Irony drives our lives. In most cases, people experience discouragement from others when chasing after their heart’s desire. Ironically, sometimes those discouragements drive a person’s yearning to achieve the unlikely. In Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, the author parallels Boo Radley to Maya Angelou, showing how an expanding perspective of prejudice leads to the overcoming of ignorant assumptions.
In Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the author utilizes the theme of an expanding perspective to show how Boo Radley longs to show Jem and Scout that Maycomb’s opinion of him is incorrect. First, Boo takes interest in Jem and Scout, thus broadening his perspective on life, and leaves them gifts, such as gum and Indian head pennies, in the
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My sister, Jacquelyn, was diagnosed with infantile onset Krabbe Leukodystrophy, a degenerative, neurological disease that took away her voice and left her to rely on a wheelchair, feeding tube and oxygen tank. Because she had already shown symptoms, she was ineligible for cord blood transplant. Krabbe Leukodystrophy helped my mother see prejudice differently. Public tasks were impossible to finish without ignorant stares at my baby sister. After Jacquelyn’s death at four years old, my mother went to testify in front of the Senate, that SB 1072, otherwise known as “Jacquelyn’s Bill,” should pass so that California’s Screening Panel would include Krabbe Leukodystrophy. Many who opposed the bill assumed that, even when treated, children with the disease have no quality of life. However, this could not be more false. Children who receive treatment have the chance of being completely normal and without disease. By not voting for SB 1072, the congressmen and women show that jumping to conclusions can devastate someone’s life. A life such as the families who find out their child is too late for treatment and will likely pass away before their second birthday. My mother faced prejudice for these people, just as Boo Radley and Maya Angelou
References to the title in Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird suggest that both Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are “mockingbirds.” The reader is lead to understand that the term suggests an innocent, harmless creature who should not be made to suffer. To Kill a Mockingbird is a sin. This book shows Tom Robinson and Boo Radley as mockingbirds. Boo Radley was the victim of harsh parenting and prejudgement. Tom Robinson was the victim of racism.
To Kill a Mockingbird Essay - Perspectives on Boo Radley No one in Maycomb would ever think of going anywhere near the Radley house, that is because Boo lives there. He is the most feared person in Maycomb by far. Throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird the character Boo Radley is depicted as someone extremely mysterious since no one has ever actually met him. He has always been ‘locked up’ in his house and never came out.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is the story of a young girl living in a fictional town known as Maycomb. This town suffers through a lot of adversity throughout the story, but the young girl stays true to herself through it all. The title as many meaning to it, but the main one is about the metaphorical death of Boo Radley in the story. He is the mockingbird because of very specific pages, 119, 323, and 370. Harper Lee clearly tells the reader what a mockingbird is. According to the book, a mockingbird is innocent, it’s a sin to kill one, and they sing plenty of songs for everyone to enjoy. Obviously, Boo Radley would have to be the mockingbird because he fits all of the actions an ordinary mockingbird does.
9. Boo Radley is so important in the novel because he teaches Scout not to judge others on assumptions and that people are really kind. Boo is a character who throughout the novel is judged based on assumptions. The children fantasize about him, yet he is a mystery to them. In their distraction of trying to find out about Boo, they miss him present in their lives. By the end of the novel when Scout finally sees Boo, she realizes how he has cared for them throughout the years and imagines life from his point of view. The children are so fascinated with him because they do not really know who he actually is. They are obsessed with the idea of him. Perhaps this is because he is one of the only mysteries in their small town, the one they know least about. However, Jem and Scout fear Boo, an innocent man. I think it is appropriate that Boo saves them so that Scout would have the realization that you don't really understand a
When Jem sits down to write the Boo Radley a latter, he says “ We appreciate everything which you have to put into the tree for us” ( Lee, 69 ). This shows that the Jem and scout may not guess who’s doing it, Jem and scouts knows and finds that someone who is kind and innocent is showing friendship to Jem and scout. After writing a letter down to the Boo, Boo feels really good and happy about the letter he receives because he got a present from someone in the maycomb where he is known as a monstrous creature in the town. Most importantly, Boo is brave, but Jem and Scout will be more brave from getting the letter, because someone is appreciating the gifts he have gave for
In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout tells about some of the crazy adventures with her brother, Jem, and her neighbor Dill. To Kill A Mockingbird is a fitting title because Tom Robinson could be labeled as a Mockingbird, Arthur Radley could be labeled as a Mockingbird, and because the story revolves around the fact that it is a sin to kill something that only provides happiness. Arthur Radley could be labeled as a mockingbird because he has never done anything bad to anyone. In the novel towards the end, Mr. Tate tells Atticus that dragging Arthur into the light of the people would be a sin. “Mr. Tate was right.”...
