Topic 4: Examine and analyze the character Arthur “Boo” Radley.
Topic 4: Examine and analyze the character Arthur “Boo” Radley. What is his purpose in the novel—why does he exist? How would the story be different without him?
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Permalink Reply by Midwife 9D on
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Boo Radley's purpose in the novel is to teach Atticus's children, Jem and Scout, a lesson. Throughout the novel, we explore multiple cases where Boo Radley was there for the curious children. He was feared by the children and he taught Scout an important lesson once she was able to get to know him. Without him, Jem and Scout would not learn everything he taught them, that nobody else could. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee makes the point that Scout had learned a lesson from Boo when she writes "... Atticus, he was real nice" Scout said. Atticus replied by saying "Most people are, Scout, when you finally get to see them." (Lee376).Scout would be unable to understand this without her encounter with Boo Radley, he was the only person who she had not known. She learns that you cant make assumptions of others before you get to know them. Boo plays an important role of making Scout realize an important life lesson.
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Permalink Reply by Moon 9A on
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I agree, Boo Radly plays a very important role in the story because he teaches the kids the importance of putting yourself in someone's shoe before you judge them. At the beginning of the story the kids thought Boo Radly was a very scary creature who eats rats and scares the kids; He stays inside and none ever sees him, he's the mystery of Maycomb. But near the end of the book Jem and Scout start to realize that he is a very nice person and he has given them so much when they gave him nothing. As the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee states, "he gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives"(Lee 278). This explains that even when the kids were scared of him and did not tried to understand him, he was there playing their games and giving them gifts, but that was not understood by the children till the end of the story where Boo shows himself and saves the kids.
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Boo Radley plays an important part in this novel by acting mysterious, without this character then Jem and Scout wouldn't have discovered that Mr.Radley is actually a good person. At the start, Jem and Scout heard so many rumors about Mr.Radley, and pictured him as a bad person. Furthermore, Jem and Scout was terrified to even step foot on his front yard. On the whole, Mr.Radley saved Jem and Scout from Mr.Ewell. The kids eventually realized he's not a bad guy after all. Throughout Jem and Scouts life Mr.Radley have been giving them gifts secretly. Harper Lee states, "Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good luck - pennies, and over our lives. But neighbors give in return" (Harper Lee 320). When Scout was walking back with Boo Radley, Flash backs came to her. She was thinking about all the wonderful things Mr.Radley have done. Furthermore, it made her think what have I've done? In conclusion, Jem and Scout learned not to judge a person from their past history.
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Your point is too shallow, Boo Radley is a much more developed and involved character for his purpose just to be "acting mysterious". Think about what he accomplished by the end of the book, and what Scout realized; she realized his perspective and how he must have felt. She realized how much the sense of empathy can change how one feels for another. To illuminate this point, at the end of the story after Scout walks Boo Radley home, she says, "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 enough" (Lee 374). What Atticus was trying to tell her was have the sense of empathy. Boo Radley's existence in the novel allowed Scout to achieve this; therefore the early experiences the children had with him was not his only purpose, it goes deeper than that.
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Permalink Reply by Cake 9A on
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Arthur (Boo) Radeky had a major character development. He went from this neighbor who in Scouts opinion lived in a haunted house, to someone who left gifts to the kids, and finally to the person who saved Jem and Scouts life. Harper Lee didn't make the character Arthur Radely just save Jem and Scouts life, any character could have done that; she might have made this charcter to teach Scout a lesson, a lesson to not judge people on sight. At first Scout is scared of him, when he does something kind such as putting a blanket on her when she was cold. She gets scared when she realizes it was him who put that blanket. But in the end of the book scout say this to Atticus "An' they chased him 'n' could never catch him 'cause they didn't know what he looked like, an' Atticus, when they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things... Atticus, he was real nice...." (Lee 376), this quote was a reference to Boo and scout was basically saying that he wasn't what she judged him for. And the reason why I feel like Arthur Radely isn't a bad person is not just the gifts and putting the blanket on Scout, but because when Bob Ewell attacked them, it wasn't Atticus who came but it was Arthur Radley. And I find it weird how he knew they were in danger, unless he was watching from his window. But the fact he got out of his house proves that Arthur Radley cares about the kids, because Harper Lee wrote "I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time... it's because he wants to stay there" (Lee 304), but if he (Arthur Radley) really was going stay in his house forever he wouldn't have come out to save the kids. I feel like the character Arthur Radely taught us all a lesson that Scout figured out in he end, but Jem also realized it too because Harper Lee wrote in the first page of the book " we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident . I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out" ( Lee 1). This tells me that both the main characters learned a lesson taught by one character, and this lesson is one that some us struggle to understand.
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I agree that one of Boo Radley's purposes is to teach Jem and Scout an important lesson. Furthermore, the lesson taught through his character isn't only for the kids to learn, but the readers should, too. The act of not judging people so harshly without knowing them is something we should've learnt before we even started to comprehend the meaning of the words. Unfortunately, now those who have grown around judgment of themselves and others find it difficult to put forth such acts like "(climbing) into (someone's) skin and walk around in it"(Lee 30). Looking at things through someone's else's perspective helps you understand how they see the world and who they truly are as a person. Scout executed this when she stood on the Radley porch and started imagining what Boo saw over the years. To explain Scout thought, "One time (Atticus) 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 283). This goes to prove that if an eight year old living in a sick, and twisted minded town where judgement is part of the daily routine can stand on a "strangers" (she doesn't completely know who Boo Radley truly is) porch and look at her life through his eyes, then we can teach ourselves to evolve from the ways set in our culture; we can learn to stop judging those we don't and even those we do know. Boo Radley and the kids interactions are a perfect example of this life lesson.
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Idea:Boo Radley's purpose is to show that not all rumors are true. He exists for the sole purpose of enhancing the story. Without him Jem and Scout would be dead.
Commentary: Boo Radley is a kid who got caught up with the law and was forced to stay in his house for decades. And with that came the rumors of him being a terrible and dangerous person. He made the story more interesting because he gave Jem, Scout, and Dill more adventures over the summer. Also he greatly affected the turnout of Jem and Scout in the end by saving them from Bob Ewell. Introduce:Boo Radley is no terrible person, in fact Boo is just a good guy injured by the evil of mankind, to further illuminate this idea look to chapter 7 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout says, "we were walking past our tree. And in its Knot-hole rested a ball of gray twine" another quote from chapter 7 is "one mild October our Knot-hole stopped us again. Something white was inside this time. [scout] pulled out two small images carved in soap"
Explain x2: These presents are not mysterious in any way, they are from Boo Radley, a terrible person who poisons trees wouldn't do this nice gesture. Boo Radley's rumors are false and these presents prove that, they also prove how he's enhancing the story by giving Jem and Scout an adventure.
Tookhlus: Boo Radley is there to make the story better and that can be seen in many ways throughout the book -
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I agree with you Ibbay when you said that Boo Radley is injured by the evil of mankind. At the end of the To Kill a Mockingbird novel, Boo Radley is identified and saves Jem and Scout. When it was time for Boo to go home, he asks Scout quietly to walk him home. He is too injured by society to actually walk across the street to his own house. In the book To kill a mockingbird, Harper Lee writes “will you take me home? [Boo Radley] almost whispered it, in the voice of a child afraid of the dark” (Lee 372). This piece of evidence shows that since he has never been out and everyone makes up things about him, he is too afraid to be out so he asks Scout to be with him. As one can clearly see, Harper Lee shows a character that’s affected by society where one may not notice it. As we often judge/injure someone, we don’t notice that it’s actually affecting them. But seeing a character like Boo Radley shows the reality of how an individual is being injured by the evil of mankind.
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Boo Radley's main purpose in "To Kill A Mocking Bird", is to be that character that always looks out for Jem and Scout. Boo or Arthur has always been with Jem and Scout, by either playing around with them and giving them little gifts, helping them getting saved from trouble, and most of all, he had saved them from Bob Ewell. This is shown in chapter 18 in "To Kill A Mocking Bird" how much Boo actually cares for Jem and Scout: "He(Boo Radley) was carrying Jem, Jem's arm was dangling crazily, in front of him" (Lee 352). In this quote, it was shown that Boo had actually saved Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell who wanted to kill them. This proves how actually important Boo is in the book, because if he was not there, then Jem and Scout would have ended up dead! Boo Radley was always inside his house for decades, but after he saw Jem and Scout, his life has changed and so did theirs.
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Permalink Reply by Honesty 9C on
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I believe that the main purpose of Boo Radley in "To Kill A Mockingbird" is to help illuminate one of the main themes of the novel. I believe one of the main themes of this novel is Don't judge others based on what you see. The Maycomb county citizens think of Boo Radley as this scary, ugly looking, horrible person because he never comes out and people make up silly conspiracies. After a friend of Jem and Scout named Dill comes tp their town for the summer, he sees this Boo Radley character suspicious and wants to help him come out. "who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out" ( Lee 1). This character is so curious to Dill that he wants tp know if the rumors are true. Dill wants to see Boo before he believes all these rumors about him. This is why Boo Radley exists because it is to show that not all rumors and stereotypes are true, and that to not judge a book by its cover.
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I agree with you because Boo Radley is very misunderstood, he does very generous things for Jem and Scout throughout the whole book but because of his past people like to assume he's a mean old brute who hates children but in reality, he just doesn't know how to talk to people because of his sheltering. He really is a nice guy, this can be seen in chapter six of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, "We ran back and found [Jem] struggling in the fence, kicking his pants off to get loose" (Lee 54).This event took place at the Radley household if we keep reading then this happens, "When [Jem] went back for [his] breeches-they were all in a tangle when [Jem] was gettin' out of em'. When [Jem] went back, they were folded across the fence...like they we're expectin' me" (Lee 58). Jem later finds out that Boo Radley the "terrible" person fixed his pants for him, this evidence truly shows that Boo Radley is not what people say of him because his actions drastically contradict the rumors made of him
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I agree with you Ibbay Elkhalil because when you say " Boo Radley is very misunderstood, he does very generous things for Jem and Scout throughout the whole book" your right because nobody knows Boo Radley personally. So they all judge him from his past and what everyone else says about him. Jem says in the book " The sheriff handn't the heart to put him in jail alongside Negroes , so Boo was locked in the court house basement"( Lee 14) This clearly tells us why everybody misunderstands him its because of his past.
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