Boo Radley Isolation

Boo Radley is a mysterious and suspicious character, where throughout the beginning and middle of the book, Scout, Jem, and Dill have a preconception of him being a mean, old man. At the ending of the book, when Boo saves the children from Mr. Ewell, Scout sees how she prejudiced him based on other people’s beliefs. Boo is one of the most misunderstood characters of the book, starting out as a fantasy and a monster, but then he turns out to be very thoughtful, brave, and kind.

The class was very chaotic with many unexpected events including Burris Ewell’s bugs and rude behavior, and Walter Cunningham’s absence of lunch and refusal of money. Miss Caroline did not know how to properly handle some situations because she was on edge nothing seemed to be going exactly going as planned. Not only was Scout able to step into Miss Caroline’s shoes, but later in the novel she got to see what it was like to walk around in Boo Radley’s shoes. At first Scout thinks of Arthur “Boo” Radley as a terrible, violent man who did not love or appreciate anyone. This impression of Boo was made up of almost entirely rumors. Some of these include When Boo stabbed his father’s leg with a pair of scissors at the age of 33, and how Boo would go out in the dead of night and peep into other people's windows. Other rumors comprised of people's azaleas froze when Boo breathed on them, and how the pecans that dropped from the Radley tree on to the school grounds would kill any person who touched it. Besides the rumors, there are some facts that support Scout’s perception of Arthur Radley. One of these is that Boo had gone unseen for a period of 15 years and had no other human interaction besides his

The significance of Jem and Scout attending church with Calpurnia is large because the church that they are going to is for colored people. During this time period segregation was in play, so the blacks and whites each had their own separate facilities for events. Jem and Scout usually go to the church for white folks, but due to the fact that Atticus is currently away they accepted Calpurnia’s offer to attend her church. The kids willingly going with Chalpurnia on their own accord shows that Atticus taught Jem and Scout to not judge people on the color of their skin. Although the people at the church welcome the siblings, there is one particular black woman that is against having them there. As an effect of Reverend Sykes threatening to church her, Lula is contentious towards other people. After Zeebo reassures Jem, Scout, and Calpurnia that there was nothing to worry about with Lula, Calpurnia leads the two to the church door, where they eventually begin mass inside. This is significant because although most white and colored folks don’t get along, the people of First Purchase and Jem and Scout get along just

In Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the character Arthur “Boo” Radley is portrayed as misunderstood, brave, and later on caring. The purpose of the character Arthur “Boo” Radley shows us not to judge a book by its cover. This novel follows siblings Scout and Jem; along with their dad, Atticus Finch. They are a family that lives in Maycomb County. Atticus is a successful lawyer, therefore, he is always busing. Scout and Jem spend most of their summer spying on their neighbor Boo Radley.

Throughout this journal, one can predict the kids will not meet Boo because he is locked up and they are scared of him. One reason why the kids will not meet Boo is because he is locked up. A reason to support this is because he stabbed his father with a pair of scissors. One quote from the book to give you a visualization is “As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants, and resumed his activities” (Lee 13). As you can see Boo can not think through his actions before doing them. He does not see that what he does deeply affects others around him. Next, another reason he is locked up is nobody sees a lot of activity coming in and out of the Radley household. Maycomb is a quiet

For the first time, Scout realizes that Calpurnia “led a modest double life”, “had a separate existence outside her household”, and had “command of two languages” (167). She learns from Calpurnia that people have to act differently based on certain situations or based on the people who she interacts with. Scout starts wanting to know more about Calpurnia, to see what her life is like outside of her home. She wants to step Calpurnia’s shoes and see what her other life is like. However, Aunt Alexandra does not want her to visit Calpurnia’s house; Scout doesn’t understand why, however, since she lacks the prejudice that most other kids would have. Had Scout been living in a different home, she probably would have seen Calpurnia’s other life is inferior to the one that Calpurnia has with them. In later scene, Scout demonstrates his lack of prejudice again at the court scene. When Reverend Sykes asked Jem and Scout if they wanted to go up “to the balcony with [him]” (219), they bolted towards the balcony without a second thought. Other white citizens would probably rather be squished against the walls or stay outside than going up to the colored balcony. However, Jem, Scout, and Dill ran full speed ahead towards the balcony. The kids didn’t care that it was the colored balcony;

they got their church, we got our’n. ”(158). Calpurnia has taken Jem and Scout to a black church and the community there, are criticizing both all of them. This is important because the reason they made the black church was because they are not allowed into white churches. This segregation overall, creates a distrust between the two communities.

Scout goes to a black church with Calpurnia and Jem. “Lula stopped, but she said, ‘You ain’t got no business bringing‘ white chillun here—they got their church, we got our own. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?” (Page 119) This takes courage because they know how they are going to be treated but still go to the

When Atticus leaves on a work trip for the Tom Robinson case, Calpurnia takes care of Scout and Jem. She takes them to her community church, The First Purchase, for black people. When they arrive, a black woman named Lula approaches them. Lula questions why Calpurnia brought white children to their church. She says, “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here-they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal” (Lee 119)? Lula

     The idea of a person living in seclusion in Maycomb, was alien to the children who lived there. Many children were afraid of the Radleys. The stories about when and where Boo moves around to, when he secretly leaves his house, are pretty scary for the children. Jem tell Scout and Dill that Boo goes out during the night when it is pitch dark. He tells them about the time Miss Stephanie saw him looking strait at her though her window. He also explains this is the reason why Miss Rachel locks up so tight (Lee,13). The children believe that many people are afraid of Boo. Because the children hear some adults talk about Boo Radley and how bad his family is, they believe that he is dangerous also. The stories of Boo being trapped in the basement or even locked in his house, we easily believable by a six and ten year old. “ Nobody knew what form of intimidation Mr. Radley employed to keep Boo out of sight, but Jem figured that Mr. Radley kept him chained to the bed most of the time”(Lee,11). Jem and Scout believed these tales, like they were the truth. Being innocent children, they wanted to help rescue Boo. Scout could never imagine sitting in the house all day. She gets bored on

Mr Radley was ashamed of his son’s behaviour when he got into the wrong crowd as a youngster and punished him by locking him up. There is a lot of gossip around Maycomb about Boo and people blame him for any bad things that happen in the neighbourhood, ‘Any stealthy crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.’ Jem turns him into a monster, ‘his hands were blood-stained’, and ‘his eyes popped’. At the end of the novel however, we find that Boo is misunderstood, and gossip of the town’s folk has made him up to be a ‘malevolent phantom’. Scout tells us he is timid, he had, ‘the voice of a child afraid of the dark’.

When the Flinch children moved into Maycomb bad rumors were spread about the Radley house, and soon the children were terrified of this “ghostly” neighbor. Little to their knowledge Boo Radley was not a scary mean person like they thought. Boo taught both Jem and Scout that you should not judge people based on what rumors say. For example, in the beginning of the novel Scout and Jem find a knothole in a tree, but when they kept going to the tree there was always something new, like someone had been putting presents for them in their. “I were trotting in our orbit one mild October afternoon when our knot-hole stopped us again. Something white was inside this time.” (page 79). Even though Boo knew that the kids were scared of him and that they believed the rumors he still put effort into making their day and giving them something. Another example was at the very end of the novel when Boo Radley saved Jem and Scouts life. At this moment Scout had a whole new respect for Boo because he wasn't what everyone said. He was better than that. “ A man was passing under it. The man was walking with the staccato steps of someone carrying a load too heavy for him. He was going around the corner. He was carrying jem. Jem’s arm was dangling crazily in front of him.”(page 352). That was Boo that was carrying Jem back to the Flinch house. Boo Radley saved their lives and Scout will never forget him and learned a valuable lesson

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.

Scout, Jem, and Dill work many summers to try to get Boo to come out of the Radley house for the first time in many years. Jem had been told many things about Boo in his short years in Maycomb, and he tells his sister Scout about the ‘monster’, saying, “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” (chap. 1). Jem’s ideas about Boo are very biased toward rumors that can be heard around Maycomb. This shows how Maycomb’s people often judge before they know, seeing as no one has seen Boo Radley in over twenty years and people are prejudiced to believing the unknown is always bad. Prejudice and rumors can often not be trusted and Boo Radley is no exception. After Miss Maudie’s house catches fire and half the town rushes outside to watch it burn, Atticus tells Scout, “someday you should thank him for covering you up” then Scout asks, “Thank Who?” And gets a response from Atticus, “Boo Radley. You were too busy looking at the fire, you didn’t even notice when he put the blanket around you” (chap. 8). Boo Radley is not really a bad person, he

Boo is like a monster to Dill, Jem and Scout throughout the beginning of the novel although once the children see that he leaves them gifts inside a knothole in the tree in between their houses. He is only seen on one occasion in the novel, although he is talked about many times because Scout and Jem take an interest in him once they start to find out who he really is as a person. Boo Radley never really left his house even when he could simply because