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Society in to killa mockingbird
Society in to killa mockingbird
Society portrayal in to kill a mockingbird
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Boo Radley is the “Mockingbird” within the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. “The mockingbird, a serene creature with nothing but beautiful music to offer…. often people respond to situations because of the unknown or past rather than the truth” (Stiltner 1). A Mockingbird is a bird that does nothing but sing beautiful songs.
Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is a Novel about a little town called Maycomb Alabama. This story is about a pair of siblings, Scout the younger sister and Jem the big brother. Boo what people call Arthur Radly, is a local legend who is described as a total of different things. Many people want to be as far away from him as possible but since no one has ever seen him leave the house that caused a lot of different types of gossip that were passed around town about who he is, and what he has done. Boo is portrayed to be some sort of “being” that the kids have never seen before.
Primary Evidence: Jem tells Scout that he thinks that Boo stays in his house because Boo knows that if he was to be seen in public he would be judged by Maycomb citizens (Lee 227). 2. Interpretation: Like a mockingbird, Boo is misjudged and people are scared that he will harm them, but he is actually innocent and loving. B. Claim: Boo radley is a loving giving man who likes to bring joy to
Another thing Scout says about Boo is “When people’s azaleas froze in the cold, it was because he had breathed on them. All the stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. ”Although Scout has never seen Boo or even knows if any of that information is correct, she says all the rumors that are spread about Boo Radley although she doesn’t know him. But at the end of the book in chapter 31, Scout then realized she was all wrong about Boo Radley, “Atticus was right.
Harper Lee uses the progression of the mockingbird references to show how rumors are dangerous because the can alter the view on one’s life. In to kill a mockingbird, Boo Radley is a mystery to the town of Maycomb. Boo Radley has several rumors about him circulating the town. According to Miss Stephanie,”Boo Radley was sitting in the living room cutting some items from the Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room.
People always seem different than they turn out to be in the end. Throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Boo Radley is first perceived as an evil monster by almost everyone. This is because at first the kids just use Boo as a ghost like character in ghost stories, but throughout the book, Scout’s view on Boo changes a lot and she really starts to accept Boo as a friend and neighbor and not just a made up character in a story and games.
In “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, Jem and Scout are scared of Boo Radley because of the mysterious rumors and stories that they have heard. These rumors claim he has bad intentions and he is a mean, scary guy. Because of these rumors, their fear of even going near the Radley house is much greater than their bravery. The lack of interaction and the rumors create uneasiness and fear in the children’s minds. As the story progresses, Jem and Scout’s views and opinions of Boo Radley start to change.
In Maycomb, rumors that are spread compare him to a creature, a stalker, and a criminal of the town, saying "went out at night when the moon was out, peeped in windows, and committed small crimes throughout Maycomb", Miss Stephanie Crawford most likely being the one to spread them. Many of the rumors like these come from the fact that the town does not see much of him ever, he is much like a recluse, which the town fails to understand. Ms. Crawford is also mostly responsible for this rumor in particular, as she claimed to have seen Boo Radley in her window, some night, which is probably wasn't true to begin with. To continue, many of the prejudices in the novel, like this one, come from a lack of understanding and the willingness of the town to their minds up about who Boo is when they truly have no clue. Along with the fact that these rumors spread from a lack of knowledge, the children of the town pick up on the comments and rumors made about Boo.
Throughout the novel, Scout asks many people who Boo Radley is. Many have responded with horrible stories and negative words towards him. But as she and her older brother, Jem, find little trinkets in a knot hole, it shows how all he is, is a man who was imprisoned by the fear of his own father, just wanting a friend. Many look at Boo Radley as a worse person than Mr. Ewell, a man who was willing to kill two children just to get even. If it wasn’t for Boo, Jem and Scout would have died by the hands of Mr. Ewell.
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.
Towards the beginning of the novel, Scout was brainwashed into believing the lies of the town concerning Boo, “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom” (10). For the vast majority of the novel, Scout lived in fear of the scapegoat created by the rest of the town. Boo Radley is an example of a scapegoat- the aspects of society that the people of Maycomb refuse to see, they instead project onto the shadow they have created of him. Many racist white folks believed that “any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work” (10). It was not until the end of the novel, that Scout began to realise who Boo really was.
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.
That Boo is not what he seems. In the beginning of the book, Scout is scared of Boo because she did not know him or what he looked like. However, when she finally meets Boo she states “Atticus, he was real nice…” (376) in this case, Scout is referring to Boo. Boo does many good things throughout the book and is judged based on rumours that have spread throughout the Maycomb community over the years. Finally, without knowing how he looks, or anything about him, people of Maycomb continue to judge
Soon, Jem and Scout mention Boo Radley to their new friend Dill. Being a newcomer to Maycomb, Dill becomes curious and wants to know what Boo is like. In an attempt to give Dill a sense of who he is, “Jem gave a reasonable description of Boo: Boo was about six and a half feet tall... he dined on raw squirrels... his eyes popped.”
Boo had done nothing but stay inside and try to create peace, just as how a mockingbird does nothing but make music for all to hear. To kill a mockingbird was seen as a sin, just as how scaring Boo Radley was also a sin. But as the story continues, the times where Scout sins by bothering Boo lessen, as she begins to understand and see life from Bob's point of view. Scout had ceased to be afraid of the Radley house, even having a “twinge of remorse when passing by the old place, at ever having taken part in what must have been sheer torment to Arthur Radley-” (Lee, 324).