A Comparison of the Portrayal of Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird

A Comparison of the portrayal of Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird

and Miss Havisham in great expectations.

In 'To Kill a Mockingbird' the author uses a retrospective narration,

this means that we can see events through the eyes of a child, yet

also has the intelligence of an adult to explain the events

thouroghly. Because narrator has personal experience of what happened

we have a closer insight into the details. This method of reflection

means that we can understand other characters feelings more easily,

and the settings and ways of Maycomb. 'Great Expectations' is similar

to ' To Kill a Mockingbird' it also has shows the events of a person

from childhood to becoming an adult. The story follows Pip, who is the

main character in this novel; it shows him as a child, being

introduced to Miss Havisham, then later on as a main person in Miss

Havisham's life. Pip and Scout help us to understand the feelings of

other characters..

'To Kill a Mockingbird' is set in the 1930s, in a town called Maycomb.

It is a small town with a close-knit community, it has a deserted feel

to it, however it is very tense, with a lot of families and rumours

and gossip. Maycomb is also a claustrophobic place to be, with the

identical houses, the grass on the sidewalks (unkempt), and also it is

very dusty, hot and humid. The neighbours are known to be very

suspicious and judgemental. It is a reserved community and it can get

very dull. In 'Great Expectations', in the chapters that we have read,

rather then it being concentrated on a town, it is mostly concentrated

on Miss Havisham's House. Satis House, which stand for very big and

satisfactory. Within this house everything is kept the way it was at

the time of the wedding. With cobwebs, and dust on all the furniture.

Even the surrounding of the satis house was dying; "there was a large

brewery, no brewing was going on in it", this shows that everything

around miss Havisham was a symbol of what was within her. It shows

that she is dead within. Both Boo Radley and Miss Havisham live in

seclusion, this means they prefer to be cut off from the outside

world, a quote that show this is' "some of the windows had been walled

up" However they both have someone to help them with life, Boo Radley

has his brother Nathan, and Miss Havisham has her adopted daughter

Estella. Miss Havisham acts this way because of what happened to her

earlier in her life; she was left at the altar.