How Does Boo Radley Change Throughout The Novel

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In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, looking through Scout’s eyes Boo Radley changes from monster to saviour. Scout’s understanding of Boo develops from what her family and friends tell her about him and from different events and experiences she has in her childhood. Boo indirectly taught Scout lessons, and by understanding his story it helped her finally make sense of the lessons other people tried to teach her. Looking through Scout’s eyes Boo Radley changes from monster to saviour, in the book Boo Radleys monstrous reputation is introduced as early as page 9, when Scout describes Boo as a “malevolent phantom” making the reader, like dill curious to learn more about him. Through most of the book Boo is like a ghost, Scout never sees …show more content…

She says “That is a sad house. I remember Arthur Radley when he was a boy. He always spoke nicely to me, no matter what folk said he did. Spoke as nicely as he knew how.” She paints his story in a different light, not one of a monster but a product of how he was brought up. By Chapter 26 all of the experiences that Scout has had throughout the book have made her less scared of the Radley place “The Radley place had ceased to terrify me…” Scout is ashamed and remorseful for what she took part in with Dill and Jem and empathises with him. I think in the last chapters of the book when she is interacting with Boo we see that she does understand and even starts to learn some of his body language. “I led him to the chair farthest from Atticus and Mr Tate. It was in deep shadow. Boo would feel more comfortable in the …show more content…

Boo indirectly taught Scout lessons, and by understanding his story it helped her finally make sense of the lessons other people tried to teach her. The main lesson came from Atticus when he told Scout “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.” Although this lesson was intended to help Scout get on with her teacher better it actually helped her understand Boo. Even before Scout meets Boo she does seem to empathise with him. “I sometimes felt 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-what rescuable recluse wants people peeping through his shutters, delivering greetings on the end of a fishing pole, wandering in his collards at night?” In the final chapter Scout after summarising life in the neighbourhood through Boo’s eyes and standing in Boo’s shoes Scout admits “Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was