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee shows that compassion is important to the story. Throughout the plot, Scout Finch’s father, Atticus, tries his best to prove the innocence of a black man in court who has been falsely accused of rape. There is also Boo Radley, a mysterious figure that Jem, Dill, and Scout wonder about often. As Atticus is preparing for Tom’s trial, Mrs. Dubose talks trash about him to his children and after Jem gives her payback, Atticus makes Jem do what’s right by apologizing. Also, Boo gives Scout a blanket when he sees her shivering out in the cold due to Jem and her watching Miss Maudie’s house burning down in the fire. To Kill a Mockingbird shows that compassion is important to the story with Atticus being
In “How to Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. She teaches the theme of social prejudice. She is trying to teach us how prejudice was back then. One quote from the story that shows social prejudice is “ Until well into the twentieth century, when my father, Atticus Finch, went to Montgomery to read Law, and his brother went to Boston to study medicine” (Lee, 1960, p 5). This shows social prejudice because she is implying that men were expected to study the hard careers and studies when they go to school. This is important because now we know what men will be suspected to do throughout rest of the book. A second quote that shows social prejudice is the quote “Your father does not know how to teach, You can have a seat now” (Lee, 1960, p 23). This shows social prejudice because since Mrs. Caroline came from a richer part of town and went to a high-class college she thinks that since the town is in deep poverty, she thinks that no
While walking home from school one day the children happen to find two pieces of gum hidden in the knot-hole of a tree on the Radley yard. These treasures, the children soon come to realize, can only be from the elusive man himself Boo Radley. Soon enough the children find even more gifts from Boo such as a small box with Indian-head coins, a ball of twine, a boy and girl carved soap figures, a whole pack of gum this time, a spelling medal, and their most cherished treasure, a pocket watch. This knot hole was the only connection between Boo and the children until the hole was clogged up by Boo’s brother Nathan, but because of that Hole Scout and Jem began to see Boo just a little differently from the way they saw him before. Something that also helped Scouts understanding of Boo began to change was during the fire of Miss maudie’s house. While Jem and Scout watched the events unfold from a safe distance a very unusual thing occurred. Scout while watching the fire did not seem to notice that a blanket that she had not come out with was wrapped around her shoulders. After her father Atticus pointed this out he also mentioned that this was the work of Boo Radley who, like the rest of the neighborhood came out to watch the
“His lips parted into a timid smile, and our neighbor's image blurred with my sudden tears. 'Hey, Boo,' I said” (Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 310 pg). In the beginning of the book Boo Radley is presented by society as an evil monster, but as the story progresses, Scout and Jem start to question if the label Maycomb gave him is true. The town of Maycomb portrayed Boo Radley as a evil monster because of how he lives but in reality he is a man with good intentions. He gave the children treats from the
In To kill a Mockingbird symbolism is developed through many characters showing peoples innocence and prejudice. Two main characters that have developed symbolism throughout the novel are Boo Radley and Tom Robinson.
In The Odyssey by Homer, many characters feel prejudiced toward others. Many of these characters have opinions solely based on rumor. Such characters are influenced by many factors,, but all of them lead to improper judgement. In the same context, many characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird also possess such prejudiced thoughts. Through her use of the characters within Maycomb, in her novel To Kill A Mockingbird; Harper Lee shows how injustice and prejudice between African American and white people was impossible to beat at this point in history, however some characters attempt to fight it anyways.
A consistent theme throughout the book is that perspective is everything. Atticus Finch even tells them this by saying, “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” As Scout is walking Boo Radley back to his home after the attack, it dawns on her that Boo is not a monster, but simply a man with no desire to interact with the outside world. She realizes that as she went about her everyday life fooling around on the Radley property, walking to school, and playing games, Boo was observing all of this from his own perspective. The events also teach the children innocence is not to be destroyed as Atticus illustrates when he tells Scout and Jem it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, because “they do nothing but make pretty music for everyone” to enjoy. Out of fear of tarnishing his own reputation, Bob Ewell forces his daughter to falsely accuse a black man of raping her. The man was innocent, yet the jury convicts him as guilty and sentences him to execution. As if that were not enough, Bob Ewell tries to kill Scout and Jem, two innocent kids, merely because their father defended the innocent black man in court. Boo’s innocence becomes evident to Scout the moment the identity of their rescuer is revealed as Boo, himself. She finally identifies Boo Radley as the mockingbird he always
But, Boo Radley is the person who left different kinds of presents for Scout and Jem and even decides to fix Jem’s pants for him. “Some tinfoil was sticking in a knot-hole just above my eye level, winking at me in the afternoon sun. I stood on tiptoe, hastily looked around once more, reached into the hole, and withdrew two pieces of chewing gum minus their outer wrappers.” (find page number). In this town of Maycomb, many people believe Boo Radley to be a scary, no one has seen him for years type of person. After doing these kind acts for the kids like giving them presents, he doesn’t seem so much like a threat to society. Near the beginning of the story, Harper Lee expresses the negative feelings of the people in the town of Maycomb toward Boo Radley, but as the story develops, these kids and some people in Maycomb realize he isn’t such a bad guy after all. “Why, we did. We stayed—’ Then whose blanket is that?’ ‘Blanket?’ ‘Yes ma’am, blanket. It isn’t ours.’ I looked down and found myself clutching a brown woolen blanket I was wearing around my shoulders, squaw-fashion.”...“Jem seemed to have lost his mind. He began pouring out our secrets right and left in total disregard for my safety if not for his own, omitting nothing, knot-hole, pants and all. …Mr. Nathan put cement in that tree, Atticus, an‘ he did it to stop us findin’ things—he’s crazy, I reckon, like
Backtracking years, even decades, one will find the origin of Boo Radley’s knack for violence. It started when he was just a teenager. Fitting in with the wrong crowd, he befriended the Cunninghams. The closest thing to a gang Maycomb ever had, they went around causing, not too much mayhem at first, but soon became more and more violent. The first serious offense they committed was locking poor old Mr. Conner, Maycomb’s beadle, in the courthouse outhouse after they resisted arrest. Now one might be thinking, Oh, that was a long time ago. Boo’s changed. Well, he hasn’t. He’s only become worse since then. Not even thirteen years ago, the town saw Boo for the first time in fifteen years, when he drove a pair of scissors into his father’s leg. Every single person in the town knows the truth; Boo Radley is lethal. This is proof that he has kept his violent nature over the years, perhaps practicing for when a racist pig of a man attacks two children. That is, two children he has been stalking.