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What aspect of society does the town of Maycomb represent? to kill a mocking bird
Symbolism and racism to kill a mockingbird
What aspect of society does the town of Maycomb represent? to kill a mocking bird
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Arthur Radley, or “Boo,” is one of the characters in Harper Lee’s book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The Radleys lived on the main road in Maycomb, Alabama, just a few houses down from the Finches. Their house used to be white with a deep front porch and green shutters. It had faded to slate gray and the shutters rotted from the rain. The house was surrounded by a fence and there was an oak tree near the house. When Boo was young, he got into the wrong crowd and got into some trouble. When he was being arrested for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and foul language in the presence and hearing of a female, his father told the judge that if he let him go, they would make sure he got into no more trouble. The judge let Boo go home, and nobody saw him for fifteen years, because his father kept him locked up. Nobody really knew what he looked like. The rumor was he was about six and a half feet tall, had a long jagged scar across his face, his eyes popped, and that he drooled a lot. It was also said that he dined on raw squirrels and cats, and th...
Throughout the book we watch the narrator, Scout Finch, go from a naive first grader that think Maycomb is the best place out there, to finally maturing and understanding the world around her. Throughout the book Scout is impressioned by so many people that Boo Radley is a monster that should be kept in at all times. Later we learn he isn’t, but one of the first impressions we get from him is a brute
It teaches them to not be prejudice and get to know a person before making a judgement. Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley, was frowned upon by many people in the Maycomb community. He was rumoured to have been locked in the basement by his father and older brother after an incident involving scissors. Though never seen stepping outside his house, he intrigues yet also frightens Scout, Jem and their friend Dill. After different events in the novel, the children come to find that Boo Radley is not intimidating, but a man who due to his father, is emotionally damaged. Miss Maudie, a neighbour of the Finch’s, explains to Scout that "Mockingbirds don 't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don 't eat up people 's gardens, don 't nest in corncribs, they don 't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That 's why it 's a sin to kill a mockingbird.” The mockingbird is a symbol for innocent people, who are judged for no reason. Like the mockingbird, Boo Radley has people prejudiced against him when he is an innocent man. By using this metaphor, the reader is able to understand the link between Boo Radley and the innocence and morality. As well as the mockingbird, he also symbolises goodness. By secretly watching over Scout and Jem, he protects them from later being attacked by Bob Ewell, a symbol of evil. When Jem and Scout begin to trust Boo, they are paying the highest tribute they could pay him.
Scout Finch and her brother Jem live with their widowed father Atticus in the town of Maycomb, Alabama. The book takes place in a society withstanding the effects of the Great Depression. The two main characters, Scout and Jem, approach life with a childlike view engulfed in innocence. They befriend a young boy named Dill, and they all become intrigued by the spooky house they refer to as “The Radley Place”. The owner, Nathan Radley (referred to as Boo), has lived there for years without ever venturing outside its walls.
The narrator of the story, Scout Finch, is a curious young girl who is surprisingly mature for her age. When her older brother Jem, and shared friend Dill go to the intriguing Radley house to deliver a note to Boo Radley, whom Macomb County hasn’t seen in 15 years, Scout is
But Boo tends to be a misunderstood character, just like the mockingbird. In chapter 28, when Jem and Scout were walking back home from school, they took the shortcut which happened to be pitch black. Jem heard a sound which alerted them. At first Jem thought it was Cecil Jacobs (a boy who liked to pull jokes on Jem and Scout), but then they realized it was someone else. They heard footsteps running after them to find that it was a grown man. Jem called out to Scout to run but she fell due to her costume.When Scout finally got back up to find Jem, the man squeezed her until she could barely breathe. Worriedly, Scout called out for Jem but didn’t get a response. She saw two men underneath the tree besides Jem and herself. She called out “Atticus?” but there was no answer once again. She noticed a man laying the ground that had the awful essence of booze, she got up and made her way over the road, and within the light of the street lamp Scout sees a man carrying Jem. The man headed towards the Finch house, where Atticus let him in. Scout eventually realized that “the man” was no other than Mr. Arthur or commonly referred to as Boo Radley. Mr. Arthur, despite his poor perception of
As the story progresses, Boo becomes more of a symbol of kindness and bravery than that of the "town freak" which he is made out to be. Boo leaves presents for the children in the hollow trunk of an old tree, as well as covers Scout with a blanket during Miss Maudie's fire. However, it is not until he saves Jem and Scout's life from the hands of the deranged Mr. Ewell, that Boo shows his true heroic character. Even though Boo is a physically weaker man, he shows no fear when it comes to protecting Jem and Scout's life.
The novel To Kill a Mocking Bird is about a young girl named Jean Louise Finch, also referred to as Scout, growing up in the little town of Maycomb in Alabama during the time of the great depression. Scout’s father is a lawyer, so although it is the great depression their family is pretty well off. The book starts out with Scout, her brother Jem, and a boy named Dill who is spending the summer with his aunt. The three become good friends and enamored with their neighbor Boo-Radley, who is a man known for never stepping a foot outside his house. Town rumor says that Boo-Radley’s dad punished him for a brush up with the law when he was a teenager, by making him stay inside the house. As time passes Scout and Jem start to notice odd things happening near the Radley’s. Such as gifts being left in a hollowed out hole in the Radley’s oak tree. Although all the events that take place make the reader believe that Boo-Radley is a kind man, both Scout and Jem still find the thought of him terrifying. More time goes by and the children start getting called names, because their father agreed to ...
Boo Radley is the next door neighbor of the Finch’s. He is an outsider of the community, because he does not leave the house. He got in some trouble as a teenager, so his father locked him up inside the house. After his father died, his brother moved in with him. While Boo was locked up inside is house, the people of Maycomb County made up stories about him. The legend of Boo Radley was well-known to the people of Maycomb. Jem describes Boo, “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” (Lee ). Boo is an innocent character because all he does stay inside his own house, and does not bother anybody. Yet the entire town believes that he could be a murderer. Harper Lee is showing that if you do not fit into southern society, they will make you into an outsider and a bad legend. Another example of Boo Radley being an innocent character is when he gives a blanket to Scout. Miss Maudie Atkinson, one of the Finch’s neighbors, had a house fire. Atticus (Scout and Jem’s father) woke up the kids and made them go outside, in case the fire spread to their house. While Scout was not looking someone gave her a blanket, “‘Someday, maybe, Scout can thank him for covering her up.’ ‘Thank who?’ I asked. ‘Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you.’”(Lee ). Boo Radley is an innocent character because he helped warm up Scout in the cold, yet Scout was still scared that Boo had been near here. Harper Lee is showing us that Boo could do a nice thing, and yet Scout would still be scared because of his reputation. Finally, another
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a character named Boo Radley is humiliated by the citizens of Maycomb, Alabama. Boo Radley has stayed inside in his home for most of his life due to a violent incident that occurred with his father when he was a teenager (Lee 13). The novel states: “According to Miss Stephanie, Boo was sitting in the livingroom cutting some items from The Maycomb Tribune to paste in his scrapbook. His father entered the room. As Mr. Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parent’s
The Radley family has a presence that startles nearly all of Maycomb County in some way. For example, every resident of Maycomb County would never set foot in even the Radley house yard. However, this was not the case for protagonist Scout Finch and her brother Jem. This show of bravery represents outstanding courage. Moreover, the main area of fear of the Radley family is provided by Boo. Boo is the child of the family, and is rumored to eat grotesque foods such as live rats. Although very few people had ever seen Boo, nobody dared to search for him. That is, except for Scout and Jem. Despite being terrified of what Boo could be, Jem and Scout searched tirelessly for him. Even after their father forbid them to search for Boo, Jem and Scout would not be denied and searched for him anyways. The courage shown by the young children in this novel is good.
Boo Radley is thought to be a malevolent, soulless, deceitful person, but he proves to be a caring, good-natured person. In Chapter 1, Jem offers his perception of Boo Radley to Scout and Dill: " ‘Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks; he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that’s why his hands were bloodstained—if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off. There was a long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time’ " (16). Jem perceives Boo Radley as being a “monster” instead of being a man. Jem comes to this conclusion despite having never even seen Boo Radley in person. Jem’s understanding of Boo Radley is based on the rumors that he has heard about him. In Chapter 8, after the fire at Miss Maudie’s house, Scout notices that she was wrapped in a blanket that she did not have with she left the house. Scout asks Atticus who was the person that put the blanket around her. Atticus tells Scout, "Boo Radley. You were so busy watching the fire you didn't know it when he...
Boo Radley was a white man that no one hardly ever seen or knew. Everyone thought he was mean, and crazy. Scout narrates “As Mr.Radley passed by, Boo drove the scissors into his parents leg, pulled them out, wiped them on his pants and resumed his activities(11). The story was not true, but that’s what everyone thought of when they talked about Boo Radley. Boo Radley was actually the exact opposite of what people thought of him to be. Jem and Scout would find little things in an old tree, and they had realized that Boo Radley was the one who was leaving them things. Also when Jem pants was tangled on the fence, he left and came back to try and pry them off and they were neatly folded across the fence, untangled. Lots of people stereotyped him to be something that he’s not, which means he’s a mockingbird because he is nothing but
One of the most prevalent themes in To Kill A Mockingbird is that people are multifaceted, and that one shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover. This is clear in several instances, the first of which applies to Boo Radley. Boo Radley is
Boo Radley, also known as Arthur Radley, is the scary, evil creature that lives in the creepy old house down the street from Jem and Scout, and is misjudged at first. Jem and Scout, two main characters, first see Boo as some sort of scary monster. Jem described him in the first chapter as “...six-and-a-half feet tall, judging from his tracks...” and said “...he dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch, that's why his hands were bloodstained- if you ate an animal raw, you could never wash the blood off...” Jem also mentioned Boo had a “...long jagged scar that ran across his face; what teeth he had were yellow and rotten; his eyes popped, and he drooled most of the time.” Scout and Jem also call Boo a “...malevolent phantom...” As if that isn't bad enough, the kids hear and tell horrible stories about Boo. One is of how he stabbed his dad with a pair of scissors; another tells how he was locked up in the courthouse basement. Even with such a grisly initial perception at the beginning of...
Think you know Boo Radley? Not many people do. Boo Radley is a shy, mysterious character from Harper Lee’s: To Kill a Mockingbird. Throughout the book, Boo is thought of as a monster within the book’s setting of Maycomb County. He’s also known to be mentally ill and violent due to many stories about his past. However, I believe he’s just misunderstood. Boo Radley is actually a caring and courageous human being. Examples that benefit this idea include: Boo Radley giving gifts to Scout and Jem and saving Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell. Furthermore, throughout To Kill a Mockingbird; Boo Radley is shown to be misunderstood, caring, and courageous.