How Is Boo Radley Portrayed In To Kill A Mockingbird

One Shot At Justice

Harper Lee’s main purpose in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird was to show the reader how the society of Maycomb works; how hypocritical and unfair they treat others. The title To Kill A Mockingbird means not to harm or prosecute those who have not done wrong. Some of the main characters in this novel are Atticus Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley. Which are all portrayed as “mockingbirds” in this story. Each one of these characters have been outcasted in some way by the society of Maycomb. Atticus is a pariah because he tries to bring good into his community, he is very moral and principled. Boo Radley was rebuked by Maycomb society due to all the rumours and talk about him. Tom Robinson is an innocent man, who does not get treated equal among others because of his race. Boo,Tom, and Atticus are all somehow “harmed” by the community of Maycomb. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus, Finch, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley are all metaphorically portrayed as mockingbirds because they are innocent and are condemned by society.

If you are seen as an outcast in Maycomb County

He is closed in his house and is not harming anyone. Scout is talking to Atticus and says “he had not done any of those things… he was real nice.” Atticus then replies with “most people are Scout, once you finally know them”(376). Boo is one of the novels mockingbirds because he was accused of all the rumours going around about him. Which then made people afraid of him and called him evil, due to all the stories they have heard about him, from the community of Maycomb. People just made assumptions about him, but did not really know anything about him. Everyone is “killing” him by making false comments about his identity. At the end of the story, Boo Radley ends up saving Jem and Scout (Finch children). But Boo Radley and Atticus Finch are not the only mockingbirds in this