Character Development Of Boo Radley

Zara Imran
Ms. Painchaud
Period 5/English 1A
March 15, 2018
The Character Development of Boo Radley
In the fictional story, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, the characters Jean Louise Finch or Scout and her brother Jeremy or Jem are the children of the lawyer Atticus Finch. One day during the summer the children make a new friend, whom they call Dill. Dill visits Maycomb every summer to spend it with his aunt, Ms. Rachel. The children develop a mysterious understanding for their neighbor Boo Radley and create plans to try to get Arthur (Boo) out of the house since they can not comprehend why he never comes out of his house. Although in Harper Lee’s story the children believe all the rumors the people of Maycomb say about Arthur, the reader

In the book, Scout describes Boo Radley as, “...Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall... he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that is why his hands were bloodstained...long jagged scar that ran across his face...teeth he had were yellow and rotten, his eyes popped out, and he drools most of the time”(Lee 13). Near the beginning of the story, the children are even scared of stepping near the Radley house and considering it an act of bravery when a child ran and touched the house. As the story progresses the children are still scared of the Radley house but not as much and were happily accepting all the gifts in the tree’s knothole. Throughout the book, the children received gum, Indian head pennies, carved soap figures of themselves, a broken pocket watch with a good quality fob, a penknife, a ball of twine, and a spelling medal. These gifts from him show his kindness to for the children, how he wants to be friends with them, and how he finds them as intelligent. Boo shows his kindness and protection for the kids by folding and sewing Jem's pants for him. Arthur also must have asked his brother Nathan to not attack Jem when he comes back for his pants. Another event where Boo shows his kindness for the Finches was when Maycomb had snow for the first time, and Ms. Maudie’s house was in flames. While standing in front of the Radley’s place Scout was

Due to Scout's curiosity for Boo, and Boo’s love for the children, Scout learns many important lessons. She learns that “‘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’”(Lee 30). Through this lesson Atticus tried to teach Scout, she is not scared when she finally meets Boo no matter the fact that she grew up hearing Boo as a creepy and horrid person. Near the end of the book when Scout is dropping Boo home, she sees and understands what Boo sees and feels, and appreciates him as a neighbor and a guardian. Another lesson Boo helps Scout to understand is when Scout and Jem got air rifles and Atticus explained, “‘shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’…‘mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy’”(Lee 90). She is taught this lesson through the characters Boo and Tom Robinson. Tom was shown as a Mockingbird since everyone had known he was innocent but was charged, showing that they were sentencing a Mockingbird. Another reason why Tom is a Mockingbird is even during his testimony, he did not tell the court about everything that had happened that evening, just so that he could save Mayella one last beating. Tom tells us during his testimony that Mayella asked