Coming of Age: Boo Radley
Coming of age is an event that occurs in everyone 's life. Coming of age happens in a different place and a different time in everyone 's life. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, coming of age is an important thing that happens to most characters in the book such as Arthur Radley, or otherwise known as Boo Radley in the book. Boo Radley is one of the biggest mysteries in To Kill A Mocking, for Boo is only talked about by people who don’t know what happened to him, although throughout the story Scout and Jem come to understand him more because he has taken a liking to the children. Harper Lee uses specific events throughout the book to help develop depth and understanding to Boo Radley.
One of the first events in the book that helps in the character development of Boo Radley is when he was in his teens. Boo was hanging out with the wrong crowd and one day him and that crown got into some trouble with the law and while
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The last event that would help the character development of Boo Radley is when he protected Scout and Jem in the way that he could. While Scout and Jem were walking home late at night they suspect that someone is behind them and that they were about to be attacked, and they were, Boo Radley stepped in and saved the children. “We stopped and listened. shuffle - foot had not stopped with us this time. His trousers swished softly and steadily. Then they stopped. He was running, running towards us with no child 's steps… Before he went inside the house, he stopped in front of Boo Radley. “Thank you for my children, Arthur”” (To Kill A Mockingbird). Boo Radley was changed in this event because his affection towards the children is understood wildly. Boo Radley was ready to protect Scout and Jem at all cost, he was willing to kill someone who would harm them. After sherif, Mr. Tate, found out it was Boo that killed Walter Cunningham, he wanted to cover up the murder. Convicting Boo Radley would be “... like shootin’ a
This explains how Boo had to get out of his comfort zone of staying in his house to do the heroic service of protecting Scout and Jem, risking the unveiling of his shy ways to the Maycomb community. After both children are safe and Atticus thanks Boo for his children, Scout takes him by the hand and leads him back to his house. As he releases Scout’s hand and shuts the door, never to be seen again, Scout describes him, stating that “He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good luck pennies, and our lives.”. (320) This illustrates how Boo Radley had acted as a guardian angel for the children; socializing with them but also defending them when necessary. Boo demonstrates courage when he chooses to protect the Finch children; resulting in having to murder someone and risk exposure after being a recluse for many
The Pulitzer Prize winning novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” written by Harper Lee portrays the life of a young girl, Scout, and her family who live together in Maycomb, Alabama circa 1930s. Scout lives next to some fascinating people that have legends and myths made about them because of their back story. One of them being Boo Radley. Boo was locked away in his house by his parents for most of his life after committing crimes that put him away for good. After the news got out about his vanishing into the Radley house forever many stories were made up about him.
Innocence varies on the person, someone may be lying or you're actually innocent. Innocence is a big theme in To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee shows many examples of innocence through characters in the novel. Innocence is a big theme that stood out to me. Tom Robinson, hard working man, helps other from the kindness of his soul and attends church.
Just standing on the Radley porch was enough. ”(279). Scout uses her imagination to try and view all the past events that have occurred through Boo’s eyes. When she does this she realizes that Boo isn’t a bad person at all, he is actually kind of like a guardian angel. Boo Radley’s character proves a great point that we should never judge or assume things about another person that we know nothing
In the story Boo Radley plays the role of Scout and Jem’s guardian angel. He watches over them and helps them when they get into trouble. In the first chapters, the kids make fun of Boo, they taunt him. All they know about him is what they have heard, that he is a crazy man. Throughout the story though, Boo proves them wrong.
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem and Scouts changing perspective of Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley represents a coming of age moment because it demonstrates a breaking away from the childlike imagination that had previously explained all of their questions and superstitions about the Radley’s. A coming-of-age moment is the transition of thinking that occurs when someone learns empathy. At the start of the novel, in many situations, Scout and Jem demonstrate childish behavior and thinking when Jem is taunted into touching the side of the Radley home by Scout and Dill. The book reads, “Jem threw open the gate and sped to the side of the house, slapped it with his palm and ran back past us” (18). From this portion of the novel we can tell that Jem and Scout clearly regarded the Radley home and its occupants with novelty and even fear.
" This shows that Boo Radley is the in a way “outside character”. He can sense that there are many horrors of the world destroying the innocence, or the mockingbird in this case, so he chooses to ignore
Since Mr. Radley never came out of the house, frightening rumors spread about him and the children all knew them. They even played games where they reenacted the story that was spread around about him, not realizing how disgraceful it was to the Radleys. Towards the end the book, Scout finally get to meet Boo Radley after Bob Ewell attempted to kill her and Jem. Scout took Mr. Radley home and on the way back she thought, “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.
Rumors swept through the town, ruining a man’s reputation and giving him no reason to step outside of his own home. In To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Arthur “Boo” Radley is the most complex of Maycomb’s residents. Many say Boo is a killer that should not be trusted near children. However, Scout thinks otherwise as she tries to understand Boo herself. She learns more than she figured, as Boo teaches her numerous lessons without even meeting her.
Boo Radley is compassionate for the children as they communicate through presents and the mysterious hints. As Scout grows older her perspective on Boo changes, from a creepy guy to a friend. Boo Radley is the mockingbird to Scout's understanding, just like Tom Robinson was a mockingbird to Jem. From Atticus's teachings she has learned to develop into a young lady. Atticus's lessons and Boo Radley impacted her view on the world.
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.” Little do they know that Boo Radley will play a huge part in their survival at the end of the book when the crazy Bob Ewell Attacks them and Boo Radley protected them, something that Jem and scout would’ve never imagined, But something that the reader could foreshadow. Due to Boo’s acts of kindness like when he returned Jem’s pants sowed after he got them caught on the barb wire fence while he was snooping and around and also the gifts he left in the knot of the tree that helped him build a deeper sentimental relationship with Jem and Scout even if the kids did not know it. Boo had built such a relationship with them that he had done something extremely courageous and protects Jem and scout from Bob
Decide how the relationship between Scout and Boo Radley evolves providing sufficient evidence In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Scout develops a strange relationship with a mysterious character, Boo Radley. Scout, Jem, and Dill are interested in Boo Radley because of the mystery that dominates around him and the Radley house. The town people poorly judge Boo Radley and hearing stories from Miss Stephanie Crawford frightens Scout and Jem. Although the relationship starts out as fear and mystery, as time passes, Scout begins to realize that Boo isn’t the monster they described him as, he is rather a nice and caring person.
Throughout the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” written by Harper Lee, the readers can see how Scout changes her view about Boo Radley. Because of their nosiness, Jem, Scout, and Dill try to drag Boo out his house and to the outside world. Their innocent actions combined with Boo’s actions changed the image of Boo, in their minds, from “a malevolent phantom” (10), a person who kills cats and eats squirrels to a neighbor they can trust, who saves them from Bob Ewell. Scout says at the end, “Boo was our neighbor” (373). The readers can see a great change in their relationship.
Boo Radley represents one of the “mockingbirds” in the book, and a mockingbird is someone that is pure and innocence in the world. He is a good person that is hurt by the evil of mankind. In a lot of ways, Boo Radley might have have wanted to stay shut up in his house after seeing some of the awful acts that the townspeople have committed. But after seeing the Finch kids being attacked by Bob Ewell he had no choice but to leave the comfort of his own home that he has been enclosed in for so long to come out and save them. All though it would have been easier for this man to stay in his house rather than leave and then be drug into court, he did what he knew would be right and rescued the
Boo Radley taught them, in the sense, that you can’t Judge a book by its cover. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout pictured Boo to be this “...malevolent Phantom (Lee 10).” that went out at night and looked through people’s windows. But after leaving them gifts in the tree and putting a blanket on Scout while she was standing out in the cold, Jem’s and Scout’s Perception of him began to evolve from a monster to a person.