To Kill a Mockingbird chapters 1-8

You need to have read thru chapter eight of To Kill a Mockingbird to respond to this topic. If you have NOT read thru chapter eight, please do NOT read further (as it will spoil/give away information you haven't read yet).

In chapter eight we continue to just miss Boo. He continues to play a huge role in this novel--even though we have never seen him. He's just talked about in whispers, and while everyone thinks he's a recluse, it's clear that he does go outside the house--he gives lots of presents to Jem and Scout and even puts a blanket around Scout in chapter eight. Boo is a clearly a character of great importance even though we haven't met him.
So here is the question: What is the purpose of Arthur "Boo" Radley? What is his role in the story so far? Why does his character exist? And here's another way to look at it: How would the story change--what would it lose--if Boo Radley was NOT in the book? (Make sure to link your answer to the "big picture" and the central ideas that this book explores.)

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Permalink Reply by Star Who? 9D on April 9, 2017 at 9:11pm

I think Arthur "Boo" Radley please a interesting but big role in the book TKAMB so far. In my opinion Boo so far seems like a homeless person or someone that is left out in things. Everyone in society views him as a bad individual but we actually never seen him in person, he seems to be a person that hides in places and looks at everyone in society. Harper Lee seems to put him in a very mysterious position questioning if he is real or not. A lot of rumors pass by of him saying he is a bad and dangerous person from the rumors hat kids always talk about. But in the story he is a very loving and helping person.To further illuminate this idea, in chapter 8, Atticus states"You were so busy looking at the fire you didn't know it when he put the blanket around you"(Lee 72) i can conclude from this that Boo loves to help people know matter who the person is and it shows courage that he leaves from the house that he always stays at to help Scout and Jem. I can conclude that "Boo" Radley is loving and a caring person even he's insecure about being around people.

Permalink Reply by Smiley 9A on April 13, 2017 at 8:33pm

I believe that the purpose of Boo Radley is to symbolize a mockingbird. To add on he represents those who have been changed to the "worst" because of others affect on them. Also, to me Boo seems to relate to many of us in some way-not only to Muslims like stated below- but to anyone who has been an outcast because of rumors, past encounters, or their past period. As a society we have a hard time in accepting that people don't only change for the worst but the good, too. We have simply forgotten in a way that the stories we hear aren't a true representation of a person and that as people we shouldn't use the tales as an automatic judgement of a person. We need to go beyond these stories and try to know a person further then the rumors being told around "town". As Atticus previously told Scout in chapter three, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from [his/her] point of view...until you climb into (his/her) skin and walk around it." (Lee 30).This goes to prove that if the characters in the novel were to actually try and get Boo out of his house and out from under Nathan's hold then they may get to know him better. To build on this, if they stop spreading the stories about Arthur-Boo- and making them up then others might have the courage to go on the Radley's porch and knock for once. Not does this only apply in Boo's situation, but it also applies in to our every day lives; just like we have gone over in past units we have to go beyond a person's skin, outside appearances, and quick judgements made by others and ourselves that are based on nothing of true matter. We have to go out of our way to get to know the "mockingbirds" that Boo represents/symbolizes in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird.