What Does Boo Radley Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

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Recommended: The concept of innocence

Although the title To Kill a Mockingbird is almost entirely unrelated to the plot, the mockingbird it holds a lot of symbolic weight in the novel as it is one of the most prominent symbols used in the novel. In this story of innocent people broken by evil, the “mockingbird” represents the idea of innocence and defencelessness. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, many characters such as Arthur (Boo) Radley, Jem Finch, and Tom Robinson, could be considered “mockingbirds”.
The mockingbird, although it has been used only on occasion, in the plot of the story, is probably the most important symbol in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Killing a mockingbird may represent destroying innocence. This idea has been connected to the …show more content…

He is an innocent man who has been misjudged by the subjective society of Maycomb. His actions do not make him a mockingbird, but by seeing what he does we can see the true nature of his character. The townsfolk have made up rumours that might have destroyed his innocence: “Any stealthy small crimes were his work […] although the culprit was Crazy Addie,[…] people still look at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions” (Lee 9). These stories and assumptions have been made for so long and the people of Maycomb are so fixed on the idea that Boo is a monster and nothing can change their minds. The people of Maycomb are so fixed on the idea that Boo is a monster and nothing can change their minds. He hid from the townsfolk and the rumours, so he became one big conundrum, which destroyed his innocence and who he maybe was …show more content…

But, unlike Boo or Tom Robinson, it takes Jem some time to mature into one. “Mrs. radley had been beautiful until she married Mr. radley and lost all her money […] her teeth, her hair, and her right forefinger […] When it was time to play Boo’s big scene, Jem would sneak into the house, steal the scissors from the sewing-machine […] and cut up newspapers. […] Jem would fake a plunge into Dill’s thigh. From where I stood it looked real” (Lee 44). At the beginning of the novel, when Jem takes part of the Boo Radley game with Scout and Dill, he is unaware of the harm he may be doing to the family in the Radley house; those of them who can hear the children. But, when Mr. Nathan Radley fills up the hole in the tree with cement, Jem cries because he realizes just how important that hole was for Boo. **insert

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