The novel To Kill a Mockingbird has been so iconic ever since it was published in 1960. The novel was based on Harper Lee’s real life events that she made into a fictional book. Lee’s book focuses on relationships, one of which being the relationship between Boo Radley and the children. The relationship between Boo Radley and Scout and Jem help bring light to three themes in the novel: prejudice, growing up, and friendship.
The first experience between the children and Boo showed a prejudice relationship. Jem had shown prejudiced behavior towards Boo when he described him: “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging by his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained” (Lee 14). Jem
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After Nathan Radley filled the hole in the tree with cement Jem had realized that Nathan was trying to keep Boo away from everyone. So Jem had stayed on the porch and Scout said, “When we went in the house I saw he had been crying”. Jem is showing that he is starting to figure out why no one has Boo and it is so sickening to him that he starts to cry. Later Jem says, “Boo Radley’s stayed shut up in the house all this because he wants to stay inside” (Lee 260). Jem has experienced a lot more bad and prejudiced people and starts to think that Boo wants to stay inside because he doesn’t want all these bad things happening to him. By the end of the book, Scout mentions “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 enough” (Lee 322). This shows Scout is understanding Boo by looking out into the street from the Radley lot and thinking about everything that has happened in the book from Boo’s perspective, and understanding why Boo stays hidden from everyone. Therefore in these three instances the children have shown that they are maturing. The writer shows they are maturing in these 3 moments because the children are showing empathy to Boo instead of making fun of