• Boo Radley o By most of the townsfolk of Maycomb (especially the children) o They think he is monstrous. “Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and I had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work. Once the town was terrorized by a series of morbid nocturnal events: people’s chickens and household pets were found mutilated; although the culprit was Crazy Addie, who eventually drowned himself in Barker’s Eddy, people still looked at the Radley Place, unwilling to discard their initial suspicions” (10). • The …show more content…
Seeing how cold the night is, Boo sneaks out of his house and drapes a blanket around Scout to keep her warm. This is a nice gesture, and shows that Boo is a good person, despite the rumors about him. “‘When I went back for my breeches—they were all in a tangle when I was getting’ out of ‘em, I couldn’t get ‘em loose. When I went back—’ Jem took a deep breath. ‘When I went back, they were folded across the fence . . . They’d been sewed up. Not like a lady sewed ‘em, like somethin’ I’d try to do. All crooked’” (78). • Although we do not know who fixed Jem’s breeches, it is most likely to be Boo Radley, which if it is, it shows once again how Boo tries to help the Finch children. Boo helps to untangle Jem’s breeches from the fence, so he can get them back easily, since Mr. Nathan Radley threatens to shoot anyone who comes near again, and if Jem stays by the fence for too long, he risks getting shot. Boo also mends Jem’s pants for him, which is kind of him to do. • Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose o By Scout and Jem Finch and most of their neighborhood o Mrs. Dubose is an awful, malicious, hateful woman. “Neighborhood opinion was unanimous that Mrs. Dubose was the meanest old woman who ever lived” (46). o The stereotypes and prejudices about Mrs. Dubose are not entirely …show more content…
Dubose had some racist ideals, Atticus wanted Jem to see that Mrs. Dubose was brave in trying to end her morphine addiction. Even though it was difficult, Mrs. Dubose worked hard to do what she felt was right and to achieve her goals. • To a lesser extent, Atticus o By his sister (Alexandra Hancock) and nephew (Francis Hancock), some of Maycomb (Mrs. Dubose, Cecil Jacobs, etc) o Atticus does not properly watch over his children and is a “ngger-lover” (110) “If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that’s his own business, like Grandma says, so it ain’t your fault. I guess it ain’t your fault if Uncle Atticus is a ngger-lover besides, but I’m here to tell you it certainly does mortify the rest of the family—” (110). o The prejudice against Atticus is not really right. “Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment” (6) • Atticus treats Jem and Scout as equals, such as allowing them to call him by his first name and giving them freedom to make their own decisions (that are well within reason). “‘You aren’t really a ngger-lover, then, are you?’ ‘I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody’”
...reinforcing the idea that the roles are now switched. Atticus keeps calm during most of the situations, but lets others boss him around and take control while he mainly sits and waits nearby. Scout and Jem begin to stand up for their father when he will not stand up for himself and act caring as if they were in charge of Atticus’ actions, protecting him from the evils of others. Scout supports this idea when she begins to talk very adult-like with Mr. Cunningham, especially showing her thoughtful wisdom when speaking of “entailments”. Atticus later shows that he is proud of his children for sticking up for him when he did not himself by massaging Jem’s hair in his “one gesture of affection.” So while Atticus often is being the best father figure he can to Scout and Jem, they are also very helpful to him by taking control of situations that he would not be able to.
Jeremy “Jem” Finch is a leading protagonist in Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mocking Bird” published in 1960. Jem matured greatly throughout the duration of the book, starting to resemble and idolize his father, achieves the status of a guardian to his sister and introduces a whole new set of ideals in his lifestyle. He embodies the themes of growth. Throughout the novel we see how perceptions of things such as courage, respect, tolerance, and cruelty changes Jem as he matures.
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 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 with 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 children laugh and imagine the reclusive life of Boo Radley, yet their father quickly puts a halt to their shenanigans, as they should not judge the man before they truly know him. Atticus unforgettably tells the children, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
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.
...rapes a blanket over Scout. Later Atticus asks about it and Scout realises she has no idea who had given her the blanket. Jem than understands that it was Boo Radley who had done this.
The so called “Radley Game” that Jem, Dill, and Scout play in chapter 4 suggests that kids sometimes make preconceptions due to ignorance of the topic or situation at hand, as do most of the adults in Maycomb. All of the children's’ ignorance can be summed up in one sentence when Jem says, “He died years ago and they stuffed him up the chimney” (Lee 39). Jem knows the wrong in playing the Radley game when he deliberately lies to Atticus about the game, noticing his sternness. As a reader, on must infer that these stories have been passed down from the children’s parents in town since Boo Radley got in trouble years ago. Thus, both the children and the adults are equally ignorant dealing with the Boo Radley
A main illustration of this is when Boo saves the Finch children from Bob Ewell's attack. Once Scout sees Boo for the first time, she recognizes him instantly while the “neighbor’s image blurred with [her] sudden tears” (Lee 270). Consequently, Scout is finally able to visualize Boo as a human, and has her hero. Like a child seeing their father after long time, the protection Boo provides brings her to tears, which brings out another quality of Boo. Furthermore, after summarizing the past four years of her childhood through Boo’s eyes, Scout imagines, “ Winter, and his children shivered at the front gate silhouetted against a blazing house. Winter, and a man walked into the street, dropped his glasses, and shot a dog. Summer, and he watched his children’s heart break. Autumn again. And Boo’s children needed him” (Lee 279). As a result, Scout notices how Boo has watched over her all this time. He is no monster, but a father figure in disguise who wants the best for his
Boo is also important to the work of literature due to him being misunderstood. At the beginning of the novel, the kids, and the reader is brought into believing that Boo looks and acts like a Monster due to the rumors from the townspeople. Toward the end of the novel the reader, Scout and Jem are led to believe that the rumors are not exactly true like when Boo puts the blanket on Scout and when he gives the gifts to the kids via the tree. But at the very end of the novel, Scout, and the reader finds out that Boo isn't a monster and is just a normal guy. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo is is a common scapegoat for mishaps in Maycomb and is his intentions are
In this scene, Jem comes of age when watching Atticus shoot a gun to save the town from a rabid dog. This was an important scene where it comes to a conflict between Atticus and the rabid dog after Atticus shot the rabid dog. “The rifle cracked. Tim
Atticus is a great leader of his family, teaching his children morals and life lessons. He makes them better people by showing them how to deal with the trial and people making fun of them. Atticus teaches Scout how to respect other people. First, Scout learns to respect Atticus, then to respect "Boo" Radley, and finally to respect a whole race of people, negroes. He makes it a common practice to live his life as he would like his children to live theirs, and thus displays the attributes of an honest, respectable, and kind man. Throughout the trial process, Atticus shows Jem and Scout that true courage is standing up for what you believe in and that all human beings, despite their race, deserve respect. "You never really understand a person until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." This quote shows that Atticus wants his children to get along with people, and so other people will respect them for whom they are.
...ueless to who it is. This creates suspense as the reader is waiting for the moment that Scout realizes that Boo has saved her. Also, earlier in the book Jem and Scout find ornate carvings and a pocket watch among other things inside a tree stump and it is later revealed that Boo was leaving these things for the children to find. Also when the fire occurs in Maycomb someone places a blanket over Scout’s shoulders. It is never revealed who did this but it is heavily implied that it was Boo. This could be referencing the general attitude towards mentally ill people in the Deep South of America in the 1930’s. In the 1930’s many mentally ill people were sent to mental hospitals as they were almost disowned by their parents and relatives. They usually lives their entire lives their and were buried on campus: as the majority of graveyards did not want to take their bodies.
“Inside the house lived a malevolent phantom. People said he existed, but Jem and i had never seen him. People said he went out at night when the moon was down, and peeped in windows. When people’s azaleas froze in a cold snap, it was because he had breathed on them. Any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.”(Lee 10)
Atticus is a trusted and respected lawyer he always does what’s right and always does his job to the best of his abilities. The text states in chapter 21, “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.” This was said by Reverend Sykes, he respected Atticus for defending Tom Robinson and felt that Atticus should he thanked and honored for everything he did. Atticus is trusted to always do what is right, and not give up when he knows something is wrong. The text states in chapter 24, “Whether Maycomb knows it or not, we’re paying the highest tribute we can pay a man. We trust him to do right. It’s that simple.” This was said by Miss Maudie, she says this after Aunt Alexandra asked what the town wants from Atticus, the town knew that Atticus was going to do the right thing and wasn’t going to give up, the town and Tom relied on him to do his best to get justice done. Atticus is respected by not only the community but he is also trusted, respected, and loved by his kids because they see all that he does and respects that. The text states in chapter 1 and 11, “Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment.” And "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.” Jem and Scout loved their father and he
As the novel unfolds, the reader is introduced to the reclusive character, Arthur Radley, commonly known as Boo to Maycomb County. He is first described as a ghostly figure; hence his nickname, and known as the town’s madman who eats cats and who is over six feet tall. Nevertheless, there may be some reason behind his unusual behaviour. This character is represented as a mockingbird because of his innocence. Boo is wrongly interned by his father twenty-five years prior to the beginning of the novel. Most people in Maycomb do not believe that Boo has changed his ways, but it seems as though he has, when he leaves gifts for them in his old oak tree. Boo has no intentions of harming anybody; all he wants is to make the children’s lives a little
Among the many plots within the story, many of them surround Boo Radley or attempting to have Boo Radley come out of his house. In these stories show Jem, Scout, and Dill are terrified of the Radley house and what be inside. However, they are mistaken, for Boo Radley wants to do the exact opposite of scaring the children. For example, Boo tries to show friendship to Scout and Jem by leaving them gifts in the tree outside of his house. These gifts include dolls, gum, a knife, a watch, etc. Boo also is thought to have wrapped Scout in a blanket during the chapter in which Miss Maudie’s house had burned down. Boo Radley is thought to have done it because Atticus says “Boo Radley. You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when he put the blanket around you.” (Lee 96) supporting the fact that Boo Radley was looking out for Scout. Lastly, Boo Radley saved Scout and Jem when they were attacked by Bob Ewell. This heroic effort was not only full of care, but also, full of