazy, antisocial, outcast, through the rumors spread around Maycomb. Scout did not know anything else about Boo, so she did not think twice about it. One of the stories Scout heard was about how Boo Radley “drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities" (Lee 13). This story contributed to the idea that Boo was crazy. Everybody thought he was heartless and was willing to kill his own parents. Everyone in Maycomb had…
- 816 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
At the start of the story we (the audience) are introduce to the main characters; Atticus, Jem, Boo Radley, Robert Ewell, Scout, Tom Robinson, Calpurnia, and more. Boo Radley in “To Kill a Mocking Bird” is the character that we 1st get to see being judge. Jem and Scout see Boo Radley at first as nothing but a “malevolent phantom" (chapter 1 pg. 8) it states “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” Everything that surrounds Boo Radley would be the rumors and myths. Boo Radley seems to have never came out his house unless it was needed for. As Boo Radley saved Jem and Scout from being killed by Bob Ewell, we (the readers) finally get an actually inside look into Boo Radley. Him saving them (Jem and Scout) showed that he is actually a humane person who puts others 1st before himself, who isn’t what the townspeople say he is. When he performed that act of heroism, both Jem’s and Scout’s views had been understood towards him; really realizing that Boo…
- 442 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The mysterious neighbor to them, never seen but always there watching. When they first introduced Boo, they feared him until they became to ridicule what they did not know. Scout and Jems maturation process is facilitated by how they handle and overcome their fear of Boo Radley, the towns “boogey man”. When Miss Maudie’s house flamed up Scout and Jem stood by the Radley fence, throughout the night someone came and covered Scouts back with a blanket; it was Boo Radley. That was the first night that Jem started to realize Boo is as pure as a mockingbird, just misunderstood. In the conversation- “Mr. Tate was right…’what do you mean?… 'Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?'" (Scout, p.276) took place, it showed insight to a deeper level of thinking that the kids had developed- metaphoric understanding. Jem knew they were wrong about Boo when Boo had stitched up his pants leaving them on the fence for Jem to find and when he did, he cried an emotional silent cry of remorse for they had contributed to the ridicule Boo endured. With this new understanding in chapter twenty three Jem enlightens Scout why Boo doesn’t leave his house; he doesn’t want to, it’s a confusing corrupt world he’d rather not live in. In a way Boo had taught Scout how to empathize with people. As she was escorted by him to his porch she stood there with tears filling her eyes for the man who saved their lives. Empathetic as she gazed the yard “in his shoes” watching memories from the past three…
- 1102 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee one of the characters, Arthur “Boo” Radley, has a major struggle with society. He is an outcast. Boo being an outcast is caused by many different factors, he deals with it in different ways, and his struggle with society is important.…
- 1930 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays -
Boo Radley was one of the main characters in this novel, yet he was only seen in the novel very few times. His role in this novel was to prove to the audience that stereotypes are not always true, since the stereotyped evil character was actually acting as a parent-like figure to the Finch children. The town of Maycomb had created a horrible stereotype over the years of Boo Radley only because of his parents and the fact that he had social issues. Many people including Jem, scout and Dill thought Boo was, “chained to a bed most of the time, 6 feet tall, judging by his tracks, he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch that’s why his hand were bloodstained… there was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten, his eyes popped out, and drooled most of the time,” (pg.16) only from stories they have heard from others around Maycomb. Boo Radley shows the theme of the…
- 1616 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays