Boo Radley's Cruel

In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, characters commonly appear one way, but in truth are completely different people. For example, while Mrs. Dubose originally appears very cruel and mean, she is revealed to be extremely brave. Also, Mr. Cunningham appears to be very surly and angry, but he proves himself to be a righteous individual. Lastly, while Boo Radley is originally portrayed as evil and frightful, he is later shown to be a hero. Harper Lee makes characters appear one way and then act another way in order to show the discrepancy between appearance and reality. First, Mrs. Dubose is shown to be very strong and courageous, but only after she is portrayed as hateful. In the book, Atticus says, “[Mrs. Dubose] was the bravest person I ever knew” (Lee 149). While Mrs. Dubose is shown constantly berating Scout and Jem with insults, she proves to herself and everyone else, including Atticus, that she is a very brave and courageous person. Mrs. Dubose proves her bravery by overcoming her addiction to morphine in the last days of her life. In other words, Mrs. Dubose proves that she is brave and courageous by following the morals that she lives by, which included not using drugs, until the very last day of her life. Mr. Cunningham also proves that while he seems like one who follows

In the book, Heck Tate says, “To my way of thinkin’, Mr. Finch, taking the one man who’s done you and this town a great service an’ draggin’ him with his shy ways into the limelight-to me, that’s a sin” (Lee 369-370). In this quote, Heck Tate explains that Boo has done a great service for the town and he implies that Boo is not confined to his house; Boo is simply very shy. Boo proves himself a hero when he saves Jem and Scout. By saving Jem and Scout, Boo proved that he is not the psychotic delinquent that they thought he was; he is simply a shy, but heroic,