Why Is Boo Radley Excluded From Society

Initially, Boo is reclusive and seems unhinged. The children gossip that “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). While the children gossip about Boo Radley, it is brought to light that Boo had apparently stabbed his father and was known to stir up violence. The dark rumors of him committing violent acts towards others characterizes Boo as a despicable monster who is known to incite violence. Lee includes Boo’s acts of violence to highlight how, to the people of Maycomb, Boo’s appears to be savage and aloof.

Mr. Dolphus Raymond is a wealthy white man who lives with his black mistress and children. Raymond pretends to be a drunk so that the citizens of Maycomb will have an explanation for his behavior. In reality, he is simply tired by the hypocrisy of white society and prefers living among

Aila Reich Mrs.Jeans Honor English 10 28 March 2024 Generational Judgment In Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, the Southern, traditional views affect the perspectives of the citizens in small town Maycomb, Alabama. With orthodox views, Maycomb has molded into a judgemental society with little room for progressive thoughts and actions. The judgmental mood of Maycomb's people can be analyzed through racism and traditional ideals. These ideals are especially prominent through Cousin Francis, Mrs. Dubose and Aunt Alexandra. Maycomb has undergone many years of instilling racist opinions and viewpoints generation after generation.

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’.

In the book, Scout and Jem are inadvertently deceived about Boo Radley. Boo is a shut-in whose reclusive lifestyle is viciously commented on by the residents of Maycomb. The gossip spurs Scout’s and Jem’s fascination with Boo Radley and drives them to incorporate Boo into their games and activities.

A malevolent phantom. Bloodstained hands. Eats raw squirrels. As following the typical outline for prejudice in small town Maycomb, Alabama, gossip surrounds Boo Radley, who differs from societal expectations by remaining secluded in his home. During his seclusion, even those who have not met him, such as protagonist Scout Finch, fall prey to assuming such rumors are true.

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

Dolphus Raymond is one of the many victims of racism in Maycomb, as he is forced to live a life of false impressions. After Mr.Raymond let Dill take a sip of his drink, he discreetly said, “...if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey...”(Lee, 200). Mr. Raymond is letting the people of Maycomb inaccurately believe he is a drunk to give them a reason to tolerate his decision to be in a relationship with an African American woman. Dill identifies Mr.Raymond in the crowd of colored people drinking out of his sack then commented, “‘Why’s he sitting with the colored folks?’ [Jem then replies]

Many children in Maycomb have this perception that Boo Radley is a horrific being. However, he has helped Jem to free his trousers from the fence and tried to fix them by sewing them up. After, Boo expected that Jem was going to come back for them so he then folded them neatly and placed it across the fence. After all, Boo has helped Jem and is not as horrible as those

On the day of the trial, Dolphus Raymond was seen up in the negro concentrated area of the courthouse. Jem said ‘He likes em better’n he likes us. I reckon, he lives by himself way down near the county line. He's got colored women and all sorts of mixed children”. Every white person in the town of Maycomb thinks that Mr.Raymond is a mentally unstable folk because he decided to go spend the rest of his life with the negros, in their community.

Boo Radley illustrates the most basic type of prejudice: people do not accept what they perceive as different. Through Boo’s various odd, reclusive, behaviours, Boo is implied to be mentally ill. One particular scene describes Boo’s behavior as “uncertain, as if he were not sure his hands and feet could make proper contact with the things he touched." (Lee 277), this suggests Boo is rather unbalanced. Whether this illness stems from his family's treatment of him or he was born with it he faces discrimination all the same. Within the neighborhood Boo is seen as violent, insane, and a criminal despite actually being a gentle, soft spoken man. Prejudice faced by Boo earlier in the novel foreshadows the larger problem of racism that we see with Tom Robinson. Similar to how Boo is labeled a savage, Tom Robinson is immediately seen as guilty despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The plight of the mentally ill is mirrored to the ongoing battle of racism within the book. Boo is meant to be a parallel to Tom, showing that bias isn’t right for either of them. Boo gives another perspective of discrimination to contrast with racism against black people. During the end of the novel, after being saved by Boo, Scout states “Atticus, he was real nice...."(Lee 281) Atticus replies ”Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them." (Lee 281). As with Boo, the children learn that someone is not less than a person just because they are a member of the "other”. Boo faces these prejudices despite being one of the story’s

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 Chapter 20 of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Mr. Dolphus Raymond reveals some intriguing things about himself. He opens up about “not being much of a drinker” (268), instead he drinks “nothing but Coca-Cola” (267) in his paper sack. But why would he lie about being an alcoholic in public, if it presents a bad impression on the Maycomb community? Mr. Dolphus Raymond goes along to explain to the kids (Dill, Jem, and Scout), that “‘I try to give ‘em a reason, you see. It helps folks if they can latch onto a reason. When I come to town, which is seldom, if I weave a little and drink out of this sack, folks can say Dolphus Raymond’s in the clutches of whiskey—that’s why he won’t change his ways. He can’t help himself, that’s why he lives

Throughout the novel, the citizens of Maycomb county show many forms of discrimination. For most of the book, the children assume Boo Radley is a terrible person. Jem, Dill, and Scout all group outside of the Radley 's house. Since Dill is new to Maycomb he asks what Boo Radley looks like. “‘Wonder what he looks like?’ said Dill. Jem gave a reasonable 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” (13). Then the kids feel the need to find out what Boo Radley really looks like so they go to Boos backyard and try to catch a glimpse of him, but as soon as they enter the backyard they get shot at and they scatter. After Dill, Jem and scout reach safety Scout tells them “Every night-sound I heard from my cot on the porch was

I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this time... it’s because he wants to stay inside.'' This is the first step Jem and Scout take to understand Boo, as Jem realizes that, with all the hate going around in Maycomb, maybe Boo just wants to stay inside, away from society. From now on, the kids become less preoccupied with Boo as their, and the reader’s, perception of him changes. While Boo is still an other, he is no longer a monster and is now more of a mockingbird, an innocent neighbor trying to stay inside, away from the hate Jem and Scout are currently experiencing in