Similarities Between Walter Cunningham And Boo Radley

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The Mockingbirds of Maycomb: Boo Radley and Walter Cunningham Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is considered a “rare American novel that can be discovered with excitement in adolescence and reread into adulthood without fear of disappointment” (National Endowment of the Arts). The ideas of racism, hatred, and bigotry run throughout the entire work, and though these are common themes throughout the work, the concepts of isolation and stereotyping are two that can often become overshadowed by Tom Robinson’s guilty verdict. Two characters of the work- Boo Radley and Walter Cunningham- are the characters that the ideas of isolation and stereotyping impacts the most. Boo Radley is the town hermit that the children fear. It is said that Boo leaves his house at night to peep in windows, commits all small crimes in Maycomb, and even once stabbed his father with a pair of …show more content…

Atticus sets the Finch children (Scout and Jem) this example as he welcomes Walter Cunningham into their home for dinner and pays for Walter’s lunch after he’d forgotten it one school day. Boo Radley’s reclusive nature caused by years of hiding away in his house is not due to his ‘evil’ nature, but rather a disability that causes Boo to look and act differently than most citizens of Maycomb. Boo’s mental handicap is used to drive the first part of the novel, and sets up for Tom Robinson’s jury case in the second part. His reclusiveness and disability sets up an interesting idea in the work that those who don’t look or act a certain way in Maycomb are considered outcasts or rejects. This is also true for Walter Cunningham and his family. The townspeople of Maycomb believe that because of who and what he is- a Cunningham- Walter will never amount to much more than a dirt-poor farmer

